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Compound Butter is a classic preparation but something you still see on restaurant menus. Why? Well, it’s fabulous! Beurre Compose’ in French, it’s great on steaks flavored with chives, peppercorns, herbs and sometimes wine or liquors. It’s also great on grilled fish, flavored with lemon and dill. It comes to the table still melting over the meat and adds a buttery lusciousness to whatever you put it on. It is the easiest sauce you can create. I have another handy use for it, Roast Thanksgiving Turkey, but first, lets go over the basics and make one.
Super easy, compound butter is softened (not melted) butter with other flavor ingredients mixed in. Here is how you do it.
Allow the butter to soften at room temperature. Place your flavoring ingredients into a bowl with the soft butter and fold them together. You do not want to whip it or do it in a mixer or food processor as you would incorporate air into the butter and/or melt it.
- Chopped shallot
- Fresh thyme
- Fresh Marjoram
- Orange zest
- Salt & pepper
- Chopped craisins
Once it’s nicely mixed, place the compound butter onto plastic film and form it into a log. Wrap it up and put it in the refridgerator.
The log shape makes it easy to slice off a piece for use. You could mince some shallot, add herbs, salt and pepper and not only place a piece on your grilled steak, but could also sauté your veggies in it.
You can also sauté your shallots and herbs in wine, red or white, first to give it additional flavor. Just be sure you let it cool down before you try to fold it into the butter.
For a Red Wine Compound Butter, simply reduce 4 tablespoons of red wine by half for each stick of butter. Let it cool and then mix it in. It colors AND flavors the butter as well as creating a lovely sauce on the plate.
It will store in the fridge for a couple weeks and can be used on baked potatoes, chicken, to sauté shrimp in….you name it. You can also use it to flavor roasting meats, as in my Roast Turkey recipe.
Have Fun!
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I often have more than one flavor, stashed in logs in m freezer - herb compound butter, smoked paprika compound butter, tarragon and shallot compound butter - making it easy to dress up an otherwise-ordinary chicken breast, steak, fish fillet, you name it! Here's a recipe I created for Bon Appetit magazine using citrus compound butter: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Grilled-Corn-with-Citrus- Butter-235162
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|SAdministrator |2009-11-19 09:58:42 Jennifer ParkerSounds awesome Jill! I was driving to work today and was thinking about roast chicken with Harissa compound butter....the possibilities are indeed endless! Thanks for reading!
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That'd be a fabulous combination! Since my initial comment, for a cookbook I'm working on (called 100 Perfect Pairings) I developed a recipe for Rib-Eyes with Green Olive Butter, to go with Syrah. Maybe your article influenced my creative process!
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|SAdministrator |2009-11-19 11:24:50 Jennifer ParkerOhhhhhh, I love olives, sounds really good!! That sounds like a great project Jill! I'm very interested. I was reading a book last night about food/wine pairings...I think alot of people struggle with creative pairings. As you are moving along, if there is anything we can do to promote your project, let me know. Jen@theculinaryworks.com.
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