Cold ravigote is vinaigrette's more assertive cousin, loaded with capers, cornichons, shallot brunoise, and a quartet of fine herbs. Where classical vinaigrette defers to the salad, ravigote commands attention — it is a condiment sauce as much as a dressing. The base follows standard vinaigrette proportions but uses a sharper acid, typically white wine vinegar, and a more generous hand with Dijon mustard. The garnish is everything: nonpareil capers contribute salt and floral bitterness, cornichons add crunch and lactic tang, shallots provide allium heat tempered by a brief maceration in the vinegar, and the herbs — chervil, tarragon, flat-leaf parsley, chives — must be cut by hand to a fine chiffonade, never processed, to avoid bruising and oxidation. The sauce sits for 30 minutes before service to allow flavours to meld, but no longer than two hours or the herbs darken. Traditional pairings include calf's head (tête de veau), poached beef tongue, and cold poached fish — all proteins that benefit from aggressive seasoning. The texture should be loose and spoonable, with visible herb confetti throughout. A properly made cold ravigote demonstrates the saucier's knife work as much as their palate.
Sharp white wine vinegar base with generous mustard. All garnish cut by hand — brunoise shallot, chiffonade herbs, whole capers. Rest 30 minutes for flavour integration, serve within 2 hours. More condiment than dressing — pairs with bland-textured cold proteins.
Macerate diced shallot in the vinegar for 10 minutes before building the dressing — this tames the raw bite and infuses the acid. Add a teaspoon of the caper brine for additional complexity. If serving with tête de veau, include a few drops of the cooking liquor in the vinaigrette base for collagen body.
Processing herbs in a blender, which bruises them into a green paste. Letting the sauce sit overnight — herbs oxidise and flavour turns bitter. Forgetting to macerate shallots in vinegar first — raw allium burn overwhelms. Using large capers instead of nonpareils — texture becomes intrusive.
Escoffier, Le Guide Culinaire; Larousse Gastronomique