Sauce Gribiche – mayo with a twist
Sauce Gribiche is best described as mayonnaise made with cooked egg yolks. It’s a classic French accompaniment for cold poached fish, but what sets it apart from the average mayonnaise is the added capers, cornichon, chopped egg whites and herbs.
I’ve made this many times, laboriously whisking the mayo with a fork as described by Escoffier in his tome “The Complete Guide To The Art Of Modern Cookery.” Escoffier’s method is not for the feint of heart, the weak of limb or the time poor, so I opted to use the food processor this time. I must confess the result was far better. I didn’t need to feed an army so I just used my common sense to make a domestic quantity of mayonnaise before adding the garnishes
Inspired by memories of pressed tongue with Sauce Gribiche, I fancied serving it with cold corned silverside. I have never cooked tongue and don’t intend to start now, however corned beef has made a resurgence in our household after a 20+year absence purely and simply because I allowed the butcher to talk me into it. I had no better ideas for dinner. We enjoyed it much, much more than anticipated, in fact I’ve cooked corned beef from the same butcher a couple of times since and I’ll be back for more another day to serve with Sauce Gribiche.
I piled leftover Sauce Gribiche onto steamed asparagus for a light lunch the next day, and then with the remainder I dressed some steamed potatoes to make a memorable potato salad.
This year Sauce Gribiche will be a summertime constant. I’ll dollop it onto salmon and trout, dress steamed green beans and asparagus, serve it with cold roast chicken and leftover corned beef and it will be my potato salad dressing of choice.
Sauce Gribiche
2 eggs, hard boiled and peeled
1 egg yolk extra, at room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
1 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped cornichons
2 tablespoon capers, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon finely snipped chives
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Cut the boiled eggs in half, remove the yolks to the food processor jug.
Finely chop the egg white and set aside with the capers and cornichons.
Add the raw egg yolk to the food processor jug along with the mustard and vinegar.
Pulse the processor until the cooked yolk is smooth then with the motor running begin to very slowly drizzle in the olive oil. The first 1/2 cup of oil should be added very slowly.
With the processor motor running, add the remaining olive oil in a steady stream. You should end up with a thick mayonnaise.
Fold through the chopped capers, cornichon, egg white and herbs.
Taste the mayonnaise and season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
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22 comments on “Sauce Gribiche – mayo with a twist”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Please Pass the Recipe 
Wow. Why have I never heard of this??? It sounds wonderful – I think I could spread it on just about anything!!!
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Definitely a sauce to make over and over…..
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Sounds delicious Sandra. Silverside is a regular in our house too. My husband loves mustard pickle in the winter but am thinking this would be especially nice in the summer, and with so many other uses it is one I will try soon. Thank you.
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Once I would have enjoyed pickle on my corned beef but now the only pre prepared condiment that agrees with me is mustard, so the marriage of sauce gribiche and corned beef is a blessing. I hope you like it too….
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Yes, I am the same Sandra, no pre prepared condiments except mustard for me either. It’s inconvenient but possibly healthier?
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Corned beef is a regular on our menu… Sauce Gribiche sounds like a wonderful idea to accompany it. My grandmother made a lovely old-fashioned mayo with boiled eggs so I can imagine Sauce Gribiche with its additon of capers & cornichons – yum 🙂
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I’m a big fan of corned beef, Sandra, and believe this sauce would be a very good accompaniment. I only hope that when I taste it to check seasoning, that taste doesn’t become the first of many spoonfuls. Know thyself … 🙂
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Oh John, I hear you! But tasting to check the seasoning is imperitive……and flavours do ripen…..you can’t be too careful😉
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What a wonderful sauce. This would disappear quickly in our house with my caper lovers! I’ve made a mayonnaise with capers and cornichons added which we all enjoy with fish, the added hard boiled eggs sound fantastic.
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Thanks Gretchen, it is delicious, and making the mayo with cooked yolks makes the sauce more substantial
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Delicious, made it years ago at school and what a neat idea, to pair it with corned beef.
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I didn’t ever make anything this fancy at school, it’s excellent with so many different things…
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As I love the depth of flavour love to make this in spring to go with asparagus and tiny steamed potatoes with skins on . . . actually do make it by hand for a thicker consistency! And, still in some ways being Northern European in some of my food tastes absolutely love to cook tongue, preferably of a younger beast , , , that wonderful feeling peeling off the skin, feeling the soft meat in your hands and having the aroma wafting into your nose! And so very many things one can make out of leftovers – which leftovers: my favourite thing to put on sandwiches so there barely are any . . . yes, sometimes eat it with sauce gribiche 😀 !!!
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I mentioned eating tongue to some young people the other day and they were horrified. The nose to tail movement has some hard yards to do to make offal and other secondary cuts attractive. I love this sauce with many different foods…
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*laughter’ When I was ‘young and gay’ there definitely was no ‘nose to tail movement’ but back in Estonia tongue, kidneys, oxtail, calves liver, tripe and especially sweetbreads [but oddly rarely brains ?[ were regarded as much more exciting food than steak or chops . . . . what goes around comes around it seems!! I have 19th century cookery books with dozens of recipes for the above: well, nice and cheap here – am not complaining!!
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Was not aware of this. It seems similar to remoulade and would be great on fried fish. Thanks for sharing!
PS did you post a recipe for corned beef?
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No, I haven’t written about corned beef, it’s on the to do list. Sauce Gribiche is delicious and multi purpose
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Looking forward to your post about corned beef!
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I don’t believe I’ve ever made it (and with cooked eggs, I would be making it for myself alone, as Boyfriend won’t eat it), but boy does it look and sound incredible. I bet it would work with almost any steamed vegetables (thinking cauliflower or broccoli); your potato salad sounds delicious.
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A delicious French classic that I just love served in a non traditional way, enjoy..
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Although aware of it, I have never made sauce Gribiche. When you mentioned dolloped on trout or salmon, I was hooked. Must give it a go…when my energy returns.
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It’s an easy sauce Francesca, minimum energy required but it delivers, especially on fish
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