Meunière (, , ; See also on

Wiktionary Wiktionary ( , , rhyming with "dictionary") is a multilingual, web-based project to create a free content dictionary of terms (including words, phrases, proverbs, linguistic reconstructions, etc.) in all natural languages and in a numbe ...

.) is both a French sauce and a method of preparation, primarily for fish, consisting of brown butter, chopped parsley, and

lemon 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 culin ...

. The name suggests a simple rustic nature, i.e. that to cook something was originally to cook it by first dredging it in flour.

Preparation

Meunière sauce is a variation on a brown butter sauce. While there is general agreement on the addition of parsley and lemon, some include ingredients such as Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, or beef stock. Another common variation is to use pecans rather than almonds in an ''amandine''.

Fish meunière

There are two primary ways to prepare the fish (most popularly, sole or trout). One is by

sautéing Sautéing or sauteing (, ; in reference to tossing while cooking) is a method of cooking that uses a relatively small amount of oil or fat in a shallow pan over relatively high heat. Various sauté methods exist. Description Ingredients for ...

—first dredging the fish in seasoned flour (white flour or corn flour) and then cooking in a hot sauté pan with a small amount of

clarified butter Clarified butter is milk fat rendered from butter to separate the milk solids and water from the butterfat. Typically, it is produced by melting butter and allowing the components to separate by density. The water evaporates, some solids (i.e. ...

. The alternative method is to pan-fry or deep fry the floured fish. In pan frying, oil or a combination of oil and butter is used—up to perhaps 2 cm deep. Deep frying is done in either a large fry pot or in a stand-alone deep fryer. The floured fish is completely submerged in the hot oil. The frying techniques result in a crisper texture, but the sauce will need to be made separately. The sautéed fish will have a softer skin by comparison, but allows for the possibility of creating the sauce '' à la minute'' after the fish has been removed by adding fresh butter, parsley, and lemon.

Creole cuisine

''Trout meunière'' and its variation ''Trout amandine'' ( speckled seatrout crusted in almonds, traditionally served with a meunière sauce) are bedrock dishes of New Orleans Creole cuisine. The abundance of seafood from the nearby Gulf of Mexico makes the simplicity of the meunière style appropriate. Galatoire's claims to sell more ''Trout meunière amandine'' than any other dish.

Soft-shell crab Soft-shell crab is a culinary term for crabs that have recently molted their old exoskeleton and are still soft. Soft-shells are removed from the water as soon as they molt or, preferably, just before to prevent any hardening of their shell. Cat ...

and redfish are also often available ''à la meunière''. '' Oysters en brochette'' is typically served with a meuniere sauce.

Notes

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