Sauce Gribiche (Egg, Caper and Cornichon Sauce)

A cold sauce built on cooked egg yolks emulsified with oil, vinegar and mustard, then loaded with chopped whites, cornichons, capers and fines herbes.

Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is part of the collection’s French batch and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) white or red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) Dijon mustard
• Kosher salt and black pepper, as needed to season the sauce
• 1 cup (237 ml) extra-virgin olive oil or neutral oil, or a mix
• 10 cornichons (about 2 ounces; 57 g), finely diced
• 2 tablespoons drained capers (1 ounce; 28 g), chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced fines herbes (parsley, tarragon, chervil)

Directions

Key ingredients

Black Pepper · Mustard · Olive Oil · Salt

1. Boil 3 quarts (2.8 liters) water and have an ice bath ready. Lower in the eggs and boil 30 seconds, then cover, turn the heat to a bare simmer and cook 9 minutes for jammy yolks or 11 minutes for hard. Chill in the ice bath at least 15 minutes and peel.
2. Scoop the yolks into a bowl or blender and finely dice the whites.
3. Add the vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper to the yolks and whisk or blend until almost smooth. Drizzle in the oil in a thin stream while whisking, so that it emulsifies. (Hard yolks break more easily; for the broken style, add the oil faster.)
4. Stir in the cornichons, capers, herbs and chopped whites. Season, and serve or refrigerate airtight.

Notes

Source Adapted from Daniel Gritzer, “Sauce Gribiche,” Serious Eats.

Two styles Classic French sources describe gribiche as an emulsified cold sauce, a relative of mayonnaise; the broken style is now common. Its specific origins are unclear.

The photo The photograph shows a ramekin of sauce gribiche.