Café de Paris Butter & Sauce

by Christina Cherrier

Christina Cherrier

Christina Cherrier is a recipe developer and editor for Eatwell101 since 2011. She specializes in savory recipes, quick dinner options, and holiday menus. She is a professionally trained cook and worked as a consultant in the hospitality industry.

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Updated Apr 3, 2026

Café de Paris sauce is a butter-based sauce, usually served with grilled meat. It is traditionally served with a “Café de Paris” steak. The Café de Paris sauce was popularized in the 1940s by the brasserie “Café de Paris” in Geneva. Several restaurants in France adopted the brasserie concept, offering a menu featuring a unique dish: steak served with this sauce.

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Ingredients and Preparation of Café de Paris Sauce

The recipes and ingredients of the Café de Paris sauce can vary depending on the secrets of preparation. The sauce is a roux and can be made from notable ingredients such as poultry broth, fresh thyme, fresh cream, mustard, butter, water, salt, and pepper.
Other ingredients may include marjoram, dill, rosemary, tarragon, garlic, parsley, shallots, and anchovies.

A variation of the sauce is the “Café de Paris Butter”, made with the same ingredients but presented as a soft butter.

Café de Paris butter: a compound butter

Café de Paris butter is basically a compound butter. Its distinctive feature is the impressive number of ingredients.

Of course, you can, according to your mood or taste, change this recipe to suit you!

 Ingredients list for the Café de Paris butter

The ingredient list is very extensive, and the exact recipe is kept secret, so only a few people in the world can argue that they know the exact ingredients and their amounts. Take the following list as a “try-out!”

• 2 lbs (1kg) butter
• 4 1/2 ounces (125 g) shallots
• 4 1/2 ounces (125 g) onions
• 3/4 cup (2 dl) white wine
• 1 3/4 ounces (50 g) anchovy fillets (drained)
• 1 tbsp (10 g) minced garlic
• 1 3/4 cup (75 g) parsley
• 1/3 ounce (10 g) sage
• 2/3 ounce (20 g) fresh tarragon
• 1 teaspoon (2 g) marjoram
• 1 teaspoon (4 g) thyme
• 3/4 tbsp (12 g) English mustard
• 2 teaspoons (5 g) curry
• 2 teaspoons (5 g) paprika
• 4 teaspoons (20 g) salt
• 3/4 teaspoon (2 g) white pepper
• 3 1/3 tbsp (50ml) lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons (10ml) Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp (30 g) meat glaze
• 2 teaspoons (10ml) Maggi Aroma

Wow! I told you there might be a lot of various ingredients… Note that the real recipe is kept secret by the Cafe de Paris staff or by people who have worked with them at some point. So we can only make approximations.

Directions

1. Finely chop the onion and shallots.

2. Make them reduce along with white wine.

3. Mix with garlic, anchovies, and all herbs.

4. Combine all these ingredients with melted butter.

5. Mix quickly to make it foam.

6. Put in airtight containers or plastic wrap and keep in the fridge.

Notes:

• You can replace part of the butter with margarine, but don’t replace all of it, or it will kill the taste!
• If fresh herbs and spices are not available, you can use dried ones, but reduce the amount (about 1/3, since dried herbs are stronger and more fragrant).
• The English mustard can be replaced by any type of mustard.
• Butter made with fresh herbs sustains for a shorter time.

Tips:

If you freeze compound butter, do it in small portions to dose more easily and limit losses, since, like any other frozen product, it cannot be refrozen.

Café de Paris Butter is recommended to accompany grilled meat and fish. In the end, you can drop some compound butter in a deglazed sauce, for example, or spread on croutons… You can use this tasty homemade butter directly on toasts too.

Have a nice time spreading!

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Café de Paris Butter & Sauce

Author: Christina Cherrier  |  Servings:

Prep Time: min  |   Cook Time: min

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Ingredients

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• 2 lbs (1kg) butter
• 4 1/2 ounces (125 g) shallots
• 4 1/2 ounces (125 g) onions
• 3/4 cup (2 dl) white wine
• 1 3/4 ounces (50 g) anchovy fillets (drained)
• 1 tbsp (10 g) minced garlic
• 1 3/4 cup (75 g) parsley
• 1/3 ounce (10 g) sage
• 2/3 ounce (20 g) fresh tarragon
• 1 teaspoon (2 g) marjoram
• 1 teaspoon (4 g) thyme
• 3/4 tbsp (12 g) English mustard
• 2 teaspoons (5 g) curry
• 2 teaspoons (5 g) paprika
• 4 teaspoons (20 g) salt
• 3/4 teaspoon (2 g) white pepper
• 3 1/3 tbsp (50ml) lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons (10ml) Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp (30 g) meat glaze
• 2 teaspoons (10ml) Maggi Aroma

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Instructions

1. Finely chop the onion and shallots.
2. Make them reduce along with white wine.
3. Mix with garlic, anchovies, and all herbs.
4. Combine all these ingredients with melted butter.
5. Mix quickly to make it foam.
6. Put in airtight containers or plastic wrap and keep in the fridge.

Recipe Notes

• You can replace part of the butter with margarine, but don't replace all of it, or it will kill the taste!
• If fresh herbs and spices are not available, you can use dried ones, but reduce the amount (about 1/3, since dried herbs are stronger and more fragrant).
• The English mustard can be replaced by any type of mustard.
• Butter made with fresh herbs sustains for a shorter time.

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