At some point in a series of articles on French sauces, it seems to me almost essential to pause long enough to stress the important role played by butter. Good butter bears the same relationship to French sauces that good sauces bear to French cooking. One is inconceivable without the other. Some of the sauces, the hollandaise types, for example, need large amounts of butter to achieve their distinctive texture and flavor; others, like the white sauce types, use it generously to obtain the fine flavor required by these delicate mixtures; and sauces in the brown sauce group are generally finished with a small amount of butter to produce a final flavor and texture that only butter imparts. Finally, there are les beurres composés, also called the butter compounds or compounded butters, that are combinations of butter with some other ingredient—garlic, lobster, tarragon, and so on—which are made wholly of butter except for the added flavor and which are usually served with broiled or fried meats and fish.
The French consider butter in a little different light from what Americans do. They are not at all concerned with the need for butter to eat on breadstuffs. In fact, they seldom spread butter on those thick slices of very light, very crusty French bread they like so well. For hors d'oeuvres—or perhaps when eating salad—they might eat cheese on the bread or perhaps rillette or liver pâté. But with the entree, bread is eaten dry, although of course small pieces are broken off and dropped on the plate to pick up the last vestiges of the sauce, a habit that is vraiment le bon goût—really good eating. But when it comes to cooking, particularly the sauces, nothing can take the place of butter. Even if the meat or fish is cooked in any other fat, that is usually poured off after the food is cooked and butter is put in the pan when the sauce is made.
French butter is extremely good, and since most of the big cities are quite closely surrounded by fertile farming sections, fresh farm butter arrives daily. It is often unsalted because it can be purchased in small amounts and used quickly. In the country sections it is made often and naturally always fresh. Of course, more cows are calved in spring and summer, so there is usually more cream and consequently more butter during these two seasons. My grandparents were farmers living a few miles from the small town where I was brought up and they came once or twice a week with farm produce, including butter, for us. In the summer, my mother always put down crocks for the winter. She had two ways of doing it. One was to melt the butter slowly, using as little heat as possible, until all the sediment which it contained sank to the bottom of the pan. Then she poured the clear liquid butter into the crock to harden and stored it in our cool cellar. The sediment in the bottom of the pan she let brown a little, spreading it on bread for us children to eat between meals. We loved it. The other way was to spoon the butter into the crock between layers of vinegar, cover the crock closely, and store it in the cellar. When she wanted to use it, she would spoon some out and wash off the vinegar with cold water. This method of preservation was considered the better, and the butter was used for the more particular cooking.
To make les beurres composés is very simple and provides really tasty sauces about as quickly as any way I know. These compounded butters have another application, however, that is unusual, quick, and most versatile. This application is to the surface of bread, cracker, or toast; canapé, appetizer, or hors d'oeuvre; of any size, shape, or purpose on the appetizer or tea tray. Use any of these butters in their own compound simplicity, or build up the canapé with other toppings that are relevant to the flavor of the butter combination.
There is only one warning. In most of these butters, with the exception of those like beurre meunière or black butter, the butter is never melted to the point of oiliness, merely brought to a creamy consistency, usually with a whip. Its final melting takes place when it reaches the hot food. In making these combinations, the general rule is to allow 1 tablespoon butter in the recipe for each serving.
Almond Butter
Blanch ½ cup almonds in boiling water and remove the skins. Pound to a paste, adding a little water if necessary, and gradually add ½ cup butter. Strain through a fine sieve. Use in cream sauce for chicken sauté.
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