Which thickener is made of equal parts flour and soft butter and shaped into small pea-sized balls to thicken a sauce quickly?

Which thickener is made of equal parts flour and soft butter and shaped into small pea-sized balls to thicken a sauce quickly?

• A. Beurre Manie
• B. Liason
• C. Temper
• D. Slurry

Answer: (A)

Beurre manié is a finishing thickener formed by mixing equal parts flour and soft butter into a smooth paste and shaping it into small pea-sized balls. When whisked into a hot sauce, these balls dissolve quickly, releasing flour evenly and thickening the sauce fast without the need for long cooking. This method is used when you want rapid thickening and a smooth texture at the end of cooking. The other options don’t fit this description: a liaison is egg yolks with cream used to enrich and lightly thicken a sauce, not a flour-and-butter paste formed into balls. Tempering is a technique to gradually raise the temperature of a mixture (like eggs) to prevent curdling, not a thickener itself. A slurry combines starch (usually cornstarch) with cold water to thicken when heated, not flour mixed with butter.

Beurre manié is a finishing thickener formed by mixing equal parts flour and soft butter into a smooth paste and shaping it into small pea-sized balls. When whisked into a hot sauce, these balls dissolve quickly, releasing flour evenly and thickening the sauce fast without the need for long cooking. This method is used when you want rapid thickening and a smooth texture at the end of cooking.

The other options don’t fit this description: a liaison is egg yolks with cream used to enrich and lightly thicken a sauce, not a flour-and-butter paste formed into balls. Tempering is a technique to gradually raise the temperature of a mixture (like eggs) to prevent curdling, not a thickener itself. A slurry combines starch (usually cornstarch) with cold water to thicken when heated, not flour mixed with butter.