Savory Compound Butters

I love butter and have never been afraid to eat butter, certain things just taste better with butter. I have never really liked the margarine or the ‘Can’t believe it’s Butter’, always call it plastic butter as it seems so far from the real thing. In my humble opinion, butter just has a bad rap, but luckily the public and nutritional opinion regarding the health hazards of butter are shifting.

Yes, it is fat (80%), high in calories and high in saturated fatty acids. It is fair in mono-unsaturated and low polyunsaturated fatty acids. Butter also contains the good short chain fatty acids. Last but not least, butter contains good levels of include vitamins A, D, E, B12, and K and some minerals as well. So not all is bad and it has a wonderful flavor. Olive oil is higher in fat (100%), higher in calories, high in mono-unsaturated fatty acids, fair in polyunsaturated fatty acids and has a few vitamins, E and K.

Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against olive oil, not at all, I use it almost on a daily basis, but I felt the need to give some support to butter. Glad I cleared that up 🙂

Back to the compound butters. I guess y’all know what compound butter is; a butter with something mixed into it, hence the word compound. A simple familiar example is Mâitre d’Hôtel butter, this is parsley, lemon juice and salt and pepper mixed with butter. Mâitre d’Hôtel Butter or Beurre Maître d’Hôtel, is an example of a compound butter.

Here are 9 other savory compound butters. For each compound butter is used 4 ounces of soft unsalted cultured butter.

Left row, top to bottom:

• Lemon in the Lime Butter: zest of lemon and lime, lemon and lime juice. Use: on grilled meat or grilled fish or roasted vegetables, in pasta.
• Avocado Sunflower Butter: avocado, ground salted, roasted sunflower seeds, salted roasted sunflower seeds, lime juice. Use: on toast, enchiladas, tacos.
• Honey Mustard Butter: honey, Dijon mustard. Use: corn on the cob, on baked potatoes.
• Sesame Soy Butter: sesame seeds, soy sauce. Use: noodles, soup.
• Indian Butter:  cumin, ginger, cinnamon, coriander, cardamom, ground clove, turmeric. Use: chicken, naan sandwich, curry, soup.

Right row, top to bottom:

• Drunken Butter or Wine and Porcini Butter: reduced Cabernet Sauvignon, dried Porcini mushrooms. Use: on a grilled steak, in pasta sauce, on a rustic slice of bread with your wine.
• Provencale butter: a mixture of freshly chopped herbs; rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage, pepper, lemon juice. Use: steak, grilled fish, roasted vegetables.
• Sundried tomatoes Basil Butter: sundried tomatoes, basil, ketchup. Use: polenta, risotto, pasta, quiche.
• Garlic and Parsley Butter: garlic, parsley. Use: just on a slice of French bread with some peanut butter, steak, fish, chicken.

When you are interested, I also have a post of a few sweet examples of compound butter.

How to make and store compound butters

1. Mix the soft butter with the ingredients; place the mix on wax paper or parchment paper and roll into a cylinder and twist the ends.
2. Place the rolls in the fridge to harden or in the freezer if you want to keep them longer.
3. I usually slice the butter, before I use it, because it is a little easier to put on a dish.
4. You can also form small balls instead, especially when you serve it separately form the dish; a small bowl with cute colorful ball is a nice addition to your table. There are so many more ways to use the butters, my examples are far from complete.

While reading this post, I am sure you thought of some other combinations. Go ahead and make them; it is always handy to have a slice of flavor ready to go.

Have fun! Compound butters are a great gift as well.