Red Mullet with Sauce Maltaise (demo)
Matthew Ryle created this dish for MasterChef UK Professionals Season 18. A classical French skills test benchmark: pan-fried red mullet with crispy skin served on vermouth-braised fennel, accompanied by a blood orange and grapefruit citrus salad, and finished with Sauce Maltaise - a beurre noisette hollandaise enriched with reduced blood orange juice. TECHNICAL NOTES • Why beurre noisette (brown butter) rather than clarified butter? Conventional hollandaise uses clarified butter to remove the water and milk solids, producing a clean, pure richness. Ryle's use of brown butter instead adds a layer of nutty, toasted complexity that deepens the sauce without obscuring the blood orange. It is a small departure from the absolute orthodoxy that reveals the chef's hand. • Temperature is everything in hollandaise. The reduction must be cool. The butter must be warm, not hot. The bain marie water must barely simmer - if the steam is vigorous, the bowl is too hot and the yolks will scramble. Th…
- Time: 60 min
Source: Relaxed Recipes
Ingredients
- MAKE THE HOLLANDAISE REDUCTION
- Combine the shallots, thyme, white wine vinegar, white wine, water, and lightly
- BROWN THE BUTTER
- Melt the butter in a small, light-coloured saucepan over medium heat. Continue c
- MAKE THE BLOOD ORANGE REDUCTION
- Pour the freshly squeezed blood orange juice into a small saucepan and reduce ov
- BRAISE THE FENNEL
- Heat the olive oil and butter in a wide, shallow pan over medium-high heat. Plac
- FILLET AND PIN-BONE THE RED MULLET
- Lay each fish on a board with its back facing you. Using a sharp, flexible fille
- ASSEMBLE THE CITRUS SALAD
- Supreme the blood orange and grapefruit: cut off the top and bottom, remove the
- BUILD THE SAUCE MALTAISE
- Set a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water — the base of the bowl
- COOK THE RED MULLET
- Heat a non-stick or well-seasoned stainless pan over medium-high heat until very
- PLATE
- Place the braised fennel in the centre of each warm plate. Lay the red mullet fi