What Is Foyot Sauce?

Have you come across Foyot sauce but are not sure what it is. Perhaps it was mentioned in a recipe; maybe you’ve seen it on a menu. Either way, it’s an old sauce created by a chef around the time of the French revolution. It has since fallen out of popularity, but it is a really nice sauce if you’re making steak, so it pays to learn how to make it from scratch (or buy the two ingredients needed to make it the easy way!). Anyway, chances are you want to find out exactly what Foyot sauce is, what it tastes like, and how to make it. 

So, what is Foyot sauce? Foyot sauce is a variation of Béarnaise sauce. Béarnaise sauce is a creamy French sauce made with eggs, clarified butter, vinegar, wine, shallots, peppercorns, chervil, and tarragon. To make Foyot sauce, you simply add meat glaze (glace de viande). This adds a deep meaty flavor to the tanginess of the Béarnaise sauce. 

Foyot sauce works well with grilled steak. However, you can serve it with vegetables too and even fish, if you like a meaty undertone in a sauce. 

It’s also known as sauce Foyot (French) and Valois (by the way). 

Now, let’s learn more about how to use Foyot sauce, its flavor profile, various recipes, and similar sauces.

What Is Foyot Sauce Made Of?

Foyot sauce is made by combining Béarnaise sauce with meat glaze (glace de viande–NOT to be confused with demi-glace, which requires a lot more work). 

Foyot sauce is a sauce with a history. It started way back when, with the invention of sauce hollandaise (Hollandic sauce), known to us as hollandaise sauce. 

The first mention of the sauce is in a recipe by La Varenne in 1651 in one of his cookbooks. 

A 1667 a similar recipe was published in Holland. 

The theory, therefore, is that the French Huguenots brought the sauce with them back after they returned from exile, though it’s just as likely La Varenne invented the sauce. 

Hollandaise sauce is made by combining butter, egg yolks, and lemon juice.

Eventually, Escoffier included hollandaise sauce in his list of the five mother sauces of haute cuisine (it was removed from the English version, however). 

Béarnaise, in turn, is a derivate of hollandaise sauce. 

Béarnaise sauce was invented by chef Collinet in the 1800s. 

The story goes that it’s named after Béarn, where Henri IV was from, and was first served at the 1836 opening of Le Pavillon Henri IV–Collinet’s restaurant. 

Béarnaise sauce is made from egg yolks, clarified butter, wine, vinegar, shallots, tarragon, chervil, and peppercorns. 

To make Foyot sauce, you add meat glaze, which is really a reduction of brown stock (i.e., meat stock). Meat glaze or glace de viande is thinner than demi-glaze. It’s also significantly easier to make. 

The Foyot sauce got its name from Chef Foyot–chef to Louis Phillipe, King of France (1830 to 1848). 

He lost his job during the French revolution and decided to open his own restaurant instead. 

According to legend, he was so large by the time he passed that he needed a special coffin!

Foyot sauce is not very common these days, so you may become quite popular if you give your friends a taste of it next time you hold a dinner party. 

So long as you serve an overall healthy meal and don’t overdo it with the creamy sauce, that is. 

It’s a nice touch if you make a steak and step away from the traditional Béarnaise. 

As you need to be able to make both Béarnaise sauce and meat glaze to make Foyot sauce, let’s start with the recipes for those. 

However, if you’re feeling lazy, you can buy ready-made Béarnaise sauce and make meat glaze from bought brown stock. You may even be able to buy meat glaze. 

Recipe Option One for Béarnaise Sauce 

• 1 cup of clarified butter
• 4 large egg yolks 
• ½ cup of white wine vinegar 
• ½ tsp of crushed black peppercorns
• 2 tbsp of chopped shallots 
• 1 tbsp of chopped fresh tarragon
• 1 tbsp of chopped fresh chervil or parsley
• Salt, to taste
• Cayenne pepper, or Tabasco sauce, to taste
• Lemon juice, to taste 

Note: A more traditional recipe (see below) won’t call for lemon juice, but it will call for wine. 

For full instructions, look here. 

Recipe Option Two for Béarnaise Sauce 

• ½ cup of dry white wine
• ¼ cup of white wine vinegar
• 3 sprigs of chervil, leaves finely minced, stems reserved separately (optional; if not using, add an extra sprig of tarragon)
• 3 sprigs of tarragon, leaves finely minced, stems reserved separately
• 1 small shallot, thinly sliced
• ½ tsp of whole black peppercorns
• 2 large egg yolks
• Salt
• 1 ½ sticks (12 tbsps) of unsalted butter

For full instructions, look here. 

Now, let’s move on to some recipes for meat glaze. 

If you want to make it easy, you buy brown stock and cook it to reduce it. 

Opinions seem to vary if you need to cook it for 5-6 hours and reduce it by 9/10ths or cook it for an hour and reduce it by half… 

Everyone agrees you need to strain it using a fine mesh strainer, or cheesecloth, however. 

If you want to make meat glaze from scratch, you need to do a little more work, though it certainly isn’t rocket science.   

Note that the meat glaze shouldn’t be too salty, especially if you’re using pre-made Béarnaise sauce that’s already been seasoned. 

If you use ready-made brown stock, try to find one that has little or no added salt (low/no sodium). 

Recipe Option One for Meat Glaze (Glace de Viande) 

• 10 to 15 Pounds of meat scraps, bones, and fat. (See note below)
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2 large ribs of celery, cut up
• 6 sprigs of parsley
• ⅛ tsp of thyme
• ¼ tsp of savory
• 2 bay leaves
• 12 whole peppercorns
•  Cold water

Note: Use any and all bones and scraps, fat or lean, cooked or raw, from beef, veal, chicken, or pork. Beef should predominate, and knuckle bones yield lots of gelatin, but you can achieve decent meat glaze with 15 pounds of almost anything.

Do not, however, use cured meats (too salty), lamb (too strong), smoked meats (too pronounced), or (as far as I’m concerned) even turkey (duck and goose are all right).

It is possible, of course, to go out and buy 15 pounds of beef and veal bones and make superb meat glaze. But it is unnecessary. 

For full instructions, look here. 

Recipe Option Two for Meat Glaze

• 5-7 pounds of meat and bones
• 1-2 pounds feet, cartilage, and/or silverskin
• Kosher or sea salt
• 2 chopped onions
• 4 chopped carrots
• 5 chopped celery sticks
• ½ pound of mushrooms, chopped (optional)
• 1 fennel bulb, chopped (optional)
• Stems from 1 bunch of parsley
• Large sprig of fresh thyme or 1 tablespoon dried
• Large sprig of rosemary or 1 tablespoon dried
• 1 tbsp of cracked black pepper
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp of crushed juniper berries (optional)

For full instructions, look here. 

Recipe Option Three for Meat Glaze

• 5-6 lbs. of beef bones, leg bones, cut in 2 to 3-inch lengths (have the butcher saw them up)
• Extra virgin olive oil, as needed 
• 3-4 lbs. of chuck roast, cut in large chunks (or another well-flavored cut of beef)
• 2-3 large onions, unpeeled, quartered 
• 5-6 cloves of garlic, unpeeled, lightly crushed 
• 3-4 stalks of celery, with leaves, if possible, cut into 2-inch pieces 
• 3-4 large carrots, scrubbed and cut into 2-inch pieces 
• 2 plum tomatoes, quartered 
• 2 cups of dry white wine or 2 cups of water 
• 1 bunch of parsley stems (or 1 bunch of parsley if desired)
• 4-6 large bay leaves 
• 1 tsp of whole black peppercorn 

For full instructions, look here. 

Recipe Option One for Foyot Sauce 

• 1 pint of Béarnaise sauce
• 2 tbsp of meat glaze 

For full instructions, look here. 

Recipe Option Two for Foyot Sauce 

• 0.25 bunches of tarragon
• 10 cl of dry white wine
• 10 cl of white wine vinegar
• 5 g of white pepper
• 2 shallots
• 300g of soft butter
• 6 pinches of fine salt
• 0.25 bunches of chervil
• 4 egg yolks
• 5 cl of Meat glaze

For full instructions, look here (it’s in French, so if you don’t speak French, you’ll need Google Translate or similar). 

What Does Foyot Sauce Taste Like?

Foyot sauce is thick, creamy, slightly tangy, and with notes of onion, tarragon, peppercorns, chervil, and beef stock. 

If you’ve tasted Béarnaise sauce, you know that it’s slightly tangy in taste and flavored with shallots, tarragon, and chervil. 

Add to that a meaty undertone, and you get a fair understanding of the taste of Foyot sauce.

If you’ve never had Béarnaise sauce, you could imagine a meaty undertone to a tangy mayonnaise instead, though it doesn’t fully explain what Foyot sauce tastes like. 

What Do You Eat Foyot Sauce With?

Traditionally, Foyot sauce is paired with a nice steak. You can use it for vegetables and poultry too, even fish, though bear in mind the sauce has a meaty taste to it. 

If you want something other than Béarnaise sauce but quite favor Béarnaise sauce for your steak, then try having Foyot sauce instead. 

It’s very similar to Béarnaise sauce but has a nice meaty taste to it. 

As Foyot sauce is made with meat glaze, it undeniably tastes of meat. 

However, it can still be used as an accompaniment to fish, though you might be better of with regular Béarnaise for that.

For vegetables, on the other hand, it works really well, granted you aren’t a vegetarian!

What Is Similar To Foyot Sauce? 

The most similar sauce in taste to Foyot sauce is Béarnaise sauce, as that makes up the base of Foyot sauce. Naturally, it also tastes like a meat glaze. Another sauce that’s very similar is Colbert sauce, which is made with Foyot sauce and added reduced white wine. 

The sauces that most closely represent Foyot sauce in taste are Béarnaise sauce and Colbert sauce. 

Other sauces that use Béarnaise sauce as a base, such as sauce Choron and sauce Paloise are also similar in taste. 

Finally

Foyot sauce is a twist on the beloved Béarnaise sauce and is very simple to make if you happen to sit on some Béarnaise sauce and meat glaze, or even just some brown stock that you can easily reduce down to meat glaze. 

As Foyot sauce is not all that common, it can be a nice sauce to serve at your next dinner party if you’re planning to make steak and want to give your guests a new taste experience (granted, they aren’t all excellent cooks who dabble in old French sauces). 

Want to learn more about French sauces? Then my other guides may be of interest:

• What Is Bearnaise Sauce?
• What Is Chasseur Sauce?
• What Is Bordelaise Sauce?
• What Is Sauce Vierge?
• What Is Mornay Sauce?
• What Is Madeira Sauce?