Chaud-Froid

Chaud-froid is an opaque coating sauce used to mask foods. To mask means to cover a food in such a way that its surface is no longer visible. For this reason, the two opaque coating sauces, chaud-froid and mayonnaise collée, are also called masking sauces.

The French name chaud-froid literally means “hot-cold,” referring to the fact that the sauce is made hot but served cold. This term dates from the early classical cuisine period, when cooked foods often sat on a table for a long time. When hot foods cooked in these sauces cooled, the rich, thick sauces set up into a gel and thus enveloped the foods in a smooth, tasty coating.