Professor Butter Beard’s “The Marvelous Sauce”
“Mother went off for three days to New York and Mame and Quentin took instant advantage of her absence to fall sick. Quentin's sickness was surely due to a riot in candy and ice-cream with chocolate sauce.” - Theodore Roosevelt
My relationship with “sauce” has evolved. Like many, I remember the spectacular mashup of yellow mustard and tomato ketchup slathered on a crackling hot dog fresh from the charcoal grill. Then came the cravings for the sumptuous gravy floating in a pool dug deep within my grandmother’s mashed potatoes. College brought on the search for the perfect sauce on delivery pizzas. And then I travelled. In Rome, it was carbonara. In Paris, a citrus beurre blanc over roasted chicken. In Bruges, mussels swam in shallots, wine and cream. And in my Scotland, I swooned over poached salmon with a watercress mayonnaise.
This passion for sauce has also been explored by some of the most-loved artists throughout history. “The Marvelous Sauce,” painted by Jehan Georges Vibert, portrays a Cardinal-turned-cook who astonishes a chef with his culinary endeavors. This painting was created during a time when French artists and writers alike sought to expose the hypocrisies of upper-level clergy members, many of whom lived rather opulent lifestyles. The very well pleased Cardinal is recognizable from his distinctive scarlet regalia, but a surprisingly clean apron partially sheaths it. The wealth of the household and its owner, the Cardinal, is reflected in the immense and solid iron stove to the right, which is covered by a decorative hood with an aristocratic coat of arms, as well as the kitchen’s numerous shining brass cooking pots, abundance of food fresh from the markets, and its elaborate, patterned floor.
Born in 1840, in Paris, Jehan Georges Vibert was one of France’s most acclaimed Academic genre painters. The son of an engraver and publisher, Vibert learned to read and write in Greek and Latin as a child, but according to family friends, he spent more time drawing in his copy-books than paying attention to academic lessons. Early in his career, he painted Christian subjects, grand symbolical works and historical paintings, but, unfortunately, these initial works were largely unappreciated by the public, forcing Vibert, like many artists, to explore subjects with broad appeal. He discovered that small-scale, exquisitely finished amusing paintings had a ready market among the rising French middle-class and thus became a master of anecdotal and satirical scenes.
In addition to inventing several forms of brushes and varnishes, Vibert also ground his own pigments for his oil paints. He became particularly known for “Vibert’s red,” the rich shade in which he depicted the typically ruby-robed French cardinals. As the popularity of his work spread, particularly in the United States, his paintings commanded high prices and wealthy patrons, such as William Vanderbilt and John Jacob Astor IV, commissioned his work until the artist’s sudden death of heart disease in 1902.
Today I am honoring “Vilbert’s red” with a vibrant ruby-red strawberry jam spooned generously over a slice of White Chocolate Cheesecake. It is actually a reversal of the Cardinal’s unstained white apron floating over his generous scarlet regalia. Take advantage of this season’s spectacular abundance of berries, make your own jam, and then “sauce” to your soul’s content.
White Chocolate Cheesecake
One 10-inch Cake
Crust:
2 cups ground cookies (either dark chocolate or gingersnaps)
3 Tablespoons white sugar
4 ounces melted unsalted butter
Cake:
6 ½ ounces white chocolate, melted (roughly one rounded cup)
24 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 ½ cups sour cream
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Dash of almond or orange oil
2 eggs, room temperature
1) Melt the 4 ounces of butter. Grind the cookies in a food processor and empty into a small bowl. Stir the sugar into the crumbs. Pour the butter over the crumbs and toss to moisten.
2) Butter a 10-inch spring form pan and wrap the outside of the pan in foil. Press the crumbs up ½ of the pan and cover the bottom. Bake the crust in a 375 degree oven for 10 minutes until crust is set and slightly golden.
3) Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.
4) Add all the cake ingredients, except the eggs, together in a food processor. Process until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, until mixture is smooth and glossy. Pour the batter into the prepared crust.
5) Bake the cake in a water bath for 70-80 minutes or until top is slightly browned and does not loosely jiggle. Let the cake cool in the water bath and then chill for at least 4 hours before serving.
6) Serve with a generous topping of your best homemade jam.
