---
title: "Monter au beurre: what it means in cooking — Tiny Plates"
description: "Monter au beurre means swirling cold butter into a warm sauce at the end of cooking. It makes a pan sauce glossy, silky and slightly thicker in a minute."
url: "https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/monter-au-beurre"
---

# Monter au beurre

Monter au beurre means swirling cold butter into a warm sauce at the end of cooking. It makes a pan sauce glossy, silky and slightly thicker in a minute.

Also called Mount with butter, Finish with butter.

_Monter au beurre_, French for "to mount with butter", means whisking or swirling a few pieces of cold butter into a hot sauce just before serving. The butter melts into the sauce rather than floating on top, which makes it glossy, rich and a little thicker. It is the usual last step of a [pan sauce](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/pan-sauce).

## How to do it

1. Finish and season your sauce, and reduce it to slightly thinner than you want it.
2. Take the pan [off the heat](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/off-the-heat), or turn it to very low.
3. Add cold butter cut in small cubes, about 1 to 2 tablespoons for every 120 ml (1/2 cup) of sauce.
4. Swirl the pan or whisk until each piece has melted before adding the next.
5. Serve at once.

## How to tell it is done

The sauce looks shiny and opaque, coats a spoon lightly and has no pools of oil on the surface.

## Why it works

Butter is an [emulsion](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/emulsion) of fat in water, held together by milk proteins. When cold butter melts slowly into a sauce that is hot but not boiling, those proteins keep the fat spread in tiny drops, giving body and shine. [Beurre blanc](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/beurre-blanc) uses the same method with a lot more butter.

## Common mistakes

* Boiling the sauce after the butter goes in. The emulsion [splits](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/split-sauce) and the sauce turns greasy.
* Using soft or melted butter, which melts too fast to emulsify.
* Adding it too early and then reducing further.
* Adding so much butter that it hides the other flavors.

## In recipes

You may see "swirl in the butter", "finish with cold butter" or "mount the sauce with butter". All mean this method. Reheating a sauce finished this way is hard, so add the butter just before serving.

## Related terms

* [Pan sauceA pan sauce is made in the pan you seared meat in. Deglaze the browned bits, reduce, and finish with butter. It takes about five minutes.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/pan-sauce)
* [Beurre blancBeurre blanc is a French butter sauce made by whisking cold butter into a wine and shallot reduction. It is light, tangy and made for fish and vegetables.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/beurre-blanc)
* [EmulsionAn emulsion is a mix of oil and water, which normally do not blend, held together as tiny drops. Mayonnaise and vinaigrette are emulsions.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/emulsion)
* [Off the heatOff the heat means move the pan away from the burner before the next step, so butter, eggs or cheese go in without splitting, scrambling or going stringy.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/off-the-heat)
* [Split sauceA split sauce is an emulsion, like mayonnaise or hollandaise, that has separated into fat and thin liquid. Here is why it happens and how to fix it.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/split-sauce)

[More in sauces and stocks](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/category/sauces-and-stocks)[Every term from A to Z](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary)