Fish Velouté
This is the backbone of seafood cookery. It is lean, clean, and acts as a canvas for the delicate flavors of white fish or shellfish.
Clarity is everything.
Use a cold, high-quality fish stock. If your stock is cloudy or tastes overly fishy, the sauce will reflect those flaws.
- Heavy-bottomed saucepan
- Wire whisk
- Fine-mesh sieve
What goes in.
- 2 tbspunsalted butter
- 2 tbspall-purpose flour
- 2 cupscold fish stock
- to tastekosher salt
- pinchwhite pepper
Cooking the Flour
Cook the butter and flour mixture over medium-low heat for three minutes, whisking constantly, until it smells like baked pastry but shows no color.
The method.
Prepare the roux
Melt butter in the saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in the flour and whisk until the mixture is smooth and bubbling gently.
Incorporate the stock
Add the cold stock in a steady stream while whisking vigorously to prevent lumps. Continue whisking until the liquid reaches a simmer.
Simmer to finish
Turn the heat to the lowest setting. Skim any foam that rises to the top and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
Strain and season
Pass the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Season with salt and white pepper just before serving.
Other turns to take.
Sauce Bercy
Reduce white wine and finely minced shallots before whisking in the finished velouté.
Sauce Normande
Finish the velouté with a liaison of egg yolk and heavy cream to thicken and enrich.
When it doesn't go to plan.
Keep your stock cold when adding it to the hot roux; it prevents clumping better than warm stock.
Do not let the roux brown; a velouté must remain pale yellow.
If the sauce thickens too much, whisk in a small splash of warm stock to bring it back to a pourable consistency.
The ones that keep coming up.
Why use white pepper instead of black?
White pepper is used to maintain the visual appearance of the light-colored sauce without leaving dark specks.
How do I keep a skin from forming while it sits?
Place a piece of buttered parchment paper directly onto the surface of the sauce.
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