Canapés (Canapés, or Toasts)

Ingredients

• pain de mie
• clarified butter (if the canapés are fried)
• very fresh butter
• a purée

Instructions

1. Cut the pain de mie into shapes of choice, no more than half a centimètre thick.
2. Grill them, or fry them in clarified butter; grilling is the more usual.
3. Butter the toast copiously while it is still hot, whatever the garnish, so that it keeps mellow.
4. Garnish with a single element, or with several so long as the combination is harmonious; the garnish par excellence is very fresh butter with a purée, or a very fine hash, of meat, poultry, crustaceans, fish or cheese.
5. Where the garnish is a purée, that is a compound butter, pipe it with a bag fitted with a fluted nozzle.