Canapés

Ingredients

• Pain de mie (sandwich bread)
• Beurre clarifié (clarified butter)
• Beurre très frais (very fresh butter)
• Purée or finely minced meat, poultry, shellfish, fish, or cheese

Instructions

1. Cut pain de mie (sandwich bread) into shapes of your choice, ensuring thickness does not exceed half a centimeter. Fry in beurre clarifié (clarified butter) or grill; grilling is preferred.
2. While the toast is still warm, coat it generously with very fresh butter to keep it tender and moist. This applies even when butter would not logically compose the final garnish—such as with marinated fish, anchovies, or herring fillets.
3. Prepare the garniture (topping): it may consist of a single element or multiple elements in harmonious combination. The classic approach is to combine very fresh butter with a purée or very finely minced meat, poultry, shellfish, fish, or cheese.
4. Apply the garniture using a pastry bag fitted with a fluted tip whenever the topping is a purée or compound butter. This method is both neat and efficient, and allows for varied presentation flourishes.