Sauces
Maître d’Hôtel Butter
The classic French parsley and lemon butter for grilled steak: soft butter, finely chopped parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper, rolled and sliced.
- Serves 8
- Prep 10 min
- Chill 1 hr
- French
Method
Beat the butter until creamy and smooth.
Beat in the parsley, then the lemon juice a little at a time so it is absorbed. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of cayenne if you like.
Roll in baking paper into a log about 3 cm across and chill until firm.
Serve a slice on each grilled steak, chop or piece of grilled fish just before it goes to the table.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
Serve with: Perfect Steak
- Perfect Steak: cuts and cooking guide
- Sirloin Steak (US: New York Strip Steak)
- Rump Steak (US: Top Sirloin Steak)
- Fillet Steak (US: Filet Mignon)
- T-bone Steak (US: T-bone or Porterhouse)
- Rib-eye Steak (US: Ribeye Steak)
More sauces for steak: Peppercorn Sauce, Béarnaise, Diane Sauce, Chimichurri, Steakhouse Sauce, Blue Cheese Sauce, Horseradish Cream, Garlic and Herb Butter, Maître d’Hôtel Butter.
Chef’s notes
- This is the classic butter for steak in French bistros and for a Minute Steak Garni.
- Keeps for a week in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.
About this dish
Beurre maître d’hôtel ("head waiter’s butter") is the plainest of the French compound butters: butter, chopped parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Escoffier’s Le Guide Culinaire gives it among the compound butters to serve with grilled meat and fish.
How this recipe was developed
The classic French recipe, written in our own words.
- Lemon added slowly. so the butter takes it up without splitting.
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.