THE IDEA OF cowboy butter can be traced back to cattlemen in the Old West mixing thick, sticky sorghum molasses with leftover ham or bacon grease into a spreadable paste to smear on hardtack. In contemporary America, cowboy butter is a compound butter whose ingredients vary from cook to cook. There are many recipes for it in food publications and blogs, and they’re all wildly different.
We did some digging and discovered a modern take from the now-closed Mr.Ann Redding created flavor-packed American food inspired by Matt’s grandparents, Frank and Rose, for their small operation. Some menu items were served with the option of sauces; the most coveted was cowboy butter. It was inspired by and named after Grandma Rose’s shoot-from-the-hip mentality of stirring together whatever condiments she would find in the fridge with melted butter. “Grandma Rose thought she was being a cowboy by not following a recipe and just throwing it together,” Matt reveals. “[I] think she was onto something. The whole idea behind it is making it yours and personalizing it to your taste.”
