The language of the kitchen is French. This was one of the first lessons taught at culinary school (CIA). You actually took a French class that was nothing but culinary terms and their French roots. One of my favorites, monter au beurre, which I was pronouncing incorrectly for years, until my Belgian wife put a stop to that, has become a go-to technique of mine. The term translates literally to mount with butter, but in reality means to finish a sauce with butter. It sounds incredibly simple, but is actually something that takes some time to perfect. But when perfected, the "oohs" and "ahhs" at the dinner table are shared with the deepest of feelings. I use this technique for a multitude of sauces, of course my 20 year old daughter loves the Franchese application and wants it over and over again, but it works so well with so many different applications.

     To use this technique to create the most delicious shrimp scampi is a relatively simple procedure provided your mise en place is on point. Mise en place, another French term, means everything in its place. With this sauce it is critical that you have all the ingredients and equipment ready to go and you are not running around to get anything. Once you have to get something you're missing, you have already lost your sauce. The process, when done correctly, produces a delicious, creamy and flavorful sauce that is still exceptionally light. This recipe will not only give you a strong base for your own scampi sauce, but I will share the formula to create an endless variety of sauces from it.

       There are several key factors to ensure a perfect sauce. For starters, we typically use a reduction to create this sauce. A great example of a reduction is where you start with 4 ounces of alcohol and some acid (often lemon), and let it simmer, or reduce, until the volume has decreased by at least half (usually this is a guestimate, but that is ok, with time you will know exactly when to add butter). For a great monter au beurre sauce the liquid portion of your sauce will appear to thicken from just the reduction process alone, though not to the point of being a sauce like consistency, or nappe (a term meaning to coat the back of a spoon, or where a sauce will slowly run down the back of a spoon slowly with some visible viscosity rather than run off like water or straight wine. But when the liquid has reduced and thickened we would then remove the pan from the heat and incorporate the butter (which we add at this point) by constantly moving the pan.

       Another huge factor, and one many of my culinary students struggle with, is flame control. I will write about this in future blogs, because the amount of cooks out there who have a hard time with this is incredible. But for this blog your flame control is fairly simple. When it is time to add the butter, your flame must be off. If it is on, it will melt your butter in such a way that the fat will separate from the milk solids and it will actually make your sauce thinner. When it is off and you properly incorporate your butter, the butter pulls everything together and thickens your sauce in the butter. The flavors of your wine, herbs, acid and anything else literally are suspended in the butter and create a creamy heaven. 

      The last great consideration is volume. How much sauce do you need? If you are cooking for a larger group, this is not the sauce for that gathering. But in smaller groups, up to maybe 10, this works well. I usually figure I am going to use about a third of a stick of butter per person for this sauce. I know what you are thinking, butter is not healthy! But in moderation butter is not terrible for most of us. It is always way better than margarine (which is one molecule away from being plastic). As long as you aren't using this technique all the time I think it is just a luxury of life. But remember with the volume factor, you must reduce your liquid to the right amount or the butter won't work. Too much liquid, your butter will get lost in the sauce and not thicken it, too little liquid and you will just have melted butter struggling to find flavor.

SHRIMP SCAMPI      Recipe for 2

Ingredients (Prep time - 20 minutes)

12 large shrimp, thawed, deveined, patted dry with paper towel, tail is optional depending how you present ( I prefer a U 13/15 shrimp)

2 Tablespoons blended oil (or olive oil)

5 garlic cloves, minced or sliced

1 shallot, minced (optional)

6 oz white wine

Juice of 1 lemon

6 to 8 tablespoons of butter, diced, held at room temperature

salt and pepper to taste

red pepper flakes (optional)

Chopped fresh basil (optional)

EQUIPMENT

1 Large skillet, or sauté pan

slotted spoon/tongs (to remove shrimp from pan)

1 plate to hold cooked shrimp

whisk (optional)

PROCEDURE (Cook time - about 5 to 7 minutes)

• Heat a large skillet on a medium - high flame.
• Add 2 Tablespoons of oil and bring just to smoking point (this is where you will begin to see a little smoke coming from oil...too much smoke, lower flame).
• Season shrimp with salt and pepper (and red pepper flakes, though they can be added at the end as well)
• Gently place in oil ( whenever you add something to oil, make sure the direction you put it in is always away from you, never where the product is falling toward you, so that any splashing oil will happen away from you). At this temp shrimp will cook very quickly. Less than a minute per side will suffice. After both sides have seared, remove shrimp and set aside (shrimp will be added back in at the end). 
• Now, you must determine if there is enough oil left to sauté vegetables. If not, add another tablespoon of oil, if so add garlic and lightly brown (once garlic begins to brown you would add shallots if using them).
• Once garlic has lightly browned (too dark and it will be bitter), add your white wine and lemon juice.
• Boil and then lower to simmer. This is now leading to the money moment.
• Allow this liquid to simmer and reduce. When it has reduced by about half, or maybe even a little more, add shrimp (and any cooked shrimp juice that may have appeared on your holding plate) back in to the pan.
• Let this mixture heat up, but you should not be losing much liquid, if you are, lower heat.
• Add shrimp and everything else back in the pan - there should be no more than about 3 to 4 ounces of liquid (about half a cup),
• Turn heat off.
• At this point (money moment) you add your room temperature butter (either whisk in or move pan in circles to move butter through sauce) and incorporate Note: Once you add butter you MUST keep it moving. If it stops it will separate and thin out your sauce.
• Taste your sauce and adjust salt and pepper. You can add basil and red pepper flakes at this juncture.

This recipe should yield a delicious and creamy shrimp scampi good for two people. If you are serving this with pasta you may need to up your amounts a little, this is more ideal for shrimp with a side of vegetable. But if you are a pasta head, angel hair pasta would be ok with this volume of sauce. I would love for anyone who tries this to leave a comment. If you have any questions or problems please don't hesitate to ask. I teach culinary arts and worked in the industry for decades.

Notes:

If you run out of your reduced cooking liquid before adding butter, or you don't think you have enough, add more white wine and bring back to a boil.

Give this a few tries, it gets easier over time and becomes a very quick meal.

Other great combos to monter au beurre -

• Tequila and lime                                                
• Sherry, shallots and mushrooms                                                                 
• Brandy, veal stock, dijon                                                
• Tomato, chive, white wine, and lemon juice