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''Beurre blanc'' ("white butter" in French) is a warm emulsified
butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...
sauce In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French word ...
made with a reduction of
vinegar Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to et ...
and/or
white wine White wine is a wine that is fermented without skin contact. The colour can be straw-yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-gold. It is produced by the alcoholic fermentation of the non-coloured pulp of grapes, which may have a skin of any colour. Wh ...
(normally Muscadet) and
shallot The shallot is a botanical variety (a cultivar) of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with ''Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as the d ...
s into which softened whole butter is whisked in off the heat to prevent separation. The small amount of emulsifiers naturally found in butter are used to form an oil-in-water
emulsion An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible (unmixable or unblendable) owing to liquid-liquid phase separation. Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids. Although ...
. Although similar to
hollandaise Hollandaise sauce ( or ; ), also called Dutch sauce, is a mixture of egg yolk, melted butter, and lemon juice (or a white wine or vinegar reduction). It is usually seasoned with salt, and either white pepper or cayenne pepper. It is well know ...
in concept, it is considered neither a classic leading nor compound sauce.(1995), '' On Cooking'', Sarah R. Labensky, Salan M. Hause, Priscilla A. Martel This sauce originates in Loire Valley cuisine.


Origin

The chef Clémence Lefeuvre (née Clémence Prau) invented ''beurre blanc'', apparently by accident, sometime 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 on the banks of the Loire River a few kilometers upstream from
Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabit ...
.St-Julien-de-Concelles Official Website
Retrieved 24 May 2008.
Legend holds that she intended to prepare a
béarnaise sauce Béarnaise sauce (; ) is a sauce made of clarified butter emulsified in egg yolks and white wine vinegar and flavored with herbs. It is widely regarded as the "child" of the Hollandaise sauce. The difference is only in the flavoring: Béarnaise u ...
to go with pike but forgot to add the
tarragon Tarragon (''Artemisia dracunculus''), also known as estragon, is a species of perennial herb in the family Asteraceae. It is widespread in the wild across much of Eurasia and North America and is cultivated for culinary and medicinal purposes. O ...
and egg yolks. Some sources claim that this invention occurred while she worked as a cook for the Marquis de Goulaine at
Château de Goulaine The Château de Goulaine is a historic château located in the Loire Valley wine region near Nantes, France. The property has been home to the family of the marquis de Goulaine for over a thousand years.F. Prial"A New Wine and Other Tricks From an ...
.
Aristide Briand Aristide Pierre Henri Briand (; 28 March 18627 March 1932) was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic. He is mainly remembered for his focus on international issues and reconcili ...
, long-time prime minister of France and
Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiology ...
laureate, said at her death in 1932 that it "was a bit like national mourning."


Preparation

A good ''beurre blanc'' is rich and buttery, with a neutral flavor that responds well to other seasonings and flavorings, thereby lending itself to the addition of herbs and spices. It should be light yet still liquid and thick enough to cling to food, also known as nappe. ''Beurre blanc'' is prepared by reducing wine, vinegar, shallots, and herbs (if used) until it is nearly dry. Although not necessary, cream can be added at this point as a stabilizer to the sauce.
Lemon juice The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culina ...
is sometimes used in place of vinegar, and stock can also be added. Cold, one-inch cubes of butter are then gradually incorporated into the sauce as the butter melts and the mixture is whisked. The sauce can separate by either overheating or cooling. If it heats past , some emulsifying proteins begin to break down and release the butterfat they hold in an emulsion. The butterfat will solidify if the sauce cools below .


Derivatives


''Beurre rouge''

''Beurre rouge'' (English: "red butter") is a variant of the ''beurre blanc'' sauce that is prepared by substituting a dry red wine for the white wine and red wine vinegar for the white wine vinegar. File:Rouget en écailles de pommes de terre.JPG, A potato and vegetable dish prepared with ''beurre rouge'' (red butter)


See also

*''
Beurre monté ''Beurre monté'' refers to melted butter that remains emulsified, even at temperatures higher than that at which butter usually breaks down. ''Beurre monté'' may refer either to the melted butter sauce itself, or to the method of making it. B ...
'' *''
Beurre noir ''Beurre noir'' (french: black butter) is melted butter that is cooked over low heat until the milk solids turn a very dark brown. As soon as this happens, acid is carefully added to the hot butter, usually lemon juice or a type of vinegar. Som ...
'' *''
Beurre noisette ''Beurre noisette'' (, literally: hazelnut butter, loosely: brown butter) is a type of warm sauce used in French cuisine. It can accompany savoury foods, such as winter vegetables, pasta, fish, omelettes, and chicken.Butter French sauces