MONTER AU BEURRE

Monter au beurre: To mount with butter...

Keeping with the theme of Gaul, we have leftovers but I'm not interested in reliving last night. After I scraped the fat off the drippings and trashed it, I scooped onions out of the jellied sauce and pecked the allspice out with a pairing knife. Then on to beurre monté, which is really nothing more than butter emulsified in water.

The benefits are a billion fold. To wit: peasant drippings are tansformed into a supple and nuanced sauce. Bring a spit of water to a boil in a saucepan. Take the heat down to a flicker and whisk the butter into the fussy water, bit by bit, to emulsify. Once you have established the emulsion, keep adding pieces of butter until you have the quantity of beurre monté that you need. A dab will do ya.

Now, a bit of emulsified butter, some cider vinegar to brighten and off to the plate. Before that, a quick wilt of watercress in the pan. Reheat some handsome looking pork bits and a soft onion. Toss your meat & veg in the steaming sauce.

After the fatty pork and soothing dimple of sauce, the watercress gives you the woodsy crunch - even when wilted - that you need. Katrina will attest to its musk. Follwing a long night of revelry, I gassed her with forest breath as long as the moon sat in the night sky.

OK. Watercress to plate; pork over watercress; onion at the helm. Sauce over pork over watercress over plate. Sprinkle of whole mustard grains. Tall glass of cool cider. Suppertime.

Photo: Leftovers are good.