How To Make Beurre Blanc
December 16, 2011
•Le Cordon Bleu
•Portland
• 0 Comments
How To Make Beurre Blanc
Many home cooks and beginning Oregon culinary school students wonder why their food doesn’t taste like the food prepared by professional chefs in professional kitchens. “It must be the training,” they say. “If I studied a prestigious culinary academy and worked my way up in New York kitchens, then I’d be that good, too.” Maybe so. They also say, “It’s the commercial equipment they use. I could never create food like that in this kitchen.” Also a possibility.
Cook like a Culinary Academy Grad with Just a Few Simple Ingredients
It is true that with good training, years of experience, and top-quality equipment comes good food, sometimes even great food. But the easiest way for them, and you, to greatly improve their cooking is with just a few simple ingredients available at nearly every grocery store.
When it comes to adding flavor to your dishes there are three additions that no self-respecting chef would be without:
- Fresh Herbs
- Fresh Spices
- Scratch-made Sauces
Both herbs and spices have volumes of books at your local bookstore dedicated to them: where to find them, how to grow them, how to use them, how to store them, etc. So we’ll look at the last bullet point, scratch-made sauces.
You don’t need to be an Oregon culinary school student or seasoned chef to learn how to make a few simple sauces. They will take you from a skilled cook to someone who can turn out delicious dishes with complex flavors and beautiful visual appeal in no time.
One of the simplest is beurre blanc or white butter sauce. It goes especially well with seafood, but can also be used on chicken, white meat pork, and vegetables.
Let’s take a look at a simple beurre blanc recipe.
Simple Beurre Blanc
We’ve all heard the opinion that something is too delicious to be that simple. Beurre blanc is the perfect example of that thought. This simple to make emulsion of wine and butter will add a whole new layer of flavor to your favorite seafood recipes.
Ingredients:
- 1 to 2 shallots, chopped fine
- 8 ounces white wine
- 2 ounces lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
- Salt and white pepper, to taste
Preparation:
- Combine the shallots, white wine, and lemon juice in a non-reactive saucepan over high heat and reduce to 2 tablespoons of mixture.
- Add the cream to the reduction. Once the liquid bubbles, reduce the heat to low. Add the butter, one cube at a time until there are only 2 or 3 cubes left. Remove from heat and continue whisking while adding the last few cubes
- Continue whisking butter into the reduction until the mixture is fully emulsified and has reached a rich sauce consistency
- Season with salt and white pepper
- (Optional) Strain out shallots. They may be kept in the sauce for a stronger flavor. This works well with stronger flavors like salmon
- (Optional) Add even more flavor by adding a couple ounces capers or pimentos to the sauce just before serving. This works well with many Mediterranean dishes
Serve immediately.
Note: Be sure to use cold butter for this recipe. It will help to prevent the emulsion from breaking.
This article is presented by Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland. Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland offers culinary arts and pâtisserie and baking training programs in Portland, Oregon. To learn more about the class offerings, please visit Chefs.edu/Portland for more information.
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