How to Make a Butter Sauce

I am planning as couple grilled steaks this evening. I think a beurre rouge would be excellent.

Good Lesson!

I have been doing a lot reading in the art of french cooking (Julia Child, Thomas Keller, etc.) and these sauces are just so intergal to french cooking. One tip I picked up reading Thomas Keller's The French Laundry Cookbook, was the use of a stove top defuser to better control tempetures for delicate dishes (like Beurre Blanc). It works really well and would highly recommend it for all those saucier's out there!

I made a beurre blanc last night after following the cooking school lesson.
It did turn out successful in the end, however, the wine did not reduce to a nice syrup, it evaporated in the pan, I added more wine and it evaporated in the pan as well. The heat was low, so I don't think that was an issue. I then proceeded to add a little cream and finished the sauce. Delicious, by the way. I was wondering if the pan I used made a difference, I used a good quality non stick pan. Perhaps, I should seek out a good quality smaller thick bottom stainless steel pan?

I found that the butter sauces, both beurre blanc and beurre rouge worked very well in a heavy-bottomed stainless steel pan. The nice thing about this was that the pan bottom was heavy enough that I could heat the pan to a certain degree and then move it off the heat to work with it, just putting it back on the heat when it began to cool.

When the sauce was finished I put the saucier pan on top of a small pan of warm water and held the sauce that way. The small pan of water was on a warming section so it didn't over heat.

Thank-you for your reply... I will search for a heavy bottom stainless steel pan and make this sauce again soon, especially since there are so many variations. I have to admit that if I was following this recipe from a recipe book I would have panicked and not known what to do, the cooking lesson is what made my sauce successful in the end. When I finished the sauce,
I strained it, (the shallots were still rather al-dente for my liking), I did put the sauce in a bowl over warm water as well.

I made beurre blanc twice I used white wine vinegar instead of the wine is it supposed to have an acidic hint or should I've added more butter ? it tasted really really good but I want to know who the real thing really tastes like .

A beurre blanc should not be overly acidic. It should have a slight acidic note. If using white wine vinegar it will be slightly more acidic than if you used just white wine. Ultimately if it "tasted really really good" then you did a good job. If you want it to taste a bit more acidic you could finish with a squeeze of lemon juice at the end.

Hope this helps!

I Had eaten this sauce, but had never prepared, is delicious, but this very increase in saturated fat.
I think it is okay to use on special occasions.

Something that is pretty good is preparing the sauce with dry sherry and fresh ginger.

I made my first beurre blanc recently after the lesson and finished it with chives (kept it simple). It was fabulous!! I love these lessons - they really reinforce my confidence in the kitchen.

I'm reviewing the lesson now to make a sauce for poached salmon over spinach pasta. I'll try to keep my pouring hand light - it may be tough!!

I worked through this lesson and made the beurre blanc with shallots, chives and a nice Napa
Valley white. I served it over flounder with a large fresh salad on the side. Dinner was on the table in a flash and was delicious and impressive. Thanks again, Rouxbe!

If wine isn't an option, what would you substitute? I read the one person used white wine vinegar, but there was a little acidic tast. What would you advise to substitute to get the same taste?

If wine is not an option lemon juice, white wine vinegar or another acid can be used with great results. You are correct though that it will be a bit more acidic but it will still be very good.

I just made a beurre blanc last night...the liquid I used for the gastride was half rice wine vinegar and half white wine. I even finished the sauce with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and truffle oil...it was a bit tart but the rich butter helps to balance out the tartness.

I made the beurre blanc today, and though it was tasty, I found that it thickened in the pan! I kept it over low heat, never once taking it off...is there such a thing as heat that is too low? I just have a standard apartment stove, and usually have trouble with the getting the heat low enough (it's a really strong gas stove).
I added some water to try to thin it out, but it only stayed thinner for about 20 seconds before thickening up again, plus it had a watery taste right after.
Another thing I thought of is maybe I reduced the gastride too much and didn't have enough to make a liquid sauce? I'd love anyone's input!

Another question about the sauce breaking, I saw that we shouldn't put the sauce on a too-hot plate: is there any concern over putting the sauce on freshly-cooked food? Will it separate on fish fresh off the grill?

Good questions. And this tells you how tricky beurre blanc is, and how much experience you need to handle all its nuances. Your instincts to add water were right, but you may have to balance it with lemon juice for flavor. This sauce thickens as it cools, so it really likes to be made and used right away for optimal consistency.

You can never over-reduce a gastride too much, as I've seen some chefs reduce it dry (au sec).

Don't worry about pouring the sauce over hot food, but again, good question.

So, Manille, imagine after a few tries at this sauce, you'll be a beurre blanc expert.

Thank you, Tony! I certainly hope so- I can see myself using this sauce quite a bit!
If I may, another question I had was how much liquid should be added back into the beurre blanc if it's been reduced au sec? Is there a set ratio for butter:liquid?

made this the other night-it was delicious, but I turned away from the stove for just a second while reducing the gastride.

Nothing burned, and I decided to proceed with adding the butter. My chief food critic at home thought the result was a bit tart. Can this be counterbalanced by (gasp) adding more butter, or would adding back water have been a better choice?

We had it over seafood crepes and it was awesome.

My guess is that you aren't going to be eating this sauce every week. :) To counter balance the acidity, yes, just keep adding butter to mellow the flavors. This classic French butter sauce contains lots of butter, so don't fret by adding more.

Next time, reduce the gastride just until it is syrupy - the more you reduce, the more concentrated the flavor will be. Hope this helps!

Should saffron really be stained out?

Saffron threads do not need to be strained. That is not to say that they can't be, they just don't have to be.

You did mean "strained" and not "stained" right? Hope this answers your question. Cheers!

Hi!
Wonder if anyone can chime in in response to my question above about adding liquids back into beurre blanc made with an au sec gastride as suggested in the video. How much goes back in?

If you reduced your gastride au sec, unintentionally, add a teaspoon or so of water to the pan before adding the butter. As you experienced, adding too much water at the end will affect the flavor; therefore, keep adding more butter, as this is a butter sauce.

I was thinking of reducing a gastride intentionally :)

Is hollandaise also one of the base sauces? If so, are we going to get a lesson on hollandaise sometime?
thanks

Yes hollandaise is on of the mother sauces and indeed it is on this list of lessons still to come...stay tuned!

Thanks for this lesson. I was always intimidated by the thought of attacking this sauce (not too mention the butter content) and am no longer afraid (of the method -- still kind of afraid of the calories). My first attempt worked out pretty well I thought (although a touch too acidic) until I tried to hold it. It split remarkably quickly in my bain marie. I realise now that the water in my bain marie was simply too hot. I reviewed the video and will pay attention to the tip that "the water should be just warm to the touch and not too hot". I think I had my water at just below a simmer before I stuck a bowl on top. Next time...

I love the lessons so far on sauces, but my internal health police cringe each time I consider making one of them because of the high fat contents. I know... "the flavor is in the fat" and often times really good sauce contains lots of fat and calories.

Is there a way around this? Tomato sauce is too small a world to live in, and I really would love to find a way to be brilliant with sauce, but better at managing the fat contents in the final dish. I'm not looking for "low-fat" if it's bad taste or unworkable consistency. It's got to be worth eating. But I am interested in effective ways to use the knowledge and skills presented in the sauce lessons and apply it in as a lower-fat finished dish.

Any ideas or suggestions?

There is no way around a butter sauce. It is what it is and is absolutely delightful. Of course, butter sauces are meant to be enjoyed on occasion. Everything in moderation; right? It's all about balance and enjoying fresh food made from scratch and with lots of love.

For other extremely tasty sauces, you need to make your own stock. Period. By simply reducing something like a homemade dark chicken stock, this can make an incredible sauce in itself...and with very little to no fat. Take a look at this recipe for example. Yes, it is served with pan-fried gnocchi, but it doesn't have to be. The ingredients are minimal, the sauce is low in fat and the flavor is outstanding.

Depending on what you are cooking, most pan sauces can also be quite healthy when made with homemade stock. Highly-flavored and healthy sauces can be made right in the pan, with very little fat. You can finish a pan sauce with an optional pat of butter, but again, it's up to you and your tastes/personal health needs. Make sure to review the lesson on How to Make a Pan Sauce. There are plenty of delicious practice recipes attached to that lesson that you can try and begin to experiment with pan sauces yourself. Trust us, making your own stock will take your cooking to a whole new level. Cheers!

One of my favorite fish dishes is fish with a browned butter sauce. It is similar in that it has an acid (lemon), butter, and an aromatic (parsley). However the cooking order is completely different and it doesn't turn out emulsified. Is this still considered a butter sauce or is it considered some other type of sauce?

The sauce you describe above is a meuniere-style sauce. The lemon juice is added right at the end, whether in brown or just bubbling butter. It can be called a butter sauce simply becasue it uses butter, but seldom classified as such because of its simplicity. However, this simple sauce is a bit tricky if the butter is allowed to burn or the lemon juice completely evaporated, but when spot-on it's quite delicious.

Is there a lesson forth coming on other emulsion sauces such as hollandaise and Bearnaise

Yes, as mentioned above, these are definitely on the list. In fact, bearnaise is one of my favorites.

I made this last night for the first time for broccoli. It came out perfect! Although for a few moments I thought I ruined it!

It was way too much butter and looked like it was separating turning into an oily mess. (I cooked all the juices out of the shallots and didn't put in any extra wine-I guess that's where I went wrong)

I totally freaked, and the only thing I could think of to do was to add more wine and whisk like crazy. Viola!!!

This has been the best lesson for me so far in understanding the process of emulsion. I think I'm starting to "get it."

I don't know why I didn't "get" wine could emulsify butter. I keep forgetting it's the liquid that does the magic once added to the fat. I keep thinking the fat is what is supposed to thicken like magic on it's own.

I kept it warm over the hot water as suggested and it made it all the way to the fork intact.

It always feels so good to get something right.

Thank you Rouxbe!

I made this sauce tonight and, while the flavor was perfect, the sauce came out too thin and it ended up being a bunch of sauteed shallots over our salmon. :(

What did I do wrong? I ladeled it straight from the pot on the stove; should I have taken it off the heat and let it sit? Would sitting for a bit have thickened it up?

It sounds like you may not have added enough butter to get the sauce to the proper consistency when it was in the pan. Beurre blanc doesn't need to sit in order to thicken it up - better to go in the opposite direction and have it a bit too thick so then you can thin it down with a touch of liquid. Make sure to add enough butter until the sauce coats the spoon (refer to Topic 4). Cheers!

Thank you! I will do that next time. :-)

I buy white wine for cooking only as I dont drink it very often. I love to have it on hand to cook with but how long does it stay good for after opening?

If kept in the refrigerator, most sources say it can keep for up to one month. Personally, I have stored and used wine that has sat longer and haven't noticed a massive difference. I usually buy the boxed white wines for cooking with (the ones with the spout on the bottom). Those tend to stay for quite some time and I just pour out what I need when I need it.

If you are in doubt, you can always taste the wine. If it still tastes of wine and not vinegar then you are good to go. Hope this helps!

This is one of those sauces that I've always wanted to make and never got around to, mostly due to SO MUCH BUTTER. But last night I decided to go for it, and made the beurre rouge with a BC red i've been enjoying. I'd never had beurre rouge before (and coincidentally was preparing salmon and green beans, so the choice was easy). All I had on hand was salted butter, so I omitted any additional salt, and still found it too salty, but otherwise lovely and without incident. Next time I will use a good quality unsalted butter. Thank you for this lesson!!

After watching the video I had just about decided to skip the whole idea of even trying. I just couldn't see myself keeping all the "rules" of avoiding/fixing a split sauce, thickening, holding, etc etc... it sounded way too complex unless it happened to be the only thing I was serving for dinner!

But, the comments above have restored my confidence, and I do want to give it a whirl.

One problem: I cannot purchase unsalted butter where I live (South Pacific Island of Yap). I thought about clarifying the butter (most of the salt seems to be in the milk solids or water left behind).. but I suspect that without milk solids it will not properly emulsify. (just a suspicion, and its too expensive a product down here to just experiment.)

1) can beurre blanc be made with clarified butter?
2. is there some other way to reduce the saltiness of salted butter?

Hi Leigh,

not a problem, you can use salted butter, cooks usually only use unsalted because it gives the butter more of a fresh "butter" only flavour but otherwise no differences.
Hope it helps
Christophe

Tried this sauce twice with dill to finish - it made a crappy piece of frozen hake taste like heaven! Substituted onions for shallots as shallots seem to be missing from the South African cooking spectrum - heard that one can substitute spring onions or leeks for shallots - is this true?

Thanks for featuring this sauce - it's a 5 star delight!

If you cannot find shallots then you could substitute with any other onion, you will just get a slightly different flavor. Here is a great site for food substitutions that you may want to bookmark for other things (scroll down the page a bit to the shallots to read more about substitution quantities). Hope this helps. Cheers!

Ahhh, thanks for the link. Haven't had shallots before but seems that substituting with another type of onion does not make much of a difference. I did find shallot seedlings at the local nursery and I'm thinking of cultivating them myself. If it goes well, who knows, maybe I can start my own business...

I have wanted to try making a beurre blanc for some time, but with what I had previously heard, I was very intimidated about it. I have just finished watching the video on buerre blanc and the variations included therein, and I just wanted to say thank you. The video, by going so thoroughly through the steps, have eased my intimidation, and I am thinking that this week for Shabbos, I just might make the salmon with the buerre rouge. What a wonderful resource this is!
Thanks so much, and keep up the great work!

Without knowing it I made a version of beurre blanc for Thanksgiving dinner. I now know I have to make some minor change to my technique. I added soy sauce and ginger and put it over asparagus. It was delicious.

I am new to the world of cooking and this looks like a great way to start with something yummy but fairly easy for a novice. awesome!

After watching the video lesson and taking the quiz yesterday morning, I decided to try it last night since I had picked up a beef tenderloin on sale yesterday afternoon. I have made sauces in the past for my steaks but never used this method. I will never go back to the old way again. I prepared a buerre blanc with a merlot (had it on hand) and shallots. I added basil after emulsion and held it in my little double boiler pan until the steaks were done. It was smooth and savory. My husband loved it. My only concern was that after a few bites, the sauce began to get watery. I believe it was as a result of the juices from the steak releasing and diluting it. While I do love the juice, I would like to maintain the consistency of the sauce and it's unimpeded savory flavor. Any suggestions?. I am very impressed with these lessons and the way the are presented. This whole concept of cooking lessons and forums is quite brilliant. P.S. I haven't had time to comment until now. I will also be commenting on the class from today (Handling a Chef's Knife).

Glad to hear you liked the lesson. One thing to note upfront is that beurre blanc sauce is generally not served with steaks (does not mean you cannot do it of course) it is just much better suited to seafood, fish and chicken.

If serving with steaks be sure to rest the meat well before plating it, otherwise the juices will run out onto the plate and dilute the sauce (as you said).

Basically, if the meat is near something juicy or watery it can break the emulsion. Perhaps next time try to pour the sauce on top of the steak and not around it where it will sit in the juices. Alternatively, you could try serving the beurre blanc on the side. Hope this helps. Cheers!

Well, I tried to make my first buerre blanc today, but it was a total failure. Firstly, I am forced to use salted butter, and in spite of assurances to the contrary, it ends up being way too salty. I will have to wait until I get back to Canada before I bother trying this sauce again.

Secondly, I could not get it to emulsify. I suspect that my pan was too hot. I am stuck with an electric stove, and I think that even the SIM setting is much to hot for making this sauce. I tried removing it from the heat, using residual heat in the pan, but simply could not achieve the texture shown in the video. Oh well... I really like bechamel anyway! :-)

How do I convert saffron threads to ground saffron? One Rouxbe recipe calls for 2 tsp saffron threads, but I only have the powder version.

When substituting saffron powder for saffron threads you will generally need only half the amount of powder as it is more concentrated than saffron threads. That being said, it will also depend on the type and strength of your saffron. I would say, when it comes to how much saffron to use in a recipe, trust your instincts and start out with less at first, say 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. then taste and adjust from there. Hope this helps. Cheers!

Thanks Dawn, I just needed a starting point and you gave me one - I'm totally OK with experimenting (must be that repressed mad scientist in me). I'm making "Chicken and Chorizo Rice", so I'll make the substitution and post the results there. Thanks for the tip!

A thing I struggle with in cooking is multi-tasking. A pro in a professional kitchen can have multiple things going on at once and keep track of them all, but I struggle with it.

I came up with an idea that lets me avoid holding the beurre blanc, since it seems a bit prone to splitting. The idea is to do the reduction ahead of time and then stop it by touching the bottom of the pan into a mixing bowl of warm water. Previously I had tried doing the reduction and then setting it aside, but the residual heat in the pan was drying it all the way out; I wanted to leave the gastride syrupy.

With the reduction done ahead of time I can set the pan aside and now the beurre blanc becomes an a la minute sauce; I just heat the pan back up and start whisking in butter, then serve.

I just did this lesson today as well as the pan seared fish one. I went out and bought all the ingredients and am so excited to try this sauce with pan seared salmon and roased vegetables. I can't wait to see how this comes out! I bought organic mixed peppercorns to add to the sauce for taste and looks too.

Just one note about the "mixed peppercorns", if there are whole black peppercorns in the mix the sauce will need to be strained before serving as whole black peppercorns are not really edible.

Good luck and enjoy your dinner. Cheers!

Yes I saw that. Thank you! I made the dish and I wish I could figure out how to add a picture but it turned out so good! Went over awesome and I will be making it again!

Many people post their pictures on our Rouxbe Facebook page. Cheers!

First time ever making this sauce... nice, clear, easy to follow instructions and it came out perfectly. I put it over some wonderfully baked stuffed lobster tails and it was heaven. Incredible!

Hi I have made the sauce twice and it was great. I made it tonight with prawns and fettuccine, for two. The thing is I'm a pretty new cook and I was wondering how to increase the recipe. Would I just double everthing or not. For the shrimp and fettachini I added chopped plum tomato and fresh basil. I love the school. Thank you all

Obviously you can double, but keep in mind that butter requires a certain amount of liquid to emulsify, so don't over-reduce the gastride.

One technique when making large batches of emulsified sauces, be it a mayonaaise, hollandaise, or beurre blanc, is to add some liquid and more fat AFTER you've created a good emulsion. Just look at the emuslion as you add: if it looks greasy, it's begging for a touch of liquid to stabilize the emulsion, and once stable you can continue to add more fat.

can i use this recipe made with( white wine) as shrimp scampi? i wanted to make a gourmet really flavorful creamy garlic shrimp scampi. i want alot of flavor and not alot of salt. that always seems to be my problem and it never has that gourmet restaurant flavor. if theres a recipe out there you could share i would be appreciative. I also had a problem with the sauce seperating now i know to have the heavy cream at room temp. or slightly warmed not cold. but i was wanting a better recipe or something different. thank you.

Beurre blanc definitely goes with shrimp and other types of shellfish and fish. From the lesson, you will learn how the sauce can be varied to suit your tastes. Rouxbe is not really a recipe site; however, there are quite a few supporting practice recipes attached to the lesson to practice making beurre blanc.

One thing about flavor is that ALL food needs to be seasoned properly - and good restaurants & cooks know how to do this, which is why their food tastes so good. You might find the lesson on How to Season with Salt helpful, as there is some great information in there.

Regarding splitting, as you see from the lesson, there are several reasons why this particular sauce can split - the whole process of making beurre blanc is quite delicate. Not sure I'm clear on your comment. The cream doesn't necessarily have to be at room temperature. Cream helps to stabilize the emulsion to help prevent splitting. Cheers!

Thank you for your response. You were very helpful. I did watch the lesson" how to season with salt" that was a huge help. I had no idea I was salting my food wrong. I will def. practice making the Beurre Blanc with shrimp.I love this site.

I fixed the scallops with beurre blanc last night (served with creamy polenta) and it was a hit with my guests. However, the sauce broke once it hit the warm scallops. Did I do something wrong? It seemed absolutely perfect coming out of the pan.

As demonstrated in Topic 4, perhaps the food or plate was too hot. This can cause the sauce to split. Next time, make sure to give the sauce another whisk just before serving to make sure it is stable and serve immediately once plated. Cheers!

Thanks, Kimberley. I tried again and the sauce was perfect.

Hi, we have been trying to do the sauce a couple times but it melts once we set it on the protein. Is there any way to keep the sauce thick?

Because beurre blanc is a finicky sauce and can easily split, it is best not to place it onto extremely hot food or hot plates. The food doesn't have to be cold, but beurre blanc shouldn't be spooned over top as soon as the food is removed from the heat source. Also, once the sauce has been placed over the food, it should be served immediately. Perhaps you aren't whisking in enough cold butter to hold the emulsion. Was the sauce you made as thick as shown in the video? Hope this helps! Cheers!

i just want to ask, i am a muslim. may i know if there's is a good substitute for white wine vinegar when making beurre blanc? muslims cannot take any form of alcohol even rice wine or white wine vinegar. pls help!! THANKS A LOT!!

If wine is not an option lemon juice or another acid can be used with great results. The sauce will be a bit more acidic but it will still be very good but the rich butter helps to balance out the tartness.

Here is a good site for food substitutions that you may want to bookmark. Cheers!

Awesome! I couldn't believe the flavor! I tried it for the first time and used the heavy cream method. It made it very stable. In fact, I was able to cool it down completely and keep the emulsion by stirring occasionally while it cooled.

I would like to know if beurre blanc can be made with clarified butter. My sister suffers from lactose intolerance and I want to be able to cook this sauce for her.
Thanks

Would not work well without an emulsifying binder (such as the egg yolk for hollandaise). Adding a slurry of cornstarch or arrowroot to the gastride might help, but it would only tolerate a small amount of clarified butter before it gets greasy.

I was thinking about trying to experiment with making this with Smart Balance. My wife is awfully accommodating about my incessant proclivity to override her recipes (Honey, really we should sear this in the stainless steel pan first--we need the color for flavor and then we can deglaze the sucs!). However, as much as she loves butter, she keeps throwing out things like wanting to grow old together. :)

I was curious if anyone is aware of why this wouldn't work out well or if it has already been tried.

@Michael
Other than Smart Balance not being a real food...butter is way better
Here's a link: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/there-is-nothing-smart-about-smart-balance/.

The Farnz

If it's not butter, it's not butter. Hydrogenated-like products or margarines or other products such as these should generally be treated like an oil or fat. They will only bind with starches, but on there own they will never replace butter for many sauces or emulsions as they lack the necessary milk solids. Cheers!

Another question about butter if I may, when buying unsalted butter and looking at the ingredients, I have noticed that some butter brands say that the butter contains cultures and other brands do not have cultures listed in the ingredients list. I am just wanting to know if there is a difference between cultured and uncultured butter for cooking purposes. Thank you kindly!

Due to how they are made, cultured butters vs. uncultured butters will have different flavors (see this article). Depending on what is available to you and the flavor that you prefer, either can be used. What is even more important, is the fat content (butter contains some water), so choose a type that has the highest fat content for baking. Cheers!

Thanks for that. The article is helpful!

Cultured butter is quite at home at the Opera and the Ballet ... uncultured butter is happier at Hockey Games and Aerosmith concerts. :-)

Hahaha too funny Leigh. Seeing as butter sauce is a little bit fancy, I best use the cultured butter then and save the uncultured butter for my macaroni and cheese! ;-)