Beurre monté

Whole butter melted into a warm liquid without breaking, forming a stable emulsion.

What it means in a kitchen

Beurre monté turns plain butter into a glossy, holding-temperature emulsion you can use to finish a sauce, baste a fish, or poach lobster. The trick is to keep the temperature below the point where the fat would separate — roughly the low-to-mid 60°C range.

Example

A spoon of cold butter swirled into a pan sauce off the heat at the last moment — that's beurre monté in miniature.