Add "Oh La La!" to Spring Veggies With Beurre Blanc (2024)

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Beurre blanc is perfect for drizzling over fish, poached eggs, or vegetables.

By

Sally Vargas

Add "Oh La La!" to Spring Veggies With Beurre Blanc (1)

Sally Vargas

Sally is the author of four cookbooks and is a regular correspondent for the Boston Globe Wednesday Food Section. She also is a food photographer.

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Updated November 13, 2023

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Beurre blanc is creamy and tangy, voluptuous yet delicate, and inspires an outstanding upgrade for salmon, sole, poached eggs, shrimp, or a plate of asparagus for a special occasion. You’ll want to drizzle this velvety, rich butter sauce over any poached or broiled fish.

Pieces of cold butter whisked into a reduction of white wine, vinegar, and shallots creates a buerre blanc sauce. If you’ve ever added cold butter to thicken a pan sauce, you have made a warm butter emulsion—it’s the same technique used in making this sauce.

Here, like many modern chefs, we break with tradition and use a portion of cream to create a more stable sauce than butter alone. The sauce should be just thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.

Although it should be served immediately, you can hold it in a warm place for about an hour, whisking it from time to time.

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Why Did My Beurre Blanc Break?

There are a few reasons why your beurre blanc may split (the butter melts and separates from the sauce.)

  • If the butter is not cold enough, the emulsion could be disrupted.
  • Other reasons for the sauce breaking are not whisking briskly enough, adding the butter too quickly, or adding butter that is too warm.

One possible way to fix this is to take the sauce off the heat and whisk in a few small pieces of ice to keep the sauce and butter from becoming too hot to emulsify.

Can I Make the Sauce Ahead of Time?

Beurre blanc is really meant to be served immediately. You can keep it warm on the back burner of the stove, whisking it often, for about an hour, you are better off making it right before you are going to serve it.

If you make the sauce and refrigerate it overnight, there is about a 50/50 chance you can reheat it without it breaking. Set the pan over low heat, add a tablespoon or two of heavy cream, and whisk constantly until the sauce is hot, moving the pan on and off the burner to keep it from getting too hot, if necessary.

If it does break, it will still have plenty of good flavor to drizzle over vegetables or fish.

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Beurre Blanc Variations

There are plenty of good ways to use beurre blanc as a base sauce to create another sauce altogether. Here are a few examples:

  • Buerre rouge is a more assertive sauce that would be good to serve over steak. Make it by substituting red wine and red wine vinegar in the reduction.
  • For a light, lemony version of beurre blanc, substitute lemon juice for the vinegar, and add some finely grated lemon zest.
  • Stir in some fresh chopped herbs like parsley, tarragon, or chives for an herby sauce. Whisk in a teaspoon or two of Dijon mustard for a piquant mustard sauce.

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Classic Beurre Blanc Sauce

Prep Time5 mins

Cook Time10 mins

Total Time15 mins

Servings6 servings

Yield1 cup

Ingredients

  • 9 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, divided

  • 3 tablespoons shallots, finely chopped

  • 3 tablespoons dry white wine

  • 2 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

  • 1/3 cup heavy cream

  • 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

  • Pinch white pepper

Method

  1. Make the shallot reduction:

    In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring, until shallots are soft and translucent but not browned, 1 to 2 minutes.

    Stir in the dry white wine and white wine vinegar; cook, stirring occasionally to reduce the liquid until about 2 to 3 tablespoons remain.

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    Add "Oh La La!" to Spring Veggies With Beurre Blanc (8)

  2. Add the cream:

    Add the cream and salt to the pan and bring to a boil, over medium-heat and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

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  3. Strain the sauce:

    Pour the sauce through a fine-meshed strainer into a small bowl and press down using a spoon to extract as much liquid as you can. Rinse out the saucepan.

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  4. Add the butter to strained sauce and season:

    Return the strained sauce to the pan and reduce the heat down to low. Whisking vigorously, add the remaining 8 tablespoons butter, a few pieces at time. When each addition is incorporated, add more butter, until all of it is incorporated and the sauce looks creamy and coats the back of a spoon. It will resemble heavy cream. (It is not a thick sauce.) Stir in the salt and pepper.

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    Add "Oh La La!" to Spring Veggies With Beurre Blanc (12)

  5. Serve the sauce:

    Serve the sauce immediately. If not using right away, keep it on the side of the stove to maintain a lukewarm temperature until ready to use. Just before serving, reheat over low heat, whisking constantly, until hot.

    Did you love this recipe? Give us some stars below!

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Nutrition Facts (per serving)
208Calories
22g Fat
1g Carbs
1g Protein

×

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories208
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 22g28%
Saturated Fat 14g69%
Cholesterol 61mg20%
Sodium 49mg2%
Total Carbohydrate 1g1%
Dietary Fiber 0g1%
Total Sugars 1g
Protein 1g
Vitamin C 0mg2%
Calcium 17mg1%
Iron 0mg1%
Potassium 40mg1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.

Add "Oh La La!" to Spring Veggies With Beurre Blanc (2024)

FAQs

What does beurre blanc go well with? ›

Beurre blanc traditionally accompanies white fish, like pike or bass, but is equally delicious on steamed vegetables like asparagus or cauliflower. The heat from the stove and the action of whisking help create a stable emulsion and a creamy sauce.

What is the purpose of beurre blanc? ›

Beurre blanc is creamy and tangy, voluptuous yet delicate, and inspires an outstanding upgrade for salmon, sole, poached eggs, shrimp, or a plate of asparagus for a special occasion. You'll want to drizzle this velvety, rich butter sauce over any poached or broiled fish.

What is the difference between bearnaise and beurre blanc? ›

Béarnaise uses liquid clarified butter, and it is important to keep it warm. With beurre blanc, on the other hand, you use whole butter, and it's important to keep it as cold as possible. Beurre blanc tastes velvety and rich thanks to butter, but it's also slightly sweet and tangy as well.

How do you fix beurre blanc sauce? ›

To fix a broken beurre blanc, remove the pan from the heat and whisk in a few ice cubes. This will lower the temperature of the butter and help it solidify, enabling proper emulsification. Most creamy sauces use a 1:1 ratio of fat to liquid.

How long does beurre blanc last in the fridge? ›

- Heat product to 165° F (74° C). - Remove from boiling water carefully. - Product may be held under refrigeration (40° F) for no more than 5 days.

Can beurre blanc be made ahead of time? ›

In principle, a beurre blanc should be made just before being brought to the table. But in practice it's possible to make the sauce up to two hours in advance, providing you keep it in a warm place, for example over an unlit burner on the stovetop.

What is another name for beurre blanc? ›

Beurre blanc (French pronunciation: [bœʁ blɑ̃]; "white butter" in French) or Beurre Nantais ( French pronunciation: [bœʁ nɑ̃tɛ]) is a warm emulsified butter sauce made with a reduction of vinegar and/or white wine (normally Muscadet) and shallots into which softened whole butter is whisked in off the heat to prevent ...

Is beurre blanc the same as hollandaise? ›

There is a vast difference between the two sauces, which are: Beurre Blanc – It is cooked in a pot by reducing white wine, vinegar, and shallots and then whisking in whole butter. Hollandaise – it is cooked over a double boiler and contains egg yolks, clarified butter, and lemon juice.

How do you hold beurre blanc sauce? ›

Warm is more or less what one should expect with a sauce like this. So one way to hold beurre blanc is to just stick it in a warm place.

What are the five French mother sauces? ›

The five French mother sauces are: Béchamel, Velouté, Espagnole, Hollandaise, and Tomato. Read on to learn how to make each one.

What are the seven mother sauces? ›

Sauces considered mother sauces. In order (left to right, top to bottom): béchamel, espagnole, tomato, velouté, hollandaise, and mayonnaise.

What can I do with leftover beurre blanc? ›

Any leftover beurre blanc can be spread onto grilled meat or vegetables like a compound butter. It can also be reheated and cooked to make a shallot flavored clarified butter, delicious for cooking seafood or meats.

What is the emulsifier in beurre blanc? ›

The lecithin contained within the eggs works as a perfect emulsifier in hollandaise, but what about the other sauces that don't contain egg? Beurre blanc and beurre monte are both butter sauces that have a water base. The only emulsifier is sheer elbow grease.

What does blanc de blanc pair with? ›

Blanc de Blancs

While this wine can be enjoyed by itself as an apéritif, it is also perfect with fresh oysters and other shellfish, crab cakes, ceviche and grilled sea bass. It is also delicious with lemon chicken and Thai curries. Vegetable or crab quiche, vegetable terrine, Parmesan bread sticks, calamari fritters.

What do you eat with white butter? ›

A piping hot paratha drenched in a dollop of white butter is undeniably the most alluring amalgamation of taste and joy served in a platter.

What food goes well with blanc de Noir? ›

Blanc de Noirs can also show earthy notes that make a good match with truffles or game meats, such as pigeon breast with roast leeks and wild mushrooms. Seriously – you have to try it.

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