No. 609

Mayonnaise Figaro

Sauce Mayonnaise Figaro

Strain some cooked tomatoes through a very fine sieve, then let them drain well for several hours in a napkin, and mix this pulp in slowly with very firm mayonnaise sauce (No. 606); add to it some powdered cayenne, very finely chopped, and blanched shallots and anchovy essence.

← No. 608 Mayonnaise Cardinal Cold Sauces No. 610 Mayonnaise Sauce Provencal with Sweet Pepper →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes you have already made his No. 606 mayonnaise and are simply flavouring it. The whole success of the sauce lies in getting the water out of the tomato before it meets the emulsion.

Drain the tomato properlyThis is the hinge. Sieved cooked tomato is mostly water, and water thins and eventually breaks a mayonnaise. Hang the pulp in a doubled napkin or several layers of cheesecloth for two to four hours until it is a thick paste; tomato paste from a tube is the modern shortcut and behaves the same way.
"Very firm" mayonnaiseBuild the base stiffer than usual "— more oil in proportion to yolk, less vinegar "— so it can absorb the tomato without slackening. If it does loosen, restart with a fresh yolk and beat the split sauce into it a spoonful at a time.
Working proportionsThe original gives none. For 1 cup of firm mayonnaise, start with 2 to 3 tablespoons of drained tomato pulp, 1 tablespoon of blanched shallot, 1 teaspoon of anchovy essence and cayenne on the point of a knife, then adjust.
Blanched shallotsChop fine, drop into boiling water for 30 seconds, then refresh in cold water and squeeze dry in a cloth. Blanching removes the raw harshness and, more practically, the moisture that would otherwise leak into the sauce.
Anchovy essenceA Victorian bottled condiment of anchovy, salt and spice, still sold in Britain. Anchovy paste thinned with a little water is the closest substitute; a mashed salted fillet also works. Salt the sauce only after it goes in.
Cayenne"Powdered cayenne" here is straight ground cayenne pepper, not a blended chili powder. It is there for heat and colour both, and the sauce should carry a distinct bite.
Raw yolksThe mayonnaise is never cooked. If serving anyone elderly, pregnant, very young or immunocompromised, use pasteurised eggs or a pasteurised-egg mayonnaise as the base.
Keeping and servingMade this way it should hold two or three days refrigerated, though the tomato dulls after the first day. Cold mayonnaise sauces of this kind were generally served with cold poached fish, lobster and shellfish, cold poultry and composed salads; a cup will dress roughly four to six portions.

A Little History

Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its cold-sauce chapter includes a long run of mayonnaise variations in the French manner " Cardinal, Provencal, Figaro " each a base sauce plus two or three defining flavours. The name is usually traced to Beaumarchais's barber of Seville, though the supposed link between his Spanish setting and the tomato is culinary tradition rather than documented fact; the better-known Figaro is a hot one, hollandaise with tomato and parsley, and this cold version is its mayonnaise counterpart. The construction suits the period's brigade cooking: a batch of base sauce held in the larder, portioned off and finished to order, which is why Ranhofer can write an entire recipe as a cross-reference and four additions. Anchovy essence in the list is a reminder that even a classically French American kitchen of the day kept English bottled condiments within reach.