Beurre blanc
A sauce from the Loire Valley, served there with pike and zander. It is butter emulsified into a reduction of white wine, vinegar and shallot: silky, pale and faintly sharp. It has no yolks or flour — only the emulsion holds it, so it demands attention. The whole art is temperature. The butter goes in piece by piece over very low heat, and the sauce must never boil. Above about 60°C the emulsion breaks, leaving melted butter and vinegar.
Your own work in that: 13 min.
- Reduction 10 min
- Whisking in butter 10 min
- Serving 3 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneChop the shallots very finely
Chop the shallots as finely as you can, almost to a paste. In classic beurre blanc the shallots stay in the sauce, so they must be delicate. Large pieces would have to be strained out.
Ingredients: 2 pcs shallots · 100 ml dry white wine · 50 ml white wine vinegar · 1 tbsp double cream
Reduce wine, vinegar and shallot
Simmer the shallots with the wine and vinegar in a small pan until 2 tablespoons of liquid remain — about 10 minutes. The reduction is the sauce's flavour base: concentrated acidity to cut the richness of the butter.
Ingredients: 2 pcs shallots · 100 ml dry white wine · 50 ml white wine vinegar · 1 tbsp double cream
Down to two spoonfuls — concentrated acidity.Add cream if you like
Add a spoon of cream and bring briefly to the boil. Optional, and Nantes purists do without, but cream greatly stabilises the emulsion. For your first beurre blanc it is worth adding.
Ingredients: 2 pcs shallots · 100 ml dry white wine · 50 ml white wine vinegar · 1 tbsp double cream
Turn the heat right down
Turn the heat to the lowest setting or take the pan off the burner. The reduction should be hot but not boiling. From now on temperature decides everything.
Ingredients: 2 pcs shallots · 100 ml dry white wine · 50 ml white wine vinegar · 1 tbsp double cream
Whisk in the butter piece by piece
Drop in two cubes of cold butter and whisk until nearly melted, then add another. The butter should soften into the sauce, not melt into oil — cold cubes slowly bind with the reduction into a creamy emulsion.
Ingredients: 200 g butter · 1 pinch salt · 1 pinch white pepper · 1 tsp lemon juice
Cube by cube, cold — it softens into emulsion, not fat.Watch the temperature
The sauce should be warm, not hot — about 55°C. If the edges turn clear and oily, take it off the heat and add a cold cube. If the butter stops melting, return it to the burner for a moment.
Ingredients: 200 g butter · 1 pinch salt · 1 pinch white pepper · 1 tsp lemon juice
Season
When all the butter is in and the sauce is thick and glossy, season with salt and white pepper, and a few drops of lemon if needed. The sauce should coat the back of a spoon thickly.
Ingredients: 200 g butter · 1 pinch salt · 1 pinch white pepper · 1 tsp lemon juice
Thick and glossy — it coats the back of a spoon.Serve at once or keep warm
Serve at once with poached or roast white fish, scallops or asparagus. If it must wait, pour the sauce into a thermos warmed with boiling water or keep it in a bowl over warm, not hot, water — up to half an hour.
Ingredients: 200 g butter · 1 pinch salt · 1 pinch white pepper · 1 tsp lemon juice
Before you start
Rescuing a split sauce
If the sauce splits, put a spoon of cream or cold water into a clean pan and slowly whisk in the broken sauce a spoonful at a time. The emulsion usually comes back.
Good butter
Beurre blanc is 90 per cent butter, so its flavour is the sauce's flavour. Use 82 per cent butter, ideally unsalted and very cold. Lower-fat butter holds more water and splits more easily.
Variations
Beurre rouge is made with red wine and served with salmon or meat. You can also finish the sauce with chopped chives, tarragon or a pinch of saffron.