beurre blanc

Seared ahi in a beurre blanc sauce

In cooking, beurre blanc —literally translated from French as "white butter"— is a rich, hot butter sauce made with a reduction of vinegar and/or white wine (normally Muscadet) and grey shallots into which cold, whole butter is blended off the heat to prevent separation. (Lemon juice is sometimes used in place of vinegar and stock can be added as well). This sauce originates in Loire Valley cuisine.

A beurre blanc to which cream has been added as a "stabilizing agent" is called a Beurre nantais ^[1].

Origin

The chef Clémence Lefeuvre (née Clémence Prau) invented beurre blanc, apparently by accident, some time around the beginning of the 20th century. She served this sauce at her restaurant "La Buvette de la Marine" in the hamlet of "La Chebuette" in the village of Saint-Julien-de-Concelles situated on the banks of the Loire River a few kilometers upstream from Nantes.^[2] Legend holds that she intended to prepare a bearnaise sauce to go with pike fish but forgot to add the tarragon and egg yolks. Some sources claim that this invention occurred while she worked as a cook for the Marquis de Goulaine at Chateau de Goulaine.^[3] Aristide Briand, long-time Prime Minister of France and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said at her death in 1932 that her passing "was a bit like national mourning".^[2]

References

See also

• Beurre noir
• Beurre noisette