Sauce ivoire is chicken velouté elevated by a discreet addition of pale meat glaze — glace de viande blanche — that deepens the sauce's flavour while maintaining its characteristic ivory colour. Where sauce suprême enriches with cream, ivoire enriches with concentrated meat stock, giving it a savoury intensity that cream cannot provide. The base is a well-made chicken velouté, simmered and skimmed for 45 minutes to remove all impurities. The glace — made from reduced white veal or chicken stock — is whisked in gradually, tasting after each addition. The amount is modest: two tablespoons per litre of velouté is typically sufficient. Too much darkens the sauce past ivory into amber, and the concentrated glaze flavour overwhelms the delicate chicken. A final enrichment of cream and cold butter brings the sauce to its characteristic silkiness. The finished sauce should be the colour of old piano keys — warm off-white with the faintest golden tinge from the glaze. It should taste primarily of chicken, with the glaze registering as depth rather than a distinct flavour. Sauce ivoire is the classical accompaniment for poached chicken (poularde pochée) and vol-au-vent, where its subtlety complements rather than competes with the mild poultry.
Chicken velouté base, simmered 45 minutes. White meat glaze (glace blanche) for depth — 2 tablespoons per litre maximum. Cream and cold butter finish for silkiness. Must remain ivory — not amber. Glaze should register as depth, not as a distinct flavour.
If white meat glaze is unavailable, reduce chicken stock to one-tenth volume and use that — it will be paler and less intense than veal glaze. Add the glaze off heat and whisk vigorously — cold glaze melts more smoothly in a warm (not boiling) sauce. For the most refined ivoire, strain the finished sauce through muslin before the butter mount.
Adding too much glaze — the sauce darkens and the concentrated flavour overwhelms. Using brown glace instead of white — the colour becomes amber and the flavour too robust. Confusing ivoire with suprême — suprême uses cream enrichment, ivoire uses glaze enrichment. Under-simmering the base velouté — impurities remain and the sauce lacks refinement.
Escoffier, Le Guide Culinaire; Larousse Gastronomique