How to Cook French—Without All That Butter!
Can you cook French food without using butter? Yes—and here’s my go-to workaround.
Cooking French without butter? Miyoko’s Butter works great as a butter alternative, at least in my French cooking.
It’s true. I use butter often in my French cooking, but I don’t use nearly as much cookbooks called for a few decades ago. And no, I’m not stinting. I honestly believe that thanks to all the great, fresh, artisanal and high-quality products you can find now, you don’t need as much butter (as we once did) to flavor-up a dish.
Still, I would estimate that most of my main dishes use about 1 tablespoon of butter per serving. That, to me, doesn’t seem excessive—though how much butter you eat is between you and your doctor.
If you are trying to cut down on butter, I have found an excellent alternative out there that acts an awful lot like butter when you cook with it, and offers wonderfully rich, flavorful results.
That product is Miyoko’s Creamery Cultured Vegan Butter.
I’ve used Miyoko’s butter to finish pan sauces, like the sauce in this Chicken with 20 Cloves of Garlic.
I know. Vegan butter sounds kind of … well, not very buttery. But this product, anchored by organic coconut oil and cashew milk, is astoundingly good.
While the label says it’s good for baking, I haven’t gone so far as to use it that way. But I have used it often in my cooking when I’m feeling “buttered out.” Honestly, it browns beautifully for a Fish Meunière (fish with lemon and browned butter sauce), works gorgeously for sauteing pan-fried potatoes, and expertly thickens pan sauces in the same way a few pats of butter do (par exemple, try it in this pan sauce for steak or to finish this sauce for Chicken with 20 Cloves of Garlic.
So, it acts like butter…but does it taste like butter? I haven’t done a side-by-side comparison, but when I use Miyoko’s Vegan Butter, I’m never disappointed with the results. There’s a richness in flavor and texture that truly feels and tastes like real butter — in my recipes, at least.
That said, I do not use Miyoko’s Vegan Butter all the time. It’s a bit pricey (around $6 for a package that’s equivalent to about two sticks of real butter), and sometimes, I just want butter, period. I simply use Miyoko’s when I feel I’ve been eating too much butter of late. It truly is a great alternative.
So, have you used Miyoko’s? I’d love to hear what you think.
