Beurre Blanc Recipe
Beurre Blanc or Lemon Butter Sauce is very versatile and goes great with all types of fish. As my mentor Chef would say, "You can put Beurre Blanc on your bumper and it will taste good!" I learned this from my mentor Chef who never used Cream in his Beurre Blanc, a cheat which he called Training Wheels. We made a straight Beurre Blanc and held it in a steam table all day without breaking. I learned this sauce by making it a lot, right after making my Bearnaise. The first time I made it, it broke, I've made it right everytime since. It takes a little practice, and in my opinion, you have to screw it up once, to really get the hang of it, just like Bearnaise. It's really not a hard sauce to make.
**Tips** When cooking your emulsion (shallot, lemon, peppercorns, and white wine), don't let all the liquid evaporate, if you do, your sauce will definately break. You want it mostly evaporated, not to dry, not too wet. A lot of people remove the pan from the heat to incorporate the butter, I leave the pan on full blast (in restaurants you don't have a lot of time to stand around and watch butter melt). Here is the way I make it for a small batch:
Beurre Blanc or Lemon Butter Sauce
1 Shallot, Chopped
3 Tbsp White Wine
1 Lemon, Cut off the pith & peel, then chop the lemon into segments, nothing fancy
1 Tbsp Whole Black PepperCorns
2 Sticks (8 oz.) Cold Unsalted Butter, cut into cubes
1 dash Hot Sauce
1 dash Worcestershire Sauce
Kosher Salt & Cayenne Pepper To Taste
Combine the Shallot, Wine, Lemon segments, and Peppercorns in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. When the lemons break down and the liquid is almost evaporated, slowly start adding the butter. When the first amount of butter is almost melted, add more, do this until all of the butter is incorporated. Add the remaining ingredients. Strain.
* When I make this at home, I use it immediately. If it gets too hot, or too cold it will break. It's much easier to hold in a restaurant.
** If you must use Training Wheels, use about 1 Tablespoon which you will cook with your shallot, wine, lemons, and peppercorns. Try making it without it though, live on the wild side!
**Tips** When cooking your emulsion (shallot, lemon, peppercorns, and white wine), don't let all the liquid evaporate, if you do, your sauce will definately break. You want it mostly evaporated, not to dry, not too wet. A lot of people remove the pan from the heat to incorporate the butter, I leave the pan on full blast (in restaurants you don't have a lot of time to stand around and watch butter melt). Here is the way I make it for a small batch:
Beurre Blanc or Lemon Butter Sauce
1 Shallot, Chopped
3 Tbsp White Wine
1 Lemon, Cut off the pith & peel, then chop the lemon into segments, nothing fancy
1 Tbsp Whole Black PepperCorns
2 Sticks (8 oz.) Cold Unsalted Butter, cut into cubes
1 dash Hot Sauce
1 dash Worcestershire Sauce
Kosher Salt & Cayenne Pepper To Taste
Combine the Shallot, Wine, Lemon segments, and Peppercorns in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. When the lemons break down and the liquid is almost evaporated, slowly start adding the butter. When the first amount of butter is almost melted, add more, do this until all of the butter is incorporated. Add the remaining ingredients. Strain.
* When I make this at home, I use it immediately. If it gets too hot, or too cold it will break. It's much easier to hold in a restaurant.
** If you must use Training Wheels, use about 1 Tablespoon which you will cook with your shallot, wine, lemons, and peppercorns. Try making it without it though, live on the wild side!
posted by Danno | 3/30/2005 02:24:00 PM
3 Comments:
Thanks for your good tips; I am making some for the first time and I wanted to make sure I covered all the bases first!
I saw a lot of helpful data above!
Had this with the grilled monkfish recipe last night and we loved it! We really enjoyed this kicked up beurre blanc and plan on using it for other dishes.
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