Café de Paris - The Perfect Butter Sauce For Steak Frites

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Want to know about a sauce that is good enough to base an entire restaurant menu on? Café de Paris Sauce is your answer!

Creamy Cafe de Paris sauce in a serving bowl.

This sauce will take your meal to restaurant level. It has quite a few ingredients but it is easy to make.

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What is Cafe de Paris Sauce?
Ingredients
How to Make It
What to Serve with Cafe de Paris Butter Sauce
Wine Pairing for Café de Paris Sauce
FAQs
Related Recipes
Café de Paris Sauce

What is Cafe de Paris Sauce?

It is a sauce made from a compound butter, or a Maitre d’Hotel Butter if chef-y speak. You add cream and it becomes a sauce. In France, it is served as a generous steak sauce in L'Entrecote Restaurants. It is so good the only menu item is steak with this sauce and sides. And the recipe is a closely guarded secret!

The original recipe was developed at the Café de Paris in Geneva, Switzerland in the 1930s. The restaurant does ship the 'beurre' to a few other establishments that serve it under licence. This is also commonly known as 'beurre Cafe de Paris'. In actuality, the traditional recipe is a butter sauce for steak.

Chefs have spent a lot of time and energy trying to recreate it. The common thread is lots of herbs, a touch of curry, a touch of mustard, a hint of anchovies, a touch of lemon and lots of other varying ingredients!

If you prefer you can use soft butter and whip it with the herbs and other ingredients to make Café de Paris Beurre. Then you can just melt the butter over your finished steaks.

When you add cream to the melted 'beurre' it becomes Café de Paris sauce.

This is one of those recipes I wish I had known about many years ago!! I think you might agree once you try it.

Ingredients

It is quite a long list of herbs and savoury spices. Each one adds a savoury or bright note to the sauce so I can't really say any are optional but if you are missing a couple, don't let that stop you from making it. It will still be delicious!

You must use 18% cream or higher if you want to be sure your sauce won't separate. Even then, don't simmer over too high heat for too long. Heat just enough for the sauce to come together with the desired consistency, then serve it.

How to Make It

You will basically melt the butter with all the herbs and spices and at the end you will add the cream and lemon juice. This keeps the flavours bright. If you want to make it ahead, mix the herbs and spices with softened butter, melt and add the cream and lemon juice just before serving.

Be sure not to heat over too high heat or for an extended period to avoid the cream sauce breaking.

What to Serve with Cafe de Paris Butter Sauce

The traditional menu is the classic Steak frites combination so famous in Paris bistros.

I served it with Air Fryer Beef Tenderloin. Baby potatoes as a side would also work well.

But don't stop there! Whether you leave it as butter or add the cream for sauce it is also delicious with fish and all kinds of vegetables - green beans, asparagus, roasted cauliflower steaks.

Medium rare beef tenderloin sliced on a platter with Cafe de Paris sauce.

Wine Pairing for Café de Paris Sauce

This is a buttery, rich, savoury sauce and you are most likely pouring it over beef. For a white selection, I can think of nothing better than a big, rich California-style Chardonnay. A French Mâconnais, which is a bit warmer weather style is another good choice.

On the red spectrum, you could pair with the beef primarily. Since it is a rich sauce I would go with a fairly robust red, such as a Côtes du Rhône GSM (Genache/Syrah/Mourvedre) blend or a Bordeaux. A Cabernet Sauvignon with its savoury notes would also be a great choice!

FAQs

How Long Does It Keep?

You can keep the sauce in the fridge for a few days after using it. (Treat it like a creamy salad dressing.)

Can I Make It Ahead?

You could make it ahead. It won't be quite as bright tasting if you make it the day before. Better to prep your herbs and ingredients and cook just before or a few hours before using. If you want to be able to make it really handily when you need it, it is better to make Cafe de Paris Butter and freeze the butter. Then just add your cream and maybe the lemon juice just before serving.

What Else Can I Use Cafe de Paris Sauce On?

There are tons of possibilities here! Think sauce for salmon or any fish really, Eggs Benedict sauce, pork tenderloin, lamb. Because it is so savoury any lean meat or seafood that benefits from any type of sauce will work here. Asparagus or broccoli are another good choice here!

Can I Use Light Cream?

Any cream less than 18% risks separating when you heat the sauce. If you want to try less than 18%, it won't be as thick (unless you thicken it) and you would have to make sure the sauce doesn't boil. A light sour cream might work better than light cream but it will change the flavour. If you like stroganoff this might not be a bad thing!