COOKING ESSENTIALS: BEURRE MANIE (KNEADED BUTTER)

Steps:

• 1. PREP/PREPARE
• 2. If you can use clarified butter for this recipe, then do so. If you want some help making your own clarified butter, here is my recipe; along with a video: https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/sauce-spread/sauce-spread-other-sauce-spread/double-boiler-clarified-butter-with-video.html?r=1
• 3. Flour is often used as a thickening agent in cooking but just adding flour to a soup would cause large doughy lumps. The flour wouldn't spread easily and it would make the dish unappealing. Roux and beurree mains are both used to thicken soups without the flour clumping. With the butter coating the flour you can add it to your soup or sauce without the flour getting thick and clumpy. As the butter melts it distributes the flour evenly as you stir it into your mixture.
• 4. I know that we use flour all the time in making soups, stews, and sauces. The big difference here is that a Beurre Manie is not cooked early in the recipe, but added at the end. That gives this dish thickening power with a yummy silky appearance.
• 5. Gather your Ingredients (mise en place).
• 6. Begin with equal amounts of butter and flour.
• 7. Add the softened butter, and flour together in a bowl, and combine.
• 8. Chef's Tip: When we made this recipe at Cordon Bleu, we used our hands. Now, my method is to use a fork.
• 9. Continue to whisk, and taste until you no longer taste flour.
• 10. Chef's Note: This means that all the particles of flour are coated in butter.
• 11. I take 1 tablespoon knobs of the butter, stick in the freezer, and then place into a Ziploc bag until needed.
• 12. PLATE/PRESENT
• 13. At the end of the recipe, drop a knob or two into a soup or stew to thicken it, and to give it that yummy silky look. Enjoy.
• 14. Keep the faith, and keep cooking.