beurre blanc

I'm reading My Life in France, and I just came to the note that Julia Child believed she was the first person to write down a recipe for beurre blanc. So I decided to grab my copy of her master work and make her version to put over asparagus this evening. However, because her version was different from what I'd learned when I took a sauce class, I also looked at several other notable French cookbooks and found that, while not all carried recipes, the ones who did varied considerably in ingredients and slightly in method.

I've got my method down, so not looking to change that, but I was wondering what experience others have had with beurre blanc and the various permutations thereof. All recipes have butter, all but Juila's list shallots as a requirement (she says "shallots or onions"), most use vinegar, some use lemon juice, many use white wine, one uses broth, several add whipping cream, one (Alma Lach) adds creme fraiche instead of whipping cream. And that is without even considering those recipes identified as "variations."

So what is your favorite beurre blanc recipe? Which ingredients do you always add? I have no complaints at all with Julia's recipe, but I'd be interested in knowing what the various changes bring to the party.

Of course, "variations" and mutations are welcome, but I'm first and foremost looking to find out what different versions of the basic recipe offer.

I prefer a very simply approach. 2 T shallots, 2 oz white wine and 8oz butter. I may add something here or there depending on what it's served with.

And that probably works beautifully. But that's one of the things that fascinates me. The proportions, as well as the ingredients, can change so dramatically, and it still works. Julia uses 1-1/2 T shallots, 1/4 cup white wine, 1/4 cup white wine vinegar, a bit of salt and pepper, and 12 ounces of butter. You use more shallots, less liquid, and less butter, and it's probably still lovely.

How flexible is beurre blanc?

Cynthia wrote:And that probably works beautifully. But that's one of the things that fascinates me. The proportions, as well as the ingredients, can change so dramatically, and it still works. Julia uses 1-1/2 T shallots, 1/4 cup white wine, 1/4 cup white wine vinegar, a bit of salt and pepper, and 12 ounces of butter. You use more shallots, less liquid, and less butter, and it's probably still lovely.

Cynthia,

Many years ago, working as a saute cook in a hotel restaurant, one of my nightly duties was to prepare the hollandaise sauce for dinner service. The basic recipe was 2 oz. clarified butter for each egg yolk. We were taught that any more butter than that created a less than stable hollandaise, but being the rebel that I was back then, for my own amusement I would break the rule and increase the amount of butter per yolk, trying to get the hollandaise just below the breaking point, adding 10-11-12 oz. or even more butter than that per yolk without breaking the sauce.

I guess my point is that yes, recipes do differ, and yes, there is probably more than one way to make any sauce.

The use of reduced cream in beurre blanc is a restaurant technique to create a heavier emulsion, less likely to break during a four hour dinner service.

The Lovely Donna recently passed My Life in France to me. You can almost hear Julia's voice.

Evil Ronnie wrote:
I guess my point is that yes, recipes do differ, and yes, there is probably more than one way to make any sauce.

The use of reduced cream in beurre blanc is a restaurant technique to create a heavier emulsion, less likely to break during a four hour dinner service.

The Lovely Donna recently passed My Life in France to me. You can almost hear Julia's voice.

Yes -- I do know there are loads of ways to make most things, but these were not differences based merely on what was on hand.

What I was looking for was precisely what you gave me -- the why of one major variation -- adding cream to make it heavier and to make it more stable for dinner service. Cookbooks don't tell you that. Thank you.

Based on what you said, I'm guessing the creme fraiche variation would make the sauce heavier while adding a little of the flavor of a French cultured butter.

And yes, you can hear Julia's voice. It's a lovely book -- and it has made me somewhat envious of her opportunities.

Cynthia, I think that the creme fraiche version would be more stable across variations, esp. acidic ones. I use creme fraiche in situations that heavy cream simply couldn't deal with, for example, a highly-reduced white wine sauce for moules.

Geo