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Drawn butter is melted
Drawn butter is melted butter
Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...
,Damon Fowler, ''Classical Southern Cooking'', annotated edition, 2008, p. 113 often served as a sauce
In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi- solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavour, texture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French wor ...
for steamed seafood
Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...
. Some cooks restrict the term to clarified butter
Clarified butter is butter from which all milk solids have been removed. The result is a clear, yellow butter that can be heated to higher temperatures before burning.
Typically, it is produced by melting butter and allowing the components to ...
, while others insist that it should not be clarified. Jasper White, ''Lobster at Home'', 1998, , p. 33: "Drawn butter is simply melted butter. For some unfathomable reason, many clam shacks and restaurants serve clarified butter... as drawn butter. They do not realize that the milk solids which are skimmed from clarified butter are what make drawn butter so tasty."
When it is served with seafood, diners often add lemon juice
The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...
to it.
Drawn butter sauces
In the 18th century, a small amount offlour
Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...
and water or milk was often added to melted butter to thicken it and prevent it from separating. Later in the 19th century, increasing amounts of flour and water were used. These sauces may themselves be named simply "melted butter", "drawn butter", or "drawn butter sauce", and flavored with vinegar
Vinegar () is an aqueous solution of diluted acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains from 5% to 18% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting ...
, salt
In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...
, pepper, capers, watercress, and so on.
See also
* Beurre blanc, a French sauce made of emulsified butter, also commonly served to accompany seafoodNotes