Want to become a more impressive cook instantly? Use compound butter! Also known as finishing butter or beurre composé in French, it’s unsalted butter that has been blended with seasonings.
TIP OF THE DAY: Make Compound Butter (Flavored Butter )
Beurre à la maître d’hotel, lemon parsley butter;
crayfish compound butter for seafood;
pasta tossed with truffle butter;
roasted sea bass with herb butter;
herb, bourbon-pecan, and gorgonzola butters, ready to spread on bread;
and last but not least, sweet compound butter for dessert or pancakes.
(Photos: Brown-Eyed Baker, Chef Michael O’Boyle, WKNOfm.org, Land O’Lakes, Feastie.com.)
There are endless variations. Escoffier published 35 combinations in 1903, and cuisine has evolved in many directions since his classic renderings of anchovy butter and beurre à la maître d’hotel (lemon parsley butter, which is the sauce served with escargots).
In Continental cuisine, compound butter is added to the pan to finish a sauce, placed directly atop meat, fish or vegetables to create a flavorful garnish, or mixed into pasta and rice. Just a dab transforms a dish: If you think butter makes everything taste better, think of what butter infused with great seasonings will do.
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