eGCI's class yesterday was for Cream Sauces. Choron Sauce is a derivation of Bearnaise Sauce, which is itself an alternate on Hollandaise Sauce. According to Larousse Gastronomique, Choron was a French cook from Caen who invented a hot emulsified sauce. By crossing a couple cookbooks with the instructions online, I came up with the following. I'm not sure what Choron Sauce is supposed to taste like, but I liked this, and the consistency (despite my great fear of scrambling the egg) was creamy and smooth.
Choron Sauce
1 TBSP white wine vinegar
1 tsp chopped shallot
2 oz stalks of tarragon
salt, pepper to taste
2 tsp cold water
1 egg yolk
4 oz unsalted butter
2 TBSP tomato paste
Boil vinegar, shallot, tarragon, salt and pepper. Remove from heat and whisk in the water. On low heat setting (just enough to melt the upcoming butter), whisk in the egg yolk until thickened (be careful not to scramble the egg!). Whisk in the butter 1/2 oz. at a time. Sauce should reach a "shiny" appearance between each bit of butter. Strain through a fine mesh (this will also catch any bits of overcooked egg plus the shallots and the tarragon bits). Whisk in tomato paste.
Though this seemed incredibly daunting when I was first reading about it, it went quite well and I was very pleased with the results, which I served with lightly salted/peppered baked chicken. Steamed snow pea pods on the side.
Posted by Jennifer at September 5, 2003 9:23 AM