Sauce Américaine is a rich, velvety and intense supreme sauce which is made by simmering lobster and flavourful aromatics in white wine, cognac and fish stock. After it is reduced slightly, the sauce is thickened with a Beurre Manié and double cream. It is not the quickest or the easiest sauces to make but the result is totally worth it! The sauce can be served with any type of fish but it is also very good with pasta! I used it to make traditional Lyonnaise Fish Quennelles but the left over sauce I just stirred into pasta the next day and it was delicious!
History of Sauce Américaine
The history of this sauce is not very well documented. Because of its name, many people thought that this sauce was invented in the United States, specifically New York. However, we now know that this is not the case and that Sauce Américaine is a French sauce.
The most accepted story is that Chef Pierre Fraisse, who was originally from the south of France, spent some time working in Chicago. At some point, he returned to France to open a restaurant in Paris. He created Sauce Américaine at this point and it became know with this name because of Chef Pierre’s experience and influence working in the United States.
In the past it was thought that the correct name for this sauce is Sauce Armoricaine, to imply that it was from Brittany in France whose Roman name was Armorica. However, this theory has been rejected multiple times by culinary experts and researchers. Most books and publications now refer to this sauce as Sauce Américaine.
Why is this referred to as a supreme sauce?
First of all, what is a supreme sauce? Sauce Suprême is a classic French sauce that is made by enriching a velouté with double cream. A velouté is a stock that has been thickened with a roux, and it is considered one of the five mother sauces. Since a Sauce Suprême is a derivative of a velouté, it is considered a daughter sauce.
Sauce Américaine is considered a supreme sauce because it involves making a lobster based stock, then thickening it with Buerre Manie (basically an uncooked roux) creating a velouté. After that, it is enriched with double cream, making it a supreme sauce.
Important things to pay attention to
Let the sauce simmer, but don’t overcook the lobster
Overcooking the lobster will make the meat tough and dry. So when making Sauce Américaine, it is important to remove the lobster meat from the pot after it’s been cooked enough, usually 15 to 20 minutes. Depending on the size of the lobster, there is usually not a lot of meat in the legs, so there I leave those to simmer in the sauce throughout the cooking process together with the head. I remove the tail and the claws, take the meat out of the shells, reserve it and then add the shells back into the sauce so they continue to release their flavour.
Use the ripest tomatoes you can find and add some tomato paste to help the bright red colour
Sauce Américaine has a characteristic bright reddish colour that assimilates the colour of a cooked lobster. This red colour however does not come only from the lobster juices themselves but rather from the tomatoes. For this reason, it is important to use very ripe tomatoes so they add sweetness to the sauce but also help with the colour. If needed, one can also add a small amount of tomato paste to enhance the colour.
Strain the sauce before thickening, for maximum yield
After the sauce has simmered for about an hour, it needs to be strained through a fine meshed sieve to remove the solids. Some recipes call for straining the sauce at the very end, after it’s been thickened with the Buerre Manie and the double cream. However, I find that straining the sauce before thickening is better because it yields a bit more sauce. And trust me, you would want to get every drop of this intense and delicious sauce! 🙂
Sauce Américaine
Ingredients
- 1 Live Lobster
- 1 Medium sized onion, finely diced
- 1 Medium sized carrot, finely diced
- 2 Garlic cloves, smashed
- One half a celery stalk, roughly chopped
- 2 Medium sized tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
- 1 Tarragon sprig
- 40 ml Neutral oil
- 75 ml Cognac
- 300 ml Dry white whine
- 300 ml Fish stock
- 50 grams Butter
- 15 grams Plain flour
- 75 ml Double cream
- Small pinch of cayenne pepper
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Do the mise en place, i.e. peel and chop the vegetables and arrange the other ingredients so that they are ready to use when you need them. Prepare a large pot of boiling water.
- Rinse the lobster under cold running water, ensuring that it is clean from any slime. Hold the lobster firmly on a chopping board and insert a knife in it carapace (an inch or so behind its eyes). This will kill the lobster instantly.
- Plunge the lobster in the boiling water and let it cook for 1 minute. Carefully take it out of the pot and put on a chopping board. Separate the head and the tail. Cut the tail into 4 or 5 rings. Separate the claws from the head and cut them across the articulation. Use the back of a large knife to crack the large claws. Do not peel the claws just yet; simply cracking them will ensure they release their flavour into the sauce when cooked, without the meat breaking up into small pieces while stirring.
- Split the head of the lobster lengthwise. Remove the gills, i.e. the feathery objects located above the feelers. Scrape out the tomalley (greenish substance towards the end of the head) and reserve in a bowl.
- Place a large pot on medium-high heat. Add the neutral oil and let it heat up properly. Season the lobster pieces with salt and pepper and add them to the pot. Sauté the lobster for a few minutes until the shell turns bright red and there is caramelisation at the bottom of the pot. Remove the lobster from the pot and reserve in a plate.
- Lower the heat slightly and add the onion, carrots and celery to the pot. Sauté them for a few minutes until they soften. Add the garlic, cayenne pepper and the lobster pieces and continue cooking for another 2 minute.
- Pour in the Cognac and deglaze the pan. If possible, ignite the Cognac to burn off the alcohol quicker. Let the Cognac reduce almost completely, then add the wine and the fish stock. Deglaze the pan if there are still caramelised bits on the bottom.
- Add the tomatoes and the bouqet garni to the pot and bring it to a simmer. Adjust the heat so that the sauce simmers gently. Cook for 15 minutes.
- Remove the parts of the lobster that contain the meat from the pot. Continue simmering the sauce for another 45 minutes. I like to pick the meat from the claws and the tail pieces and return the shells into the sauce so they can continue to release flavour.
- If any foam or scum floats to the top, skim it with a ladle or a spoon.
- Pass the sauce through a fine sieve and collect the sauce into a clean pot. Discard the solids and return the strained sauce to a medium heat and bring to a simmer again.
- Mash the tomalley with the softened butter and the flour until they form a smooth paste. Once the sauce is simmering, add small amounts of the paste while stirring with a whisk. The sauce will thicken because of the flour. Stop adding the paste when the desired consistency is achieved.
- Add the cream and stir. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.