Behind the French Menu

France's Butter Sauces I. The Three Most Popular Butter Sauces on French Menus.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Cod with white butter sauce and baby leeks

Photograph by courtesy Jessica Spengler

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wordridden/5673664650/

The Three Most Popular Butter Sauces on French Menus.

Sauce Beurre d'Ail.

Also called Beurre d'Ail or Beurre d’Escargots.

Garlic butter sauce or snail butter sauce.

Beurre Bercy.

Also called Sauce Beurre Bercy or Beurre Froid Bercy

Bercy butter sauce or Bercy butter.

Sauce Beurre Blanc.

Also called Sauce Nantaise or Beurre Blanc Nantaise.

White butter sauce or the white butter sauce from Nantes.

------------------------------------

Sauce Beurre d'Ail.

Garlic butter sauce.

This sauce is a garlic flavored, but certainly not an overly garlicky butter sauce. The sauce began as the flavor behind France’s most famous snail recipe, Escargots à la Bourguignonne, snails served in the manner of Burgundy. Despite the name, there are no snails in this sauce, not even a smidgen. If you are not a snail aficionado, worry not, outside of dishes with snails this butter is 100% snail free!

This sauce is made with cold and crushed, but previously boiled garlic cloves, that significantly reduces garlic’s strength. To the crushed garlic will be added shallots, parsley, and pepper. Garlic butter sauce is a very popular sauce and is served with seafood, steaks, and, of course, snails.

Escargots à la Bourguignonne.

Snails in the manner of Burgundy.

Photograph courtesy of Elsie Hui

https://www.flickr.com/photos/elsiehui/16814621542/

Garlic butter sauce on French menus:

Les Trois Côtes d'Agneau Grillées, Beurre à l'Ail – Three grilled lamb chops prepared with garlic butter sauce.

Langoustines Rôties au Four, Beurre d’Escargots, Tomate Farcie au Fenouil. – Dublin Bay Prawns, Scampi, roasted in the oven with garlic butter sauce and served with tomato stuffed with fennel.

Wild mushroom ravioli with grilled prawns

in garlic butter sauce

Photograph by courtesy of N Wong

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nwongpr/28948840853/

Pavé de Saumon Poêlé, Beurre à l'Ail au Sake- A thick cut of salmon lightly fried in garlic butter sauce and sake, the Japanese rice wine.

Le Faux-filet Angus Irlandais Grillé, Sauce à l'Ail et aux Herbes de Provence – The Faux-filet, also called a contre-filet, is a UK sirloin, a USA strip steak. Here the steak comes from the highly-rated imported Irish Angus beef and is served grilled and flavored with the garlic butter sauce as well as the Herbs of Provence herb group.

------------------------------------

Beurre Bercy.

Bercy butter or Bercy butter sauce.

Beurre Bercy is a flavored compound butter, in French a “Beurre Compose.” Compound butters are prepared with herbs and wine or other flavors and will be served cold as a condiment. A large pat of this butter is added just when a steak or other meat is being served; it will firstly decorate and then melt and flavor the meat. There are many other compound butters in French cuisine, made and served in a similar manner, they include Beurre Maitre d'Hôtel and Beurre Montpellier.

Beurre Bercy is made with butter, veal or beef marrow, white wine, shallots, parsley and a touch of lemon juice. This sauce is named after the village of Bercy which until 1860 was the central wine and oil market for Paris; then Bercy was outside the city and a tax-free zone. Today, Bercy is part of Paris’s 12th arrondissement. Read the menu carefully as there are three different sauces that include the name Bercy.

Sauce Beurre Bercy on French menus:

Entrecôte Grillée Sauce Beurre Bercy, Purée de Salsifis – A grilled rib steak (entrecote) served with the Bercy Butter sauce, accompanied by a puree of the salsify plant, also called the oyster plant. The plant's second name, the oyster plant, was given by those who consider the plant to have a texture similar to oysters, I disagree with that comparison, but then I am naturally argumentative. Here the salsify is served as an alternative to potatoes as it is a white root vegetable. For those who have never seen salsify uncooked, it looks rather like a thin parsnip.

Le Pavé Charolais et Son Beurre Froid Bercy – A thick US sirloin steak, in the UK a rump steak; from France’s highly rated Charolais AOP beef, served with the Bercy Butter

A grilled steak with Beurre Bercy.

Photograph courtesy of Kurman Communications, Inc.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kurmanphotos/14358400607/

Onglet de Bœuf (300g), Beurre Bercy et Millefeuille de Légumes. A US hanger steak or London broil, a UK skirt steak. This 300 gram (10.50 oz) steak will be lightly fried or grilled and then served with Bercy Butter accompanied by thin slices of interleaved vegetables.

------------------------------------

Sauce Beurre Blanc or Sauce Beurre Blanc Nantaise

White Butter Sauce.

The beautiful city of Nantes, set on the River Loire, is the regional capital of the Pays de Loire and is honored with the creation of this white butter sauce. Under one or other of its names this butter sauce is a favorite when served with fish, seafood or vegetable dishes. The sauce is made with butter, a dry white wine, lemon, and shallots. Chefs change the percentages of the ingredients and may use white wine vinegar to suit the fish, seafood or vegetables with which the sauce is served.

Sauce Beurre Blanc or Sauce Beurre Blanc Nantaise on your menu:

Coquilles St Jacques Sauce Nantaise Safranée - King scallops served in their shell with Sauce Nantaise flavored with saffron. Scallops, when noted on a French menu as “Coquilles” St Jacques will be served in their shells. When scallops are served without their shells, the menu will note “Noix” de St Jacques, the nut of the scallop, the scallop meat alone.

Scallops are only rarely cooked in their shells as they are best when only lightly cooked and that is much easier to control when outside the shell. Often the shell will be warmed and then the scallop, after cooking, returned to the shell for serving. Scallop shells are perfect for decoration.

Green asparagus served with Sauce Beurre Blanc.

Photograph courtesy of Lucia Sanchez

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gusilu/4340228286/

Pavé de Saumon a la Fleur de Sel de l'ïle de Ré, Beurre Blanc aux Herbes de Provence. A thick cut of Atlantic Salmon flavored with the flower of salt crystals from the island of Île de Ré, white butter sauce and the herb group, the Herbs of Provence.

The island of Île de Ré is just off the Atlantic coast of France near the town of La Rochelle, the departmental capital of Charente-Maritime, now part of the expanded region of Nouvelle Aquitaine.

Dos de Cabillaud en Croute, Pignons de Pin et sa Sauce Beurre Blanc. A thick cut from the back of fresh cod cooked with pine nuts en croute (inside a vegetable or pastry casing) served with a white butter sauce.

The Atlantic Salmon in the language of France’s neigbors:

(Catalan - salmó), (Dutch - zalm), (German – lachs, wildlachs), (Italian – salmone atlantico), (Spanish – salmon).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases

French menus?

Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" and search with Google. Behind the French Menu’s links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 450 articles that include over 4,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.

Connected Posts:

AOC and AOP on France's Foods and Wine labels? Why is the AOC becoming an AOP?

Ail -Garlic in French Cuisine. Herbs and Spices in the French Kitchen.

Asperges en La Cuisine Française – Asparagus in French cuisine. The Artists who painted Asparagus or Lived Near Argenteuil.

Beurre - Butter in French. French Butter in French Cuisine

Bœuf Charolais - The Charolais Cattle, the Charolais Beef. Le Bœuf Charolais du Bourbonnais AOP.

Cabillaud - Cod, the Fish. Cabillaud is Fresh Cod, Morue is Rehydrated Cod. Cod is the Most Important Fish in the World and the Most Popular Fish in France.

Coquilles Saint-Jacques and the Vanneaux or Pétoncle. The King Scallop and the Queen Scallop. The Coquilles Saint-Jacques, and the Vanneaux or Pétoncle in French Cuisine.

Côte, a rib or rib roast, a cutlet or a chop; Côté, a side or a filet; Côtes, (cotes) the hills or the coast in French. All will be on French menus.

Crevettes - Shrimps and Prawns. Some of the Many Tasty Crustaceans on French Menus.

Dining in Burgundy. Cuisine Bourguignonne and the Dishes … à la Bourguignonne.

Échalotes - Shallots. One of the Most Important Herbs in the French Kitchen

En Croûte (En Croute) on French Menus.

Entrecôte (Entrecote). Ordering a Perfect Entrecote Steak in France.

Escargots - Snails on French Menus and How to Order Snails in France. If You Enjoy Cockles, Mussels and Conches, Then Snails will not be Strange.

Faux- file or Contre-filet - A UK Sirloin, a USA Strip Steak.

Fenouil - Fennel, the Herb, and the Vegetable.

Fleur de Sel - The flower of salt. The Special Crystals of Sea Salt Used in French Cuisine.

Herbes de Provence - The Herbs of Provence.

Huitres - Oysters I. Ordering, Eating, and Enjoying Oysters in France.

Langoustine – The Dublin Bay Prawn, Scampi or Norwegian Lobster on French Menus.

Nantes, The City and its Cuisine. A Wonderful Place to Visit and a Wonderful Place to Dine.

Parsley in French Cuisine.

Poivre - Peppercorns. White, Green, Black and Red Peppercorns in French cuisine and on French Menus. For hundred of years pepper was the most important spice in the world.

Saumon - Salmon. Atlantic Salmon is the Salmon on French Menus.

Sauce Bercy, the Classic Sauce for Fish; Sauce Bercy for Meat Dishes and Beurre Bercy for Steaks and Roasts.

Steak Frites. How to Order Steak Frites in France. An Introduction to the Onglet and the Bavette, the Cuts that Made Steak Frites Famous.

Shrimps and Prawns among the Crustaceans on Your French Menu.

The Names of France’s Mainland Regions and Their Borders are Changing. Keep this list with your maps

Rocamadour Goat’s Cheese, AOP and the Medieval city of Rocamadour.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

A farm made Rocamadour cheese.

The word fermier on the label indicates farm made cheeses.

Photograph courtesy of Alex Ranaldi

www.flickr.com/photos/alexranaldi/22371166533/

Rocamadour or Cabécou de Rocamadour AOC/AOP, the cheese, is a 25% fat goat’s milk cheese, made with non-pasteurized milk. The cheese has a light ivory color, and is aged for a minimum of 12 days and then it is creamy and mild. A young Rocamadour, with its nutty flavor, may well be in your salad or part of another dish. Older and mature Rocamadour AOP cheeses, with their stronger flavor, will be on the cheese board and the cognoscenti prefer the cheese when aged for a few months when it has a clear bite.

If you are considering taking a Rocamadour cheese home, you will not be paying overweight; all Rocamadour AOP cheeses are small round cheeses weighing about 40 grams (1.40 ounces) each. For more information on buying French cheeses and taking them home click on this link to Buying Cheese in France and Taking it Home. (The cheese was initially known as the Cabécou de Rocamadour, but the Cabécou is part of the name of other cheeses, and today it is plain Rocamadour).

The medieval city of Rocamadour is in the department of Lot in the region of Occitanie. The new super region of Occitanie was created from the old regions of Midi-Pyrenees and Languedoc- Roussillon. Then, on 1-1-2016, France reduced its number of administrative regions from 22 to 13.

The Medieval City of Rocamadour.

Photograph courtesy of Maman Voyage.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lejournaldemaman/7110887787/

Rocamadour AOC/AOP

Farm-made Rocamadour Cheeses.

Photograph courtesy of Lafromagerie.

In local fromageries, cheese shops, you may see two types of this cheese, a Rocamadour Artisanal, and a Rocamadour Fermier. The first is made in communal dairies; the second is made by the farmer on his or her farm where the goats are milked. Local cheese shops will stock young cheeses, just two-weeks old, along with other cheeses that have been aged for up to one year. This cheese is available all over France; however, the assortment of aged cheeses will be more limited the further you are from Rocamadour.

Rocamadour on French menus:

Confit de Canard, Pommes Forestières et son Rocamadour (20 mn) – Recooked duck served with woodsman potatoes and Rocamadour cheese. (20 minutes wait). Pommes Forestières, woodsman’s potatoes, are made with cubes or slices of potatoes fried with a little goose fat, mushrooms, garlic, and parsley. (Confit has many meanings in French cuisine and duck confit is one of the tastiest).

Rocamadour Chaud sur Blinis et Lit de Jeunes Pousses – Warm Rocamadour on blinis on a bed of young salad leaves and or vegetable shoots.. (Blinis are small pancakes of Russian origin traditionally made with buckwheat flour, but now often made with regular wheat flour).

Salade Rocamadour. Mesclun, Tomates, Rocamadour Tiède, Poitrine de Porc , Miel, Pommes de Terre, Noix. – A mixed green salad, made with tomatoes, warm Rocamadour, braised pork belly with honey, potatoes, and walnuts. This menu listing is for a Salade Rocamadour which has no agreed composition; another chef’s version may be completely different.

Tartines de Rocamadour, Lardons, Noix sur Lit de Salade Verte – Open sandwiches with Rocamadour cheese, fried bacon pieces, and walnuts on a bed of green salad leaves.

Souris d'Agneau Fondante, Ecrasé de Pomme de Terre au Rocamadour – Lamb shank cooked until it is falling off the bone served with mashed potatoes made with Rocamadour cheese.

Rocamadour cheeses maturing.

Photograph courtesy of the Syndicat des Producteurs de Fromages Rocamadour.

While Rocamadour AOP is mainly produced in the department of Lot in Occitanie. For historical reasons individual farms in the new super-region of Occitanie departments of Tarn and Aveyron as well as in the departments of Lot et Garonne, Corrèze, and the Dordogne in the newly expanded super region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine also make Rocamadour cheese. Take a map of the Route de Rocamadour, the Rocamadour road, from the Tourist Information office and spend an enjoyable day touring, and tasting Rocamadour and other local cheeses. Restaurants are carefully spread out along the route along with many farms offering other cheeses and wines.

The Route de Rocamadour.

Rocamadour was a medieval city though, in today’s terms, it is a village. Today, Rocamadour has some seven hundred permanent inhabitants. French Medieval cities rarely had more than 3,000 citizens, with most under 1,000, Paris excluded. Since the 10th century, or possibly earlier, Rocamadour has been a place of pilgrimage for those who come to pray to Notre Dame de Rocamadour.

The Medieval City of Rocamadour.

Photograph courtesy of dynamosquito.

www.flickr.com/photos/dynamosquito/4643726309/

The Rocamadour Fete de Fromage

The Rocamadour Cheese Festival.

Rocamadour, of course, has a cheese festival, their Fête des Fromages; it is held on Whit Sunday, that’s 48 days after Easter, and it celebrates French farm-made cheeses from the South of France and not just their own along with wines from the area. A farmers’ market is held at the same time Following its position as a place of pilgrimage, the fete begins with a mass and blessing of the local sheep and goats.

See the French language website of the Rocamadour Fete de Fromage. The site is easily understood with Google and Microsoft translate apps.

http://fromages.rocamadour.free.fr/marche-des-fromages-fermiers.html

The exact date of their Fete changes every year in coordination with Easter. Easter falls between the 22nd of March and the 25th April so you will need to check the dates on the web, or with the English language website of the Rocamadour Tourist Information Office. (Many French festivals have dates linked to Christian Holy days. Today all these festivals are secularized but their dates have not changed).

For the English language website of the Tourist Information Office of Rocamadour click or copy paste the link below:

www.france-voyage.com/cities-towns/rocamadour-16294/tourist-office-rocamadour-8138.htm

Rocamadour is an excellent place for those with gastronomic interests at any time of the year. The area is part of the ancient province of Quercy, and that means, you may enjoy, apart from many other kinds of cheese, excellent Quercy lamb, duck, melons and much more. Also, try the AOC Coteaux du Quercy wines along with the enjoyable and very inexpensive local Vin des Côtes du Lot IGP wines; these include whites, roses, and reds. Then just 62 km (39 miles) away is the town of Cahors with its excellent, and famous, red Cahors AOP wine.

The Statue of the Black Virgin.

Photograph courtesy of Europe up Close.

Whatever time of the year you visit Rocamadour there will be pilgrims from all over France and beyond. Our Lady of Rocamadour, the Vierge Noire, the black virgin, has become even more popular for pilgrims since the reputed burial site of St Amadour was discovered in Rocamadour. When visiting Rocamadour today's visitors, and pilgrims will be pleased to know that one of the old traditions has changed. You are no longer required to walk up the 216 steps to the shrine of the black virgin on your knees! Today you can now walk up and down and no one will say a thing. Maybe next year there will be a cable car?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------