French Melted Butter is a traditional British recipe, based on Eliza Acton's recipe of 1845, for a classic Victorian sauce of butter melted in a water and plain flour sauce that that is further thickened and enriched with egg yolks. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: French Melted Butter.
(click this button to prevent the screen from sleeping so Cook Mode is 'ON')
This is a traditional British recipe redacted from Eliza Acton's 1845 volume Modern Cookery, the first classic Victorian cookbook.
Original Recipe
FRENCH MELTED BUTTER.
Pour half a pint of good but not very thick, boiling melted butter to the well—beaten yolks of two or three fresh eggs, and stir them briskly as it is added; put the sauce again into the saucepan, and shake it high over the fire for an instant, but do not allow it to boil or it will curdle. Add a little lemon-juice or vinegar, and serve it immediately.
Modern Redaction
The melted butter sauce, typically simply known as 'melted butter' was the commonest Victorian sauce of all and which was served with every kind of fish, meat and vegetable dishes. The base sauce could be flavoured with lemon juice and lemon zest or with parsley, though the plain sauce (in one of its many incarnations) was by far the commonest. This is the sauce called for in any Victorian recipe calling for 'melted butter'. This is a french variant that basically takes a basic melted butter sauce, blends with eggs to form a custard and flavoured with lemon juice or vinegar before serving.
Ingredients:
300ml melted butter, boiling
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar
Method:
Prepare the melted butter according to the recipe an take off the heat when it is boiling.
Beat the egg yolks in a bowl and whisk in two ladlefuls of the hot melted butter to temper them. Now whisk the egg mixture into the melted butter remaining on the pan. Return to the heat and cook gently (do not boil) until thickened.
Take off the heat, whisk in the lemon juice or vinegar and serve immediately.
