Definition

Noun: A seasoned, browned butter sauce used in cooking, particularly for fish. It is made by slowly browning clarified butter and then seasoning it with lemon juice and parsley.

Usage

"Meunière butter" is a culinary term. It is used as a noun to refer specifically to this prepared sauce. It is most commonly associated with the classic French dish "sole meunière," where fish is dredged in flour, pan-fried, and served with this butter sauce poured over it.

Examples

• The chef prepared the trout with a simple meunière butter.
• The key to a perfect sole meunière is the meunière butter.
• He spooned the hot meunière butter over the cooked fillets.

Advanced Usage

• The term is almost exclusively used in a culinary context. You would not use it in everyday conversation outside of discussing cooking or dining.
• It is a compound noun where "meunière" (meaning "miller's wife" in French) describes the style of cooking, and "butter" is the main ingredient. The phrase functions as a single unit.

Variants and Related Words

• Beurre meunière: The French term for "meunière butter."
• Beurre noisette: French for "hazelnut butter," which is simply butter cooked until it turns a nutty brown color. Meunière butter is a seasoned beurre noisette.
• Clarified butter: Butter that has had its milk solids and water removed, which is the starting point for making meunière butter.

Synonyms

• Browned lemon-parsley butter (descriptive phrase, not a single-word synonym).

Related Phrases

• À la meunière: A French cooking phrase meaning "in the style of the miller's wife," describing food (usually fish) that is floured, fried in butter, and served with meunière butter.
  • Example: The sea bass was prepared à la meunière.

Noun

1. clarified butter browned slowly and seasoned with lemon juice and parsley