Mousseline both the name of a sauce (a variant of hollandaise, incorporating whipped cream) and a culinary term of wider application, which is used to draw attention to the delicacy of various preparations such as whipped potato or quenelles.
The primary meaning of this French term is ‘muslin’ or ‘chiffon’ (see chiffon cake for American usage).
Sauce mousseline is considered to be an especially good accompaniment for turbot, and for asparagus.
© the Estate of Alan Davidson 1999, 2006, 2014 © in the Editor’s contribution to the second and third editions, Oxford University Press 2006, 2014.