Classic sauce Bercy is a French white wine and shallot sauce for fish. Finely chopped shallots are softened in butter, reduced with dry white wine and fish stock, thickened with a fish velouté, then finished off the heat with cold butter, parsley and a squeeze of lemon. It takes about 30 minutes and makes roughly 1 1/2 cups, enough for 4 to 6 servings of fish.
The sauce is named after the Bercy district of Paris, long associated with the wine trade, which is why wine and shallots carry the flavour. There is also a brown Bercy sauce for grilled meat, made the same way with beef stock and demi-glace instead of fish velouté; both versions are below.
What Sauce Bercy Tastes Like and What It Goes With
White Bercy is light, buttery and sharp from the wine reduction, with a gentle sweetness from the shallots. It is a derivative of velouté, one of the classic French mother sauces, so it has body without being heavy like a cream sauce. Serve it with poached or pan-fried white fish such as sole, halibut, cod or turbot, with scallops, or with poached salmon. The brown version goes with grilled steak, lamb chops and liver.
Ingredients
Fish velouté
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) fish stock, warm
Bercy reduction and finish
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 medium shallots, very finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) dry white wine
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) fish stock
- 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1 to 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- Salt and white pepper
Instructions
- Make the velouté. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan, whisk in the flour and cook over low heat for 2 minutes without browning. Gradually whisk in the warm fish stock and simmer gently, stirring often, for 10 minutes until it coats a spoon.
- Soften the shallots. In a second pan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium-low heat and cook the shallots for 3 to 4 minutes until soft and translucent, without colour.
- Reduce. Add the wine and the 1/2 cup fish stock, raise the heat and boil until reduced by about two-thirds, 6 to 8 minutes.
- Combine. Whisk the velouté into the reduction and simmer 2 minutes. Season with salt and white pepper.
- Mount with butter. Take the pan off the heat and swirl or whisk in the cold butter a few cubes at a time until glossy. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice and serve at once.
Cook and Prep Times
- Prep: 10 minutes
- Cook: 20 to 25 minutes
- Makes about 1 1/2 cups (serves 4 to 6)
Brown Sauce Bercy for Meat
Soften 2 chopped shallots in butter, add 1/2 cup dry white wine and reduce by two-thirds. Add 1 cup demi-glace or rich reduced beef stock and simmer 5 minutes. Off the heat, whisk in 2 tablespoons cold butter and a tablespoon of parsley. For the related Bercy butter, beat the reduced shallot-wine mixture, cooled, into softened butter with parsley and lemon, and slice it over grilled steak.
Tips and Storage
- Chop the shallots very fine; the sauce is not strained, so they stay in it.
- Do not let the sauce boil once the butter is in, or it will split.
- Make the velouté up to 2 days ahead and refrigerate it. Finish the sauce just before serving. Leftovers keep 2 days; reheat very gently.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I use chicken stock? Yes, for chicken or pork. For fish, fish stock or a light vegetable stock is better.
- What wine should I use? A dry, unoaked white such as Muscadet, Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio.
- Is Bercy the same as beurre blanc? No. Beurre blanc is only a reduction emulsified with a lot of butter; Bercy has a velouté base, so it is more stable.