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Poivrade Sauce
Put in a stewpan half a dozen scallions, a little thyme, a good bunch of parsley, two bay leaves, a dessertspoonful of white pepper, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar and two ounces of butter, and let all stew together till nearly all the liquor has evaporated; then add one teacupful of stock and two teacupfuls of Spanish sauce. Boil this till it is reduced one-half, and serve.
A classic peppery brown sauce built on espagnole, written for a kitchen that already had the base sauce standing on the stove. The instructions omit the one step every version of poivrade requires.
- Strain itOscar never says so, but poivrade is always passed through a fine strainer or chinois before serving; the herbs, bay and cracked pepper are flavouring, not texture. Press the solids to get the liquid out, then reheat briefly.
- Spanish sauceThis is sauce espagnole, the brown mother sauce of veal or beef stock thickened with brown roux and enriched with tomato and mirepoix. There is no substitute that behaves the same way; a well-reduced brown stock lightly thickened with beurre manié comes closest if you are not making the real thing.
- Teacupful and dessertspoonfulA teacupful was commonly reckoned at around 6 fl oz in period American usage, though the book never defines it; on that basis, roughly 3/4 cup stock and 1 1/2 cups Spanish sauce. A dessertspoonful is two teaspoons.
- The pepperTwo teaspoons of white pepper in this quantity is assertive, and the recipe most likely intends coarsely cracked corns that steep and are strained out, though it does not say so. Finely ground pepper left in the sauce will turn it gritty and harsh.
- ScallionsNineteenth-century usage of "scallion" was loose and could cover shallots as well as green onions. Six shallots, sliced, is a reasonable reading here.
- Reducing the aromaticsThe first stage should go until the pan is nearly dry and the butter begins to sizzle alone, which concentrates the vinegar into something mellow. Keep the heat moderate so the shallots soften rather than brown hard.
- YieldAbout 1 to 1 1/4 cups after the final reduction by half, enough for four to six servings alongside venison, beef, mutton or game birds.
Poivrade takes its name simply from poivre, pepper, and in French kitchen practice it is the standard sauce for furred game and dark red meat, often finished with a spoonful of the marinade or, in the grander version, with game trimmings and a little blood or cream. Its presence here suggests how the Waldorf kitchen of the 1890s is likely to have worked: an espagnole would presumably have been kept going as a matter of course, with the daily repertoire drawing short, brisk derivations from it, of which poivrade, piquante and Robert are all cousins. Oscar Tschirky was the hotel's maître d'hôtel rather than its chef, and his 1896 book reads accordingly, as a working record of a brigade's shorthand rather than instruction for a beginner.