On Food and Cooking

Butter as Sauce: Melted Butter, Beurre
Noisette, and Beurre Noir Perhaps the
simplest of sauces is the pat of butter dropped
on a heap of hot vegetables, or stirred into rice
or noodles, or drawn across the surface of an
omelet or steak to give a sheen. Melted butter
can be enlivened with lemon juice, or
“clarified” to remove the milk solids (see
below). Beurre noisette and beurre noir,
“hazel” and “black” butter, are melted butter
sauces that the French have used since
medieval times to enrich fish, brains, and
vegetables. Their flavor is deepened by
heating the butter to about 250ºF/120ºC until
its water boils off and the molecules in the
white residue, milk sugar and protein, react
with each other to form brown pigments and
new aromas (the browning reaction, p. 777).
Hazel butter is cooked until it’s golden brown,
black butter until it’s dark brown (truly black
butter is acrid). They’re often balanced with
vinegar or lemon juice, which should be added