Everything is better with butter, contended Julia Child. Chemically speaking, she was right on the money. Food scientist Harold McGee says all fats, including butter, are better than water at carrying aromas and enhancing flavors during the act of eating.
Having several sticks of compound butter plain butter mixed with herbs and spices of your choice-at the ready is an easy way to both impress our dinner party guests and add depth to your easy weeknight recipe rotation. Whenever you need to dress up a piece of grilled chicken switch your pasta sauce or level up your cornbread, simply add a slab of compound butter.
The flavor combinations for compound butter are only bound by your palate. The process. however, requires a ratio of ⅑ cup (4 ounces) of softened, unsalted butter to only 2 tablespoons of added flavor agents.
Simply start with a stick of unsalted butter softened to room temperature. Either mash the butter on a cutting board with a fork, cream in a. bow with a wooden spoon. or beat light l with an electric mixer. Add liquids and pastes such as lemon juice, maple syrup, miso, or fruit preserves to the butter first. Any cooked ingredients—sautéed shallots or freeze-dried fruit, for example—should be cooked dry (meaning with no added fat) and cooled before adding to the butter.
Raw ingredients can follow. Everything from fresh hers and alliums such as scallions and chives, rhizomes like ginger and turmeric, or preserved items such as cavers and anchovies, should be minced, grated, or finely chopped before mixing into the butter. Spices and salts are added last and used sparingly, as the butterfat amplifies their flavor.
Form the compound butter into a log about 6 inches long and 1 inch in diameter then wrap it in the original butter wrapper or a clean piece of parchment or waxed paper. Compound butter will keep for one week in the refrigerator or two months in the freezer. If you slice the butter in 1/4-inch nieces, you’ll have 24 servings per roll.
Flavor Inspiration
- Chipotle pepper, scallion, and lime
- Cumin za’atar, and sumac
- Apple butter and cinnamon
- Lemon, black garlic, and miso
- Anchovies and capers
- Freeze-fried strawberry and ginger
- Hot honey and chive
- Porcini mushroom and sage
Ways to Use Compound Butter
- Under the skin of a chicken before it’s roasted
- Basting grilled tuna
- As the filling for baked sweet rolls
- In the shells of shucked oysters under a broiler
- En papillote with a piece of salmon
- Slathered on a hot biscuit
- Tossed with steamed vegetables
- Mixed into baked sweet potatoes
Christine Burns Rudalevige
Christine Burns Rudalevige has been a working journalist for 30 years and has considered cheese her favorite food group for even longer. Ten years ago, when she attended culinary school, one of her goals was to write for culture.
