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Beurre Blanc

post #1 of 15
4/13/10 at 4:24pm
Thread Starter 
I was kind of scared to sound dumb at first when asking this question, but I just have to know. If people worry about a beurre blanc splitting, why don't they use clarified butter instead of chunks of butter? That way, all the water is gone and the sauce won't split right? Well, I'm gonna do the very traditional scallops and beurre blanc tommorow, so I'll try it with clarified butter.
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post #2 of 15
4/13/10 at 4:34pm
try whisking in some soft butter into a reduction of white wine vinegar and shallots
we're as good as our last meal.
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post #3 of 15
4/13/10 at 4:45pm
 it's the fat solids and the oils that seperate/break/split, not the fat and the water :)
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post #4 of 15
4/13/10 at 6:34pm
Thread Starter 
 I know that, so why don't we just use clarified butter?
Quote:Coulis-O
 
try whisking in some soft butter into a reduction of white wine vinegar and shallots 
I know how to make it, I'm just wondering if I can substitute the butter for clarified butter. Also, if you do use butter, it shouldn't be soft butter it should be cold and hard so since it's at a lower temperature when it hits the pan, it won't split due to high heat. 
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post #5 of 15
4/13/10 at 7:01pm
The reason is taste. Butter and clarified butter don't taste the same. Have you ever made beurre blanc? Did it split on you? Do you know why? 
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post #6 of 15
4/13/10 at 7:18pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks french fries that's what I was thinking, but I'm still gonna try it out. And yea, I made beurre blanc 3 times. First time it split( pan was too hot), second time it was fine, and same with my third try. I'm not substituting clarified butter for regular butter because I can't make the sauce, rather because it would be so much quicker and there would be less worry( and I have tons of clarified butter that I need to put to use).  
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post #7 of 15
4/13/10 at 7:51pm
How are you going to use clarified butter pray tell and are you making it with cream? Don't mean to sound snarky here but the definition of beurre blanc is the technique of incorporating whole butter into white wine reduced au sec.

The starch from the shallots helps hold it together.  You don't want raw shallots in the pan.

Reduce the white wine until it has the consistency of syrup.

You can add a little cream to the reduction and then start whisking in the butter. If you are making one serving you really don't have to whisk, just swirl the butter in the pan off the heat.

If it breaks, reduce a little cream in another pan and slowly add the broken beurre blanc to the cream.
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post #8 of 15
4/13/10 at 8:27pm
This comment relates to another thread.  You may find it a bit cryptic, but your experiments with beurre blanc, which I highly recommend you undertake, and the comments on it may be a good chance for you to 'learn to know less'


mjb.
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post #9 of 15
4/13/10 at 8:34pm
Right.  Try this thread.

http://www.cheftalk.com/forum/thread/56330/beurre-blanc
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post #10 of 15
4/13/10 at 9:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by teamfat View Post

This comment relates to another thread.  You may find it a bit cryptic, but your experiments with beurre blanc, which I highly recommend you undertake, and the comments on it may be a good chance for you to 'learn to know less'


mjb.

I strongly agree.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mgchef View Post

Thanks french fries that's what I was thinking, but I'm still gonna try it out.  

Nothing wrong with trying. That way you can compare. If you do, please report back and let us know how it turned out.
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post #11 of 15
4/14/10 at 6:24am

Just an after thought.....

I found some info to explain a point:
http://www.kitchensavvy.com/journal/2006/08/beurre_blanc_br.html

"If you use clarified butter, you have removed the emulsifier which makes a Beurre Blanc work".


 

Petals
Réalisé avec un soupçon d'amour.

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post #12 of 15
4/14/10 at 9:55am
Agreed, the butter (already an emulsified product) provides most of the emulsifying power in the beurre blanc, by substituting for clarified I don't see how you could get a stable emulsion... I mean, it would basically be like trying to mix oil (clarified butter) and vinegar (the reduction) together
"If it's chicken, chicken a la king. If it's fish, fish a la king. If it's turkey, fish a la king." -Bender
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post #13 of 15
4/14/10 at 10:27am
i agree with french fries whole butter is used for flavor and you can help it stay emulsified by adding some heavy cream which is used as a stabalizer. they make two lb of beurre blanc at my internship and it stay good for a while it seperates a lil but its natural. on the plate its good though just the top. but the cream helps alot. i love beurre blanc, its a good sauce and done esier on a gas stove rather than a electrical, my 1st two time i done it at home it split b ut at school or work it was good. but im sure if i do it a few more time ill be better at meking it at home.
Chef it up errrrday!!!
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post #14 of 15
4/15/10 at 6:23pm
Thread Starter 
Finally I got time to not only make dinner but experiment at the same time. I made the beurre blanc tonight, and started cooking at 5:00, because I made three. 1.Traditional with whole butter 2. Clarified butter 3. Clarified butter and the proteins, but took the water out of butter. Normally when I cook, I won't measure, but I had to make sure that everything was under the same conditions so my control and experimental group would be going through the exact same process and pull out different results. #1 worked, but broke after about 2 minutes after serving. #2  didn't work out. #3 worked out perfectly. I clarified the butter using the method on www.cookingforengineers.com, and saved the proteins and fat, but threw out the water. It didn't break just like I thought :)
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post #15 of 15
4/15/10 at 8:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by petalsandcoco View Post

Just an after thought.....

I found some info to explain a point:
http://www.kitchensavvy.com/journal/2006/08/beurre_blanc_br.html

"If you use clarified butter, you have removed the emulsifier which makes a Beurre Blanc work".


 

Good link, Petals - Explains it perfectly.



Quote:
Originally Posted by mgchef View Post

Finally I got time to not only make dinner but experiment at the same time. I made the beurre blanc tonight, and started cooking at 5:00, because I made three. 1.Traditional with whole butter 2. Clarified butter 3. Clarified butter and the proteins, but took the water out of butter. Normally when I cook, I won't measure, but I had to make sure that everything was under the same conditions so my control and experimental group would be going through the exact same process and pull out different results. #1 worked, but broke after about 2 minutes after serving. #2  didn't work out. #3 worked out perfectly. I clarified the butter using the method on www.cookingforengineers.com, and saved the proteins and fat, but threw out the water. It didn't break just like I thought :)


If it works for you, then do it.  It's good fun to experiment and see what results you end up with.  This applies to many things....
 Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy.
Robert A. Heinlein
 
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