HOT BUTTER SAUCES

This famous sauce originated in Nantes, on the Loire river, and is tradi­tionally served with pike, brochet au beurre blanc. Warm, thick, creamy, and butter-colored, beurre blanc is actually nothing but warm butter flavored with shallots, wine, vinegar, salt, and pepper. The trick in making it is to keep the butter from turning oily; that is, it must retain its creamy appearance. A chem­ical process takes place once the wine and vinegar base is boiled down and the acids are well concentrated, so that when the butter is gradually beaten in, the milk solids in die butter remain in suspension rather than sinking to the bottom of the pan as they usually do when butter is melted. For this reaction to take place, the initial amount of vinegar must be a strong one. Once the creaming process has started, you can go on beating in butter to double the amount of that given in the recipe. You can also beat in less, but if you do so the sauce may have too acid a taste.