Food Friday: Better Butter

Compound butters can give a little sophisticated kick to the mundane. Since they can be prepared in advance, you can look very cool and calm when you collect your little log or container of butter from the fridge as your guests are gathered around the kitchen, hanging on your every culinary move. That little knob of compound butter makes the steaks hiss with sizzle and vim.

I like to have a little Béarnaise sauce on a cheaper cut of steak, but the compound butter is easier to prepare and to keep on hand, plus it can be used on many other foods: bread, eggs, meat, cheese, pasta, corn on the cob or grilled fish. I don’t ever have steak for lunch, but I will certainly grab a piece of last night’s epi bread and smear it with herb-lemon zest butter, particularly if I am searching for a corner in the sun, and a chapter or two of Sue Grafton’s latest Kinsey Millhone book. (https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/books/review/sue-graftons-w-is-for-wasted-and-more.html?_r=0 )
(https://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2008/02/22/how-to-form-the-pan-depi-wheat-stalk-bread)

Better yet, beurre compose can be made while you are somewhat occupied with other important matters: catching up on Mad Men, talking on the phone, drinking wine… You can eyeball the ingredients and know that you probably can’t overdo anything – at least nothing that can’t be rectified by adding some more butter.

We like to splurge with an upmarket imported butter, whose butter fat content is a little higher than our run-of-the-mill domestic grocery store butters. But I assure you that Land O’Lakes tastes just dandy with some herbs, salt and a twist of lemon. I cut off a chunk, about four ounces, and let it soften to room temperature for about half an hour. Then I mince the herbs, crush the garlic, zest the lemons, toss in a dusting of sea salt and work them all together in a bowl. Those of you with food processors will have an easy time of it, except that you will have more clean up than I do. Cool the butter mixture. Then roll it into a general log shape on a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper, or even scoop it into a ramekin which will look very nice on the dinner table. You can even freeze it, if you are planning ahead. (Hint – Thanksgiving is next month – the sage butter combo is very tasty with turkey and stuffing… DO AHEAD: Butter will keep refrigerated for up to 2 weeks or frozen for up to 3 months.)

Dill Butter
Use with fish, eggs and breads
1 cup butter
3 tablespoons fresh dill
3 tablespoons fresh parsley

Sage Butter
Use with turkey and stuffing
1 cup butter
1 tablespoon dried sage
Dash of sea salt and pepper

If you are having a solitary dinner, or want to make a simple dinner for two, then try slipping slices of garlic herb butter into a parboiled baking potato, then finishing it in the oven. Add wine and candles.

Maître d’Hôtel Butter
Herb-Lemon Zest Butter
1/4 cup mixed herbs, such as flat-leaf parsley, chervil, tarragon, and chives, chopped
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Season with sea salt

You can use other herbs in this recipe, such as cilantro, tarragon or chervil. I use what we have on hand – no extra trips to the market for me!

Garlic Butter for Steak
1 stick unsalted butter
3 garlic cloves, crushed and minced fine
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Salt
Refrigerate until firm. When ready to use, remove wrap and slice into rounds. Place on hot steak just before serving.

The clever folks at Food52 have gone beyond the cottage garden and my rudimentary spice cabinet and have devised this tasty treat: https://food52.com/recipes/20885-tea-with-honey-and-lemon-compound-butter.

Spy Garlic Bread
Nothing fancy, just the facts, please. We like to have a loaf of fresh, still-warm-from-the-oven crusty baguette. Since we do not live in Paris, this rarely happens. But we can hunt and gather at the local artisan bakery, and bring home something nice and with a tiny carbon footprint. We slice the bread down the middle and place it on a cookie sheet under the blazing broiler for a few moments, until the bread is lightly singed and aromatic. Once the bread cools, we take a peeled clove of garlic and rub it against the sandpaper-like texture of the broiled bread, until the clove is worn to a nubbin and our fingers are covered with garlic. Then we spread the bread with good, room temp butter and lightly drizzle it with olive oil. We put the bread back into the oven, which is now cooled to a 350°F oven, and let the butter melt. Add spaghetti, salad and an ambrosial red wine. Deelish

Slightly Fancy Garlic Bread
1 large garlic clove, minced (I always use a garlic press – the garlic gets smashed to smithereens and I don’t have to worry about peeling the dry skin off the garlic clove. The folks at Cook’s Illustrated suggested that is the way to go on their radio show a few weeks ago; finally, some vindication!)
1 stick unsalted butter, softened to room temp
1 loaf crusty bread
1 tablespoon finely chopped, fresh parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh chives
Sea salt

Combine compound butter ingredients and spread on the split bread. You can either grill it lightly under the broiler, or wrap in aluminum foil and bake for about 10 minutes at 350°F for a moister loaf of delightful garlic wonder.

“The Hatter was the first to break the silence. ‘What day of the month is it?’ he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.
Alice considered a little, and then said ‘The fourth.’
‘Two days wrong!’ sighed the Hatter. ‘I told you butter wouldn’t suit the works!’ he added looking angrily at the March Hare.
‘It was the best butter,’ the March Hare meekly replied.
‘Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,’ the Hatter grumbled: ‘you shouldn’t have put it in with the bread-knife.’
The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, ‘It was the best butter, you know.’”
-Lewis Carroll

..