Chaud-froid

(CC) Photo: Hayford Peirce
Chicken breasts in chaud-froid, decorated with tarragon and an extra layer of chicken aspic.

Chaud-froid (literally "hot-cold" in French) is a jellied white sauce used to decorate and flavor elegant, and sometimes very elaborate, French dishes such as cold chicken breasts or entire cold chickens. The classical preparation of it, as elaborated by 19th-century chefs such as Georges Auguste Escoffier for such dishes as Suprême de volaille Jeannette, began with a white velouté sauce, to which was added cream, for the color, and very thick jellied aspic, for the thickening. Strained and seasoned, frequently with tarragon, it would then be applied in one smooth layer after another onto cold dishes such as eggs and chicken until the final dish was smooth, white, and glossy. Sliced black truffles or other ingredients could be used to decorate the final dish. As a final embellishment, another smooth layer of tarragon-flavored jellied aspic might then be spread over the underlying chaud-froid.

Variations

A somewhat simpler method, as propounded by another famous chef, Louis Diat, is to add liquified gelatin to the velouté sauce and stir it with heavy cream. The American cookbook writer Julia Child prepares a somewhat lighter version, calling it Chaud-froid, Blanche Neige (Snow White's Chaud-froid). This consists of chicken aspic to which cream is added and the mixture is then reduced. There is no flour in this recipe, as in the classical preparation.