Choron is béarnaise coloured and flavoured with tomato concassée or concentrated tomato purée — the warmest and most visually striking of the hollandaise family. Named for the chef Alexandre-Étienne Choron (1837-1924), it trades the stark yellow of its parent sauce for a sunset coral-orange, and adds a gentle acidity that makes it the preferred accompaniment to grilled beef, particularly tournedos and entrecôte. Begin with a fully made béarnaise: shallot, tarragon, and chervil stems reduced in white wine vinegar until nearly dry; egg yolks whisked over gentle heat until thick and pale; clarified butter added in a thin stream until the emulsion is stable, thick, and creamy. Strain through a fine sieve. This is your foundation. For the tomato addition, two schools exist. The classical method: 2-3 tablespoons of very finely chopped tomato concassée (peeled, seeded, diced tomato, cooked gently in butter until dry and concentrated — the water must be removed or it breaks the emulsion). The modern method: 1-2 tablespoons of double-concentrated tomato paste, sieved smooth. Both work. The concassée gives texture and a fresher tomato character; the paste gives cleaner colour and a more concentrated flavour. Fold the tomato into the béarnaise gently — do not whisk vigorously, which can break an emulsion that is already at the limits of its stability. The finished Choron should be coral-orange, hold its shape on a spoon, taste first of tarragon and butter (the béarnaise identity), then of tomato as a warm afterthought. The tomato addition should feel like a blush, not a transformation. Choron is almost always served with grilled red meat. The combination of butter, tarragon, and tomato against the char and iron of a grilled steak is one of the great flavour marriages in French cuisine — each element exists to support the meat, and together they create a whole greater than the sum.
1. The base must be a fully finished béarnaise — not hollandaise with herbs. 2. Tomato concassée must be cooked DRY — excess water breaks the emulsion. 3. Fold tomato in gently — vigorous whisking destabilises the emulsion. 4. The target colour is coral-orange, not red. 5. Tomato is the undertone, not the dominant flavour — tarragon and butter lead.
For the cleanest colour, use the paste method and sieve it twice. For the best flavour, use the concassée method and accept a slightly less uniform colour. If making Choron for a large party, prepare the béarnaise and the dried concassée separately, combine to order — the sauce holds better without the tomato's sugars accelerating degradation.
Adding raw tomato or passata, which introduces water that breaks the emulsion. Whisking too aggressively when incorporating the tomato. Adding too much tomato, overwhelming the béarnaise character. Starting from hollandaise rather than béarnaise — Choron without tarragon is not Choron, it is just tomato hollandaise.
Provenance originals