Sauces · French cuisine
Beurre blanc
The butter sauce of Nantes: a reduction of vinegar, wine and shallot with cold butter whisked in.
At a glance
- Origin
- Saint-Julien-de-Concelles near Nantes, early 20th century.
- Production
- A reduction of wine, vinegar and shallot with cold butter whisked in gradually.
- Pairs with
- Pike and other river and sea fish.
Beurre blanc (white butter), also beurre nantais, is a warm butter emulsion from the lower Loire. Its base is a strong reduction of white wine and vinegar or lemon juice with finely chopped shallot, into which cold butter is whisked piece by piece. The small amount of emulsifiers naturally present in butter keeps the fat in droplets, so the sauce stays creamy.
Its creation is linked to Clémence Lefeuvre of Saint-Julien-de-Concelles near Nantes, who in the early 20th century cooked at a restaurant her husband had founded in 1890. The tale that it began as a botched béarnaise without yolks is legend; another account has her simply flavouring melted butter with a shallot reduction.
It differs from hollandaise in having no egg yolks. Classically it is served with Loire pike.