Albert Sauce is a sauce used to accompany roast beef.
To make it, horseradish is first grated, then boiled for 20 minutes in a light-coloured and light-tasting consommé, just enough to cover it well.
Then butter sauce [1], cream and fine breadcrumbs are added. The sauce is then reduced while stirring, then strained, returned to pan, thickened with an egg yolk, and seasoned with English mustard and vinegar.
This is classed in French cooking as a compound sauce.
Some people prepare a mock version of it by adding a spoonful or two of prepared horseradish to a white sauce.
[1] The Butter Sauce used is the version called “Sauce au beurre à l’anglaise” in classical French cooking. See separate entry on Butter Sauce for the recipe.
Cooking Tips
Albert Sauce Recipe
75 g (3 oz / ½ cup) grated fresh horseradish
100 ml (6 tablespoons) of a light consommé
150 ml (¼ pint / ⅔ cup) Butter Sauce (Sauce au beurre à l’anglaise)
100 ml (6 tablespoons) cream
25 g (1 oz / ½ cup) fine bread crumbs
1 egg yolk
salt
pepper
½ teaspoon English mustard
vinegar
Simmer the grated horseradish in the consommé for 20 minutes. Stir in the butter sauce, then stir in the breadcrumbs, then bring to a boil over high heat and reduce by boiling most of the visible liquid off. Take off the heat and press through a strainer. Put the strained sauce back in the saucepan, stir in the egg yolk and season with salt and pepper. Dilute the ½ teaspoon English mustard with a few drops of vinegar, then stir into the sauce to flavour, and serve.
Language Notes
Though in the popular mind it’s assumed that the sauce is named after Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria (and Larousse Gastronomique makes the same assumption), there’s actually no proof one way or another exactly who it is named after.