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Remoulade Sauce
Yolks of two hard boiled eggs, the yolk of one raw egg; a scant pint of olive oil; three tablespoons of tarragon vinegar; three of ordinary vinegar; one teaspoon of mustard; one-half teaspoon of salt; one-third teaspoon of white pepper and one teaspoon of chopped parsley. With a fork, work the cooked yolks of egg on a plate until smooth and then put them in a dish with the raw yolk and the seasoning. Add two tablespoons of the vinegar and beat thoroughly five minutes. Next add the oil-one teaspoon at a time-beating the mixture two or three minutes at a time after each addition of oil. When five teaspoons have thus been added the rest of the oil may be put in in larger quantities-three or four teaspoons at a time. When the sauce is so thick that the beater turns hard, put in one-half tablespoon of vinegar. When all the oil and vinegar have been used, add the parsley. This sauce may be used for meat or for salads.
This is a hand-beaten mayonnaise built on a base of hard-boiled yolks, which makes it far more forgiving than a straight raw-yolk emulsion. The instructions are sound; only the units and a few assumptions need translating.
- The hinge: add the oil drop by drop at the startThe hinge: add the oil a teaspoon at a time at the start -- The first five teaspoons decide whether you get sauce or soup. Beat two to three minutes after each teaspoon until the mixture visibly thickens and holds a ripple, then you can speed up. The cooked yolks act as an extra emulsifier, which is why this version tolerates a heavier hand later on.
- A scant pint of oilThat is just under two cups, about 15 fl oz or 450 ml. With the vinegar it yields roughly two and a half cups of finished sauce, enough for a large family salad or a cold joint of meat with plenty left over.
- Which olive oilPeriod recipes assumed a mild, sweet table oil. A robust modern extra-virgin will dominate the sauce and can taste bitter when beaten hard. Use a light olive oil, or cut extra-virgin with a neutral oil.
- Raw yolkThe single raw yolk is never cooked. If you are serving anyone pregnant, elderly, very young or immune-compromised, use a pasteurized egg or pasteurized yolks; otherwise use the freshest egg you can and keep the sauce cold.
- Everything at room temperatureCold oil hitting a cold yolk is a common cause of a split emulsion. Let the eggs, oil and vinegar sit out for half an hour first.
- If it breaksStart a clean bowl with another hard-boiled yolk mashed smooth, or a teaspoon of the vinegar, and beat the broken mixture into it a spoonful at a time. The sauce will come back.
- Tarragon vinegarStill sold, and easy enough to make by steeping a few bruised sprigs in white wine vinegar for a week or two. The "ordinary vinegar" of an American kitchen of this period would have been plain cider or white distilled vinegar.
- By machineA food processor or immersion blender will do this in two minutes rather than twenty, oil in a thin stream. Expect a stiffer, paler sauce than the fork-and-plate version, and use the mildest oil you have, as blending accentuates bitterness.
- KeepingRefrigerate in a covered jar and use within three or four days. Do not leave it standing at room temperature on a buffet.
Rémoulade entered French cookery well before it entered American cookbooks; the name is generally traced to a northern French dialect word for horseradish or black radish, which suggests the sauce was once sharper and rougher than the smooth mayonnaise-based versions that became standard in the nineteenth century. Classic French remoulade usually carries capers, anchovy, gherkins or mustard beyond the teaspoon given here, while the version that took root in New Orleans went its own way entirely, red with paprika and Creole mustard. The Butterick recipe is a plainer, more genteel thing, and its real interest is the method: hard-boiled yolks worked smooth before the raw yolk goes in, which is often said to help a hand-beaten emulsion survive the long minutes of fork work. Butterick, better known for dress patterns, published its cook book as part of a wider library of domestic manuals aimed at the same middle-class housekeeper, and its sauce chapter reflects the era's conviction that a competent hostess should command the French repertoire.