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Poulette Sauce
Add a cup of cream and the yolks of two eggs beaten together until they are light, to cream sauce, and a little paprika.
A liaison of cream and yolks stirred into a basic white sauce. The whole thing hinges on temperature control, since the recipe gives none.
- What "cream sauce" means hereA plain white sauce: roughly 2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons flour and a cup of milk, cooked until it no longer tastes of raw flour. The recipe assumes the cook already knows how to make one.
- Temper the yolksBeat the cup of cream with the two yolks, then whisk a ladle of the hot sauce into the eggs before returning the mixture to the pan. Adding cold yolks straight to a simmering sauce scrambles them.
- Do not let it boilThis is the point that matters. Once the liaison goes in, hold the sauce over low heat and stir until it thickens and coats a spoon, somewhere around 180F. Push it much past that and the yolks curdle, and whisking will not bring it back.
- Food safetyBringing the finished sauce to 165-180F and holding it briefly is what cooks the yolks. Serve it promptly rather than keeping it warm on the stove for an hour, and do not reheat leftovers hard.
- PaprikaMost likely a sweet Hungarian paprika, valued as much for the rose color it gives the sauce as for flavor. A quarter teaspoon is enough; a heavily smoked Spanish pimenton is not what is wanted here.
- Seasoning and finishSalt, white pepper and a squeeze of lemon at the end are standard for this sauce family and the book leaves them to your judgment. Lemon should go in off the heat.
- YieldAbout two cups, enough to sauce a boiled chicken, veal, or poached eggs for four.
Sauce poulette is one of the small classical derivatives of French velouté, enriched with a liaison of egg yolk and cream and sharpened with lemon; its name is often said to come from poulet, though in French practice it is closely tied to boiled fowl, tripe à la poulette and mushrooms. The version here is stripped down for an American household of the early 1900s. The paprika is a period marker: Hungarian paprika became fashionable in English-language cookbooks, valued for tinting pale cream sauces without the heat of cayenne.