Flavored Butters: How to Make Them, Shape Them, and Use Them as Spreads, Toppings, and Sauces

By Lucy Vaserfirer

What could taste better than butter? Try these fifty recipes and techniques for delectable homemade flavored butters both sweet and savory!

Flavored butters, also called compound butters, have a multitude of uses. They make a plain baguette or artisan loaf come alive with flavor; they complement a hearty breakfast muffin or delicate scone; they serve as quick-fix sauces for a piece of fish, meat, or a bowl of pasta; and they brighten an artichoke or a serving of green beans in surprising ways.


We often see flavored butters as an elegant touch to bread service in restaurants, but there are plenty more varieties and uses that are easy for home cooks to use in their kitchens. The recipes are amazingly quick to execute—and transformative in the flavor they impart. And each recipe in this book has advice about what the butter is best used on. Enhance your meals with:


·Shallot-Herb Butter ·Rosemary-Roasted Garlic Butter ·Mint Butter ·Caramelized Onion Butter ·Chipotle Butter ·Kimchi Butter ·Orange-Honey Butter ·Salted Caramel Butter ·Rose-Berry Butter ·Hazelnut Praline Butter ·And many more


In addition to the recipes, there are plenty of photographs and ample tips and tricks, like the perfect temperature at which to serve the butters, how to serve, and the tools needed for making stunning presentations with flavored butters. Add alluring flavors to your everyday meals with these delightful homemade butters!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Apr 2, 2013
• ISBN: 9781558328082

Book preview

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Table of Contents

Copyright

BUTTER BASICS

SAVORY BUTTERS

Essential Garlic Butter

Shallot-Herb Butter

Maître d'Hôtel Butter

Dill, Lemon, and Garlic Butter

Rosemary–Roasted Garlic Butter

Mint Butter

Tarragon Butter

Caramelized Onion Butter

Horseradish Butter

Fennel Butter

Gorgonzola-Chive Butter

Smoked Butter

Porcini Butter

Port Butter

Olive Butter

Anchovy Butter

Caviar Butter

Truffled Foie Gras Butter

Radish Butter

Goat Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomato Butter

Tartine Butter

Parmigiano Butter

Basil Pesto Butter

Saffron-Pimentón Butter

Chipotle Butter

Red Chile Butter

Miso-Scallion Butter

Wasabi Butter

Green Tea–Sesame Butter

Kimchi Butter

Ginger Butter

Coriander-Tomato Butter

Curry Butter

Garlic Drawn Butter

Shrimp Butter

Lemon, Parsley, and Caper Brown Butter

Sage Brown Butter

SWEET BUTTERS

Bed & Breakfast Butter

Orange-Honey Butter

Very Berry Butter

Rose-Berry Butter

Apricot-Almond Butter

Passion Fruit Butter

Maple-Cinnamon Butter with Brandied Raisins

Whipped Vanilla Bean Butter

Pie Spice Butter

Coffee Butter

Salted Caramel Butter

Hazelnut Praline Butter

Whipped Chocolate Butter

Hungry Cravings

Source Guide

Measurement Equivalents

Index

Acknowledgments

About the Author

The Harvard Common Press

www.harvardcommonpress.com

Text and photographs copyright © 2013 by Lucy Vaserfirer

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Vaserfirer, Lucy

Flavored butters : how to make them, shape them, and use them as

spreads, toppings, and sauces / Lucy Vaserfirer.

pages cm

includes index.

ISBN 978-1-55832-807-5

1. Cooking (Butter) 2. Butter. 3. Cookbooks. lcgft I. Title.

TX759.5.B87V37 2013

641.6’72—dc23

2012035545

Special bulk-order discounts are available on this and other Harvard Common Press books. Companies and organizations may purchase books for premiums or resale, or may arrange a custom edition, by contacting the Marketing Director at the address above.

Photography, food styling, and prop styling by Lucy Vaserfirer

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BUTTER BASICS

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Flavored butters are culinary magic. With little more time or effort than it takes to wave a wand, memorable meals materialize! Witness these amazing transformations:

An ordinary slab of meat turns into a gourmet grilled steak with Gorgonzola-Chive Butter ([>]) melting into it.

A dull fish fillet becomes fit for fine dining topped with a pat of Dill, Lemon, and Garlic Butter ([>]).

Boring steamed vegetables suddenly appear irresistible glistening with Parmigiano Butter ([>]).

This is no sleight of hand; it’s true alchemy. Learn how to make flavored butter, and you’ll be a wizard in the kitchen, conjuring up gourmet meals in minutes. Stash a couple of flavors in the fridge or freezer, and you’ll be able to pull amazing dinners out of a hat—even on weeknights!

Flavored butters may have long been associated with fancy restaurants, but they really are so quick and easy to make. Stir together softened butter and your flavorings of choice, and there you have it. Serve a pat of your flavored butter on warm meat, fish, chicken, or vegetables; the heat transforms the butter into a rich, luscious sauce and the flavors bloom.

Flavored butter can be simple or sophisticated, savory or sweet. In its most basic form, flavored butter is nothing more than sweet cultured butter and sea salt, to be enjoyed slathered on bread. At its most luxurious, it’s butter blended with black truffles or caviar. And it can be anywhere in between, with ingredients such as garlic, shallots, fresh herbs, dry spices, cheese, olives, capers, anchovies, mustard, tomatoes, citrus zest, or honey. Flavored butters are delicious served over steaks, chops, and seafood, tossed with steamed seasonal vegetables, mixed into pasta or rice, or melting on pancakes or waffles. They can be used as