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Ravigote Sauce

A French sauce made from egg yolks, herbs, mustard, anchovies, tuna, butter, olive oil, lemon, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Ravigote Sauce

Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ravigote Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Pound the egg yolks, tarragon, chervil, mustard, cress, chives, capers, gherkins, tuna, and anchovies into a paste.

  2. Add the softened butter, olive oil, and lemon juice.

  3. Season with Cayenne pepper and mix well.

Store

  1. Store in a cool place.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together824 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Chervil + chivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together370 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Chervil + caperstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together135 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Mustard + caperstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together624 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Chive + caperstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together245 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Emulsify the butter and oil, giving the sauce a smooth, thick body.
Unsalted butter
Adds richness and a creamy, silky texture to the sauce.
Olive oil
Adds fat and helps hold the emulsion together for a smooth finish.
Anchovies
Contribute a deep, savoury saltiness that rounds out the sauce.
Gherkins
Add acidity and a crisp tang that cuts through the rich fats.
Capers
Add a sharp, briny acidity that brightens the sauce.

The step that matters

Adding the butter and oil to the paste. Fats must be added gradually and mixed well so they emulsify with the egg yolk paste. Adding them too fast can cause the sauce to separate and turn greasy instead of smooth.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, tarragon, chervil, chive, capers, fish, butter):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, tarragon, chervil, chive, capers, fish, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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