Butter Sauces

These sauces rely on the butter emulsifying with a moist purée of eschalots and liquid, usually wine and water, for their body. However, if too much or too little heat is used, the sauce will be just like melted, slightly curdled butter and won’t coat the food it accompanies; it will have an unpleasant fatty taste and will be unusable. Some tips to help you avoid this fate are given opposite, but really the only way to master butter sauces is with practice.