"Butter and Basic Sauces"

April 09, 2009 - Vol 1, Issue 1

In This Issue

April Special

April Events

Butter Basics

Butter and Yolk Sauces

Roux-based Sauces

Smart Butter and Basic Sauce Tips

Q & A's

Cookbook Review

Recipes with Basic Sauce

Quick Links

Kitchen & Spice Website

Bridal Registry

Visit Gainesville

Sweet Cream

As one hyperbolic chef puts it, "the secret to life is butter." It's a rare cook that doesn't appreciate the magic that the flavor of butter brings to their kitchen. Whether cooking, baking, or simply spreading on fresh bread, the key ingredient to a recipe

is often butter. Many of the secrets that butter holds are due to its response to temperature. It remains a solid at cooler temperatures, but begins to melt at mouth temperatures - just like chocolate! In this issue we'll deepen our understanding of butter, and explore some classic sauces that owe their existence to butter. We finish with a review of one of our favorite cookbooks, and present three basic sauce recipes that will provide plenty of panache to a weekday meal or a more formal affair.

"Green" April Specials

April Events

April 1 - 30 - "Green Month" - Check out our website for weekly "green" specials

Easter Eggs

April 1 - 30 - National Customer Loyalty Month - All current and new Preferred Customers - Draw for $$$ off your purchase!

April 11th - Annual Easter Egg Hunt - Find the egg, win a prize! Limit 1 egg per family or group.

April 12th - Easter

April 22nd - Earth Day

April 22nd - Administrative Assistant's Day - surprise your assistant with a personalized gift basket from Kitchen & Spice.

April 22nd - In-store Demonstrations by a Viking Specialist - stop by to see Viking in action!

Three Wine Glasses

April 23rd - Wine Tasting - 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
This month's wine tasting features McManis Chardonnay, Leese-Fitch Cabernet Sauvignon, Beyond Sauvignon Blanc and Primarius Pinot Noir.

McManis Chardonnay is crafted in the California style of oak barrels which lends a creamy, buttery flavor to the wine and naturally pairs well with buttery sauces.

Leese-Fitch Cabernet drinks beautifully with reduction sauces and meat, making it the perfect complement to food.

Butter Basics

"Bread is but a canvas for good butter." Historically, butter was peasant food just as bread was. It was natural that they become inextricably linked. "Bread and butter" is a time-honored idiom for describing one's source of daily livelihood and well-being. Somewhere along the line, French aristocracy discovered the pleasures of butter transforming it to a much-in-demand food staple and key to many gastronomic favorites.

What is Butter? - For being a staple of kitchens everywhere, you may be amazed about what you don't know about butter. Butter is made from milk, most commonly cow's milk, but can be made from sheep, goat, buffalo, yak, or other ruminating mammals' milk. Butter is comprised of butterfat, milk proteins, and water. According to legal food definitions, commercially produced butter must have a butterfat content of at least 80%. Cow's milk has a butterfat content of approximately 4%, so it takes a lot of milk to make a pound of butter, in fact 10-11 quarts.

Slicing Soft Butter

How Butter is Formed -- Suspended in unhomogenized milk, the butterfat exists in tiny fat "bubbles" with a thin membrane surrounding each globule of fat. Undisturbed, the fat or cream, rises to the top of the milk and is easily skimmed away to the butter churn. Agitating the skimmed cream will turn it into butter. This agitation, or churning, breaks the membranes of the fat globules allowing them to form longer chains of fat "crystals" and coagulating in the process. Churned butter is comprised of these butterfat crystals, loose butterfat, and unbroken fat globules. The percentage of each form of butterfat will have an impact on the consistency of the butter. As butter forms, liquid separates from the fat. This liquid is known as buttermilk. (However, most commercially-sold buttermilk is a fermented skim milk, not the runoff from butter-making).

Why is Butter Yellow? -- The taste and yellow color of butter derive much of their character from the pasture or feed given the dairy animal. Nuances in taste between different dairies can be quite noticeable and vary by farming region. Many commercial dairies add annatto, (a seed from the achiote tree) or beta-carotene, (a natural plant pigment), to their butter to amplify its yellow appearance.

Butter Boy

Butter Terms - The most common butter term is "sweet cream butter." Sweet cream butter is made from pasteurized milk and contrasts with butter made from unpasteurized forms of butter known as "raw cream butter." In Europe, cultured butter, where the cream has soured or fermented before churning, is preferred. Whipped butter is mechanically fluffed with nitrogen gas to be more spreadable. Nitrogen gas is used to reduce the chances of oxidation and spoilage that natural air might incite. Butter commonly comes as salted butter or unsalted butter. Salt serves to preserve butter and enhance its flavor, while unsalted butter allows the cook to adjust the salt according to taste. Most baking recipes call for unsalted butter and calibrate the amount of salt required in the recipe on that assumption.

Butter's Nutrition - This is a bit of a sore subject. Butter is 80% fat; one tablespoon of butter contains 11 grams of fat, of which 64%, or 7 grams is saturated fat. It's this saturated fat component that prompts us for some cautious moderation. One strategy in balancing our intake of butter is to save it for when it really counts -- where the flavor of butter is central to the food experience. Other butter management strategies include using whipped butter, or compound butters made of olive oil and butter.

How to Store Butter - Butter may be kept for several months under refrigeration and for up to six months in the freezer. To prevent the butter from picking up odors during storage, wrap it well. Butter, like all food fats, can become rancid. French Butter Dish

Rancidity occurs over time upon exposure to air and light; the long fat molecule chains break apart into smaller fat chains and undesirable acids. Rancid fat is not unsafe to eat, but will not taste very good. However, refrigerated butter is not very spreadable. A French butter dish allows butter to sit at room temperature for several days without exposure to air. The two part dish utilizes water to form an airtight seal, thus reducing the rate of butter's degradation. With these unique butter pots spreadable butter is always available!

Butter and Yolk Sauces

The pantheon of sauces is vast! Sauces are often what transform the ordinary into extraordinary. But, we often assume that sauces are best left to the experts and that they are beyond the scope of the everyday kitchen. This, of course, is not true!

There are basic families of sauces from which an endless variety of other sauces emerge. We'll explore a few of these sauces that depend on butter and learn some of the science behind what makes these sauces work.

One prominent family of sauces featuring butter is the Hollandaise family. Sauces in this group combine egg yolks, some acidic component, and butter into a topping that has both visual and flavor appeal. Once you learn the basics of Hollandaise, the techniques transfer to the related sauces.

Making Hollandaise Sauce - This classic sauce coaxes together liquids, oil and water, that would not normally mix. This combining process is known as emulsification. It begins by melting one cup of butter and keeping it quite warm. Combine three egg yolks and one tablespoon of lemon juice in a heavy saucepan. Heat and whisk the yolk mixture gently just until it begins to thicken. Drip in a small amount of the hot, melted butter while continually whisking. Continue to drizzle in the butter and stir until all of the butter is incorporated. Remove from heat. A well-made Hollandaise will keep for about 30 minutes before serving.

Sauce Secrets for a Great Hollandaise:

Mind the Temperatures - Start with a cold saucepan, cold yolks, and cold lemon juice. Apply heat very gradually.
Stir diligently - Throughout the process, stir the sauce continually with a whisk taking care to catch the edges and corners of the pan.
Add the warm, melted butter just as the yolks are beginning to thicken. Too early and the thickening will be slowed; too late and the yolks may curdle or scramble.
Add the warm butter gradually, especially at the beginning. The egg yolks act as an emulsifier for combining the water-based juice with the oil-based butter; give them a chance to do their work.
Some instructions for Hollandaise sauce call for reserving two tablespoons of cold butter. Add the first cold tablespoon to the yolk mixture at the start of heating. The cold butter moderates the heat application to the yolks. When the cold chunk of butter is completely melted and incorporated into the egg yolks, the remaining hot,melted butter may be drizzled in. Use the second cold tablespoon of butter to cool down the sauce at the very end.
If the Hollandaise Sauce separates prior to serving, this may be the result of applying too much heat, adding the butter too quickly, or using too much butter. If the sauce is just beginning to separate you may be able to heal it with the addition of a tablespoon of cold water or cold cream.

Variations in the Hollandaise Family of Sauces - From this basic sauce wonderful variations are available:

Sauce Maltaise - This sauce adds one tablespoon of orange juice along with the lemon juice in the egg yolk mixture. An additional 3-4 tablespoons of orange juice and a teaspoon of orange zest are whisked into the completed sauce. Eggs Benedict

Béarnaise Sauce - In this sauce, the lemon juice is replaced with a reduction of white wine vinegar laced with finely chopped shallots and tarragon. The result is a richly flavored sauce that complements meat, chicken, fish, and egg dishes.
Sauce Choron - To the basic Béarnaise Sauce, add 2-3 tablespoons of tomato paste before serving. This variation is also great with meat, chicken, fish and egg dishes.

Roux-based Sauces

White sauces, another classic family of sauces, begin with a mixture of flour and butter with different liquids and flavorings added for a wealth of possibilities.

A basic white sauce begins with four tablespoons of butter melted in a heavy saucepan. Six tablespoons of flour are added all at once to the melted butter. Over medium heat, the flour and butter mixture are continually stirred; this flour and butter mixture is known as a roux (rhymes with "boo"). The heat should be strong enough to keep the roux bubbling, but not so strong as to turn the mixture brown. Once the roux has cooked, add 2 cups of very hot milk to the roux all at once and stir briskly. The sauce will thicken quickly. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.

Sauce Secrets for Roux-based Sauces:

Cook and stir the roux for a full 2 minutes before adding the liquid. During those two minutes, a chemical reaction takes place that eliminates any raw, pasty taste in the flour. Don't rush this step.
Use a stainless steel or enameled saucepan with curved edges, also known as a saucier pan. The sloped sides of the pan make it easy to whisk and stir without any of the roux getting stuck in the corner of the pan and scorching.
Heating the liquid to be added to a near boil will help prevent any lumps in the resulting sauce. If lumps should appear, whisk vigorously. If persistent, strain the sauce through a fine sieve.