Basic Beurre Blanc Sauce

Basic Beurre Blanc Sauce
A good, basic Beurre Blanc recipe is nice to have on hand. This one is adapted from "René Verdon's French Cooking for the American Table," by René Verdon and Carl Lyren.

Ingredients:

1/4 c white wine vinegar
1/4 c white wine
1 Tbsp shallots, minced
1/4 t salt
1/8 t white pepper
1/2 a whole lemon
1 lb. butter, no substitions

Procedure:

Put the vinegar, wine, shallots, salt and pepper in a nonaluminum saucepan. Reduce until you have about 1 Tbsp remaining. Remove from heat. Begin beating in tablespoon-sized pats into the pan one at a time. After about 4 pieces have been added and the butter is creaming, return the saucepan to very low heat, squeeze in the lemon, and continue beating in the rest of the butter, one pat at a time. When all the butter is added and mixture is creamy, transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately. Sauce will separate if reheated.

Verdon, René, and Carl Lyren. René Verdon's French Cooking for the American Table. New York: Doubleday, 1974.