
Sweet
Butter Braised Maine Lobster with Baby Arrowleaf Spinach
and a Saffron-Vanilla Sauce
By Chef Thomas Keller,
The French Laundry, Yountville, CA
Wine
Pairing:
Robert Mondavi Winery Napa Valley Chardonnay Reserve 1994
Beurre
Monté:
The Workhorse Sauce Ingredients:
1 tbls. Water
4 tbls. to 1 lb. Butter (cut into chunks)
Method:
Beurre Monté can be made in any amount using the
same cooking method. Bring the water to a boil in an appropriate
size saucepan. Reduce the heat to low and begin whisking
the butter into the water, bit by bit, to emulsify. Once
you have established the emulsion, you can continue to
add pieces of butter until you have the quantity of beurre
monté that you need (the French Laundry makes 20
pounds at a time). lt is important to keep the level of
heat gentle and consistent in order to maintain the emulsification.
Make the beurre monté close to the time it will
be used and maintain it in a warm place. If you have extra
beurre monte, it can be refrigerated and reheated to use
as melted butter or it can be clarified.
Use:
1. At the
French Laundry we use an awful lot of butter without serving
a lot of butter because of a method and substance called
beurre monté a way of infusing meats and fish with
the flavor of butter. We cook in it, rest meats in it,
make sauces with it. It's an extraordinary vehicle for
both heat and flavor. Here is what beurre monté
is: a few drops of water and chunks of butter whisked
over a moderate heat to melt the butter and keep it emulsified.
In one piece. Creamy. Solid butter is, an emulsification
of butter fat, water, and milk solids; beurre monte is
a way to manipulate the emulsification into liquid form.
2. Lobster
poached in beurre monté is like no other lobster.
It's so reminiscent to me of American cuisine. When it's
done right, this butter poached lobster reminds me of
Maine lobster that you eat with drawn butter, and for
me that's what lobster is all about. Poaching lobster
in beurre monté is the perfect way to cook lobster
and it's also an easy way to cook lobster. First, it impregnates
the meat with that buttery flavor, which connects you
back to that experience of dipping lobster in clear butter.
3. Second,
because beurre monté stays between 180 and 190
degrees in our kitchen, it's always at a perfect poaching
temperature. When you cook lobster violently, it seizes
up, it's impossible to get any flavor into it; poaching
it in butter, mellows it out. Butter poached lobster is
meltingly tender, moist and flavorful. And because of
the gentle temperature, it's harder to over cook it; the
lobster hits the right point of doneness and stays there
for a while. This is great to do at home. Make your beurre
monté, bring it to 180, 190 degrees, pop your cleaned
lobster tails and claws in beurre monté, and let
them poach for five or six minutes. I would eat them straight
out of the butter myseif.
4. This
technique works not just with lobster but with just about
any firm meaty fish. Monk fish is great this way, for
instance, and so is sea bass.
5. We use
beurre monté to baste meats and this has several
purposes. When we sauté beef or venison or a saddle
of lamb, we typically finish cooking it in the oven. But
before we do, we drain the fat out of the pan and | ladle
a little beurre monté over the meat. This helps
to keep the meat moist, enhances the flavor and also improves
the cooking, because the even layer of fat—the beurre
monté—is a heat conductor. (We always let
the pan cool down a little though; if the pan's too hot,
the beurre monté will separate and the solids will
burn.)
6. When
the meats are done, they come out of the oven and are
submerged in beurre monté—it's the perfect
resting medium. It actually lowers the temperature of
the meat, reducing the carryover cooking, then maintains
it at a great serving temperature. But most important,
the weight of the fat surrounding the meat keeps the meat
juices from leaking out—they stay in the meat. So
here, we use beurre monté as environmental control,
and it enhances the flavor.
7. Almost
all our canapé sauces are made á la minute
with beurre monté. The sauce for the blinis, for
oysters and pearls, for bacon and eggs—all are simply
a spoonful of beurre monté with different fiavoring
ingredients.
8. And finally,
what we don't use, we simply clarify the next day and
use this clear butter for Hollandaise or for sautéing
scallops, soft-shelled crabs, crepes. You can do that
or simple refrigerate it and use it the same way you'd
use whole butter for cooking.
9. For recipes
in this book that require only a tablespoon or two of
beurre monté, you can substitute whole butter by
melting it in the pan you're cooking in. For sauces, you
can likewise swirl in whole butter—a procedure traditionally
called monté au beurre.
Tempura
Batter Ingredients:
3 cups Cake Flour
3/4 cup Corn Starch
1 tbls. Baking Soda
1 tspn. Salt
2 cups Tonic Water
Method:
First, mix all dry ingredients together, then use a sifter
to evenly disperse all together. In a large metal bowl,
add tonic water to dry ingredients, stirring until it
reaches the consistency of a thick milkshake.
Saffron-Vanilla
Sauce Ingredients:
(Makes 1 cup)
1/2 Vanilla Bean (split)
1 cup Chicken Stock
1/4 tspn. Saffron Threads
1 1/2 tspns. Heavy Cream
10 tbls. (5 oz.) Butter (unsalted, cut into 8 pieces)
Method:
Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into a small saucepan
and add the vanilla pod, chicken stock, and saffron threads.
Bring the stock to a simmer, then simmer until reduced
to a glaze (1 to 1 1/2 tbls.). Add the cream and simmer
for a few more seconds. Over medium heat, whisk in the
butter bit by bit (as you would for Beurre monté).
It is critical to maintain the sauce at the correct temperature,
as it can break if it becomes too hot or cold. Strain
the sauce in mix for several seconds with an immersion
blender to emulsify (if you do not have an immersion blender,
you can use a regular one, but rinse out the blender container
with hot water before adding the sauce, so it stays warm).
Keep the sauce in a warm place.
Links
to more Thomas Keller Recipes:
Braised
Stuffed Pig’s Head with Sauce Gribiche
Bittersweet
Valrhona Chocolate Fondant with Sable Cookie
Broccolini
Salad with Burrata Cheese - (new)
Buttermilk
Biscuits - (new)
Buttermilk
Fried Chicken - (new)
Creamy
Maine Lobster Broth, Russet Potato and Lobster Coral Gnocchi
Foie
Gras Infused Custard with White Wine Poached Anjou Pears
Iceberg
Lettuce Slices with Blue Cheese Dressing, Oven-Roasted
Tomatoes, Bacon, and Brioche Croutons - (new)
Leek
Bread Pudding - (new)
Milk
Poached Wild Turbot with "Foie Gras" and Sweet
Onion "Cracklings" and Foie Gras Emulsion
Nantes
Carrot Stew - (new)
Pig’s
Feet with French Green Lentils
Pork
and Beans
Sautéed
Gulf White Shrimp* with Jasmine Rice, Raisins and Spicy
Shrimp Broth
Scallion
Potato Cakes - (new)
“Surf
and Turf" Pan Roasted “Filet Mignon" of
Veal with a Maine Lobster “Pancake", Clam Shell
Mushrooms and Sauce “Homardine"
Sweet
Butter Braised Maine Lobster with Baby Arrow-leaf Spinach
and a Saffron-Vanilla Sauce
Other
Related Links:
Thomas
Keller: Ad Hoc at Home
Bringing
Home the Bacon
The
Great Chefs Series
Chef
Thomas Keller
Thomas
Keller Joins The Culinary Institute of America Board of
Trustees

|