Browned butter vinaigrette: a first
Maybe I'm the last foodie on the planet to learn about this, or more precisely, to eat it. But recently at some friends' house, host Bill Kennedy made a salad with a browned butter vinaigrette. He calls it Bretagne Vinaigrette, and it's a family recipe.
I can only attest to its being deliciously decadent, if also understated. In fact, part of its appeal was the way it enhanced the fragile butter lettuce with which it was tossed. He says it doesn't really work on more traditional lettuces.
If you're looking for something different for the holidays, this could produce a "wow."
Bretagne Vinaigrette
Place 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon sea salt, 2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper, 3 to 4 radishes, thinly sliced, and 2 green onions, chopped coarsely, into a large serving bowl. Set aside.
Melt 1/3 stick butter in a saute pan over medium-high heat just until it starts to turn brown. It must get substantially brown, but not burnt, so turn down the heat when it starts to turn and keep swirling it over the heat.
As soon as it's uniformly beown, dump it into the salad bowl and give everything a quick stir. Return the pan to the medium-high heat and deglaze with the same volume of vinegar, about 2 to 3 ounces (1/4 to 1/3 cup) in this case. "I always do this part by eye, and so did my grandmother and mother," says Bill. Let the vinegar get a little warm, not more than a minute or so.
Pour the vinegar in the bowl and give it a good stir. Throw in the torn leaves of 1 clamshell of butter lettuce (or a similar kind), and toss very quickly and well. Serve immediately. The radishes and onion will settle to the bottom, so make sure you get some with each portion.
Comments
Interesting recipe, but think you should caution bloggers about taking care when they add the vinegar to deglaze the pan. Perhaps it is much safer than making blackened butter, where the butter is still in the pan when vinegar is added, but I would premeasure the vinegar rather than pouring from the bottle and have a pan lid handy to douse any flames. I once didn't do the right things and probably would have had a house fire if hadn't had super-high kitchen ceiling. A chef once told me about flinging a flaming pan into his back yard.
Posted by: Waltrina Stovall | December 4, 2007 4:51 PM
Vinegar seems to be a fairly common deglazing agent. Maybe you could be more explicit? Are you concerned that the butter will splatter and burn someone? What would catch fire?
Posted by: Kim Pierce | December 4, 2007 5:15 PM
I have no idea what the person is referring to re: the vinegar. It's not flammable. In seeing 3 generations of family make this, I have never heard of such a thing.
Posted by: Bill Kennedy | December 4, 2007 6:11 PM
I assume it is the butter that catches fire, which is why I said that the little bit left in the pan that is to be deglazed might not be dangerous like a true blackened or browned butter. As for vinegar not being flameable, I think any liquid added to a pan of sizzling butter might cause a flare up.Believe me, my flames shot at least three feet into the air. (The blackened butter, which I served, as planned, over delicately fried eggs was delicious. However, I never tried the recipe again.}
Posted by: Waltrina Stovall | December 4, 2007 7:39 PM
You just had to be there
Hint: Drink the brandy, dont de-glaze with it. Less flammable that way, unless you drink the brandy and then try to de-glaze.
Bill-Whatchu say?
Posted by: AC | December 4, 2007 8:03 PM
OK, let's all back up and pour a stiff drink.
The butter is browned. The butter is poured off into the bowl. The empty pan, with a MERE sheen of butter-coating on it, is returned to the heat and the vinegar is poured in. Browned butter in no way leaves flammable hunks on a pan and if it does, you have just ruined your work and need to start over.
Pour the vinegar in the bathroom if you wish and then return the pan to the heat. Nuke it in the microwave! The purpose of briefly heating the vinegar is so that the browned butter doesn't solidify when you add the vinegar to the bowl.
Next time I won't use the term 'deglaze' because is reality, there is nothing in the pan TO deglaze.
The vinegar merely washes the last vestiges of butter film away -- which makes the pan easier to clean. Because, this being a French recipe from a French family, we are all cheese eating, lazy people who hate to wash. ;-)
Posted by: Bill Kennedy | December 5, 2007 11:29 AM
Do you use plain ole vinegar, or can we use something we like? Apple cider or red wine, maybe balsamic, but the flavor on balsamic might be too strong. What's your favorite?
Posted by: Krista | December 5, 2007 2:39 PM
Plain white vinegar.
Posted by: Bill Kennedy | December 5, 2007 4:21 PM
BK-
the flammable vinegar?
Posted by: AC | December 6, 2007 5:01 PM
Yes, AC. And it's not really white, it's clear. The bottle is white, though. And a plastic bottle is much more flammable than "flammable" vinegar.
Posted by: Bill Kennedy | December 7, 2007 3:03 PM