Classic French Beurre Manié Easy To Make Thickener for Soups and Sauces! How to Feel Like Julia Child in Your Own Kitchen!

Today a kitchen basic that may or may not know!  Beurre Manié translated from the French directly means, kneaded butter.  This is sort of a reverse roux that can be used to thicken soups or stews easily and without having to add flour to a pan of sauteed' vegetables to make a pasty mess.

Using a Beurre Manié ensures that your sauce will come out smooth and luscious.  This is nothing more than softened butter that is blended or "kneaded" together with all purpose flour to make a paste.  Many classic recipes call for unsalted butter, however, I have used salted and you should use what you prefer when you make yours.  This is easily achieved on a flat plate with a fork.  Make sure your butter is nice and soft.  Mine was a bit on the melted side because my kitchen was particularly warm that day.  But no worries!  You can make this in advance if you require a thickener often for your dishes and you can store it for up to a month in the refrigerator in a jar or container with a tight fitting lid.

Use the Beurre Manié by adding it to simmering liquids for sauces or soups that you want thickened.  You can use a little or a lot depending on how thick you want your dish to be.  I made mine on this day to thicken a homemade cream of celery soup and it worked great! You just drop in pieces of the Beurre Manié little by little and whisk away until the flour has absorbed the liquid and thickened your sauce or soup.

The straight definition of this helpful blend is:  

Beurre manié (French "kneaded butter") is a dough, consisting of equal parts of soft butter and flour, used to thicken soups and sauces. By kneading the flour and butter together, the flour particles are coated in butter. When the beurre manié is whisked into a hot or warm liquid, the butter melts, releasing the flour particles without creating lumps.

Beurre manié should not be confused with roux, which is also a thickener made of equal parts of sometimes clarified butter or many other oils and flour, but which is cooked before use.[2]

Beurre manié is also used as a finishing step for sauces, imparting a smooth, shiny texture prior to service.

This is a very classic French technique that is super applicable in the home kitchen.  You may have been doing this because your mom or your grandmother did it and not even known that they teach this at the Cordon Bleu or that Julia Child was a fan of this type of thickener!

I hope you will give this Beurre Manié a try!  In the right application it is a great choice instead of sauteing your veggies in a skillet and then making a roux and adding them back to the pot.  Just saves a little time and effort on the clean up end and in my book that goes a long way!  

I hope you give this a try and I hope you love it!

Happy Eating!

See the video demonstration here: