Sauce gribiche
A classic of French bistro cooking, a mayonnaise built not on raw yolk but on hard-boiled yolk. The result differs from mayonnaise: thicker, grainier and safe to keep. The key is pushing the yolks through a sieve — crushed with a fork they stay in lumps and the oil has nothing to suspend in. The white goes in last, in pieces, as texture rather than base.
Your own work in that: 15 min.
- Eggs 15 min
- Emulsion 15 min
- Resting 10 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneHard boil the eggs and chill them
Boil the eggs 9 minutes from the boil and plunge them into iced water. Do not cook them longer — an overcooked yolk gets a grey-green ring and a sulphurous taste, and both carry into the sauce.
Ingredients: 4 pcs eggs · 2 tbsp Dijon mustard · 2 tbsp wine vinegar · 250 ml oil · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper
Separate yolks from whites
Peel the eggs, separate the yolks from the whites and set the whites aside. They are two different ingredients here: the yolk is the emulsifier, the white purely texture added at the end.
Ingredients: 4 pcs eggs · 2 tbsp Dijon mustard · 2 tbsp wine vinegar · 250 ml oil · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper
Push the yolks through a fine sieve
Push the yolks through a fine sieve, pressing with a spoon. Crushed with a fork they stay lumpy, and every lump is a place where the emulsion fails and the sauce starts to split.
Ingredients: 4 pcs eggs · 2 tbsp Dijon mustard · 2 tbsp wine vinegar · 250 ml oil · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper
Through a sieve, not a fork — lumps break the emulsion.Mix with mustard and vinegar
Work the sieved yolks with the mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper into a smooth paste. The mustard is a second emulsifier alongside the yolk, and without it the sauce takes the oil far less readily.
Ingredients: 4 pcs eggs · 2 tbsp Dijon mustard · 2 tbsp wine vinegar · 250 ml oil · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper
Add the oil drop by drop
Add the oil drop by drop at first, whisking hard, and once the sauce thickens, in a thin stream. Cooked yolk emulsifies less strongly than raw, so patience at the start matters even more than in mayonnaise.
Ingredients: 4 pcs eggs · 2 tbsp Dijon mustard · 2 tbsp wine vinegar · 250 ml oil · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper
Drop by drop at first — cooked yolk emulsifies weakly.Chop the whites into fine dice
Chop the whites into rice-grain dice, not to a paste. The pieces should be visible in the finished sauce — gribiche is meant to be distinctly grainy, unlike a smooth mayonnaise or remoulade.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp capers · 5 pcs cornichons · 1 pcs shallot · 2 tbsp tarragon · 3 tbsp parsley · 1 tbsp chervil
Fold in the additions and herbs
Fold in the whites, capers, cornichons, shallot and chopped herbs. Stir with a spoon, not a whisk — a whisk breaks up the egg white and the sauce loses its grainy texture.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp capers · 5 pcs cornichons · 1 pcs shallot · 2 tbsp tarragon · 3 tbsp parsley · 1 tbsp chervil
A spoon, not a whisk — the pieces must stay visible.Rest ten minutes and season again
Leave 10 minutes for the capers and shallot to give up their flavour, then season again. The sauce thickens meanwhile — if too thick, loosen it with a spoon of cold water, never more oil.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp capers · 5 pcs cornichons · 1 pcs shallot · 2 tbsp tarragon · 3 tbsp parsley · 1 tbsp chervil
Before you start
What to serve it with
Classically with tête de veau (poached calf's head), but above all with vegetables: warm leeks, asparagus, artichokes and potatoes. Excellent too with cold fish and with hard-boiled eggs — which returns it to itself.
Gribiche versus remoulade
Both are cold and both carry capers and cornichons, but remoulade is built on raw-yolk mayonnaise and is smooth, while gribiche is built on cooked yolk and is grainy. Gribiche contains no raw egg, so it is safe for children and pregnant women too.
Four days in the fridge
It keeps four days in a closed jar in the fridge and is better on the second, once the shallot and capers have flavoured the sauce. Take it out half an hour before serving — cold it is too thick to run over vegetables.