Elevate Canned Veggies With Julia Child's Foolproof Butter Tip
Julia Child had a massive effect on American home kitchens. She taught thousands of people how to cook using French techniques that she demystified on her TV show, "The French Chef." In short, Julia Child changed the world.
And one of her great tools for making the world a better place was butter. It's one of those magical fats that makes everything better, and there's a reason restaurants take special care of their butter. If butter can make everything better, it stands to reason it can make your canned vegetables taste amazing.
One of Julia Child's great tips on "The French Chef" was to strain canned vegetables and then sauté them in butter. The butter has to be the right temperature — between where it stops foaming and before it starts browning. This way, the vegetables soak up more of the butter flavor as they cook. And don't toss out the liquid the vegetables were canned in! It's perfect for adding to sauces and soups for a fuller veggie flavor.
The easiest way to add butter to everything
It's not just canned vegetables that pop with added butter. Adding butter into any sauce is the professional's secret to balancing out the acidity and making a smooth, beautifully glossy dish. Take cubes of chilled butter, and add them in right at the end. The technique is called "monter au beurre," which in French means "to mount with butter."
Another way to add butter is to simply melt it with water to make a beurre monté. Gently whisk slices of butter into just-steaming water — 2 tablespoons of water for a stick of butter. This emulsifies the butter into a thick sauce that you can pour over anything, giving it an appealing, glossy shine. It goes well with fish, veggies, meats — anything you want to add butter to. The sauce is a key step in our delicious lobster bisque recipe!
Of course, you want to use the right butter. Using unsalted butter lets you decide how much to season it. As for what type — sweet cream, European, cultured, or otherwise — take a look at our guide to all the types of butter out there.