Compound Butter for All Occasions

There’s a reason French food is famed: locality, seasonality, and of course, butter. My favorite form of fat, butter, is a fabulous way to bring beautiful flavor to so many proteins, vegetables, and baked goods. To quote Julia Child, “with enough butter, anything is good.” 

Here’s a quick way to build a better butter! By mixing in the flavors of the season, you can easily add another element to your dish. Compound butters are essentially butter with other ingredients added, and have included classic recipes such as Beurre Maître d’Hôtel. Today, butters are combined with a myriad of ingredients, like the miso butter made by Chef Ji Hye Kim (check out our Cooking Local Live on Instagram to see her make it in person!) 

Here’s the rundown: to make compound butter, you fold in ingredients with softened butter, and roll back into a log shape to freeze back into shape. I chose to add ingredients from the season, as well as my herb garden.

Claire’s Butters:

Here are some other ideas:

  • red wine and black pepper
  • jalapeño lime
  • chai spice pumpkin

 For more details, check out the video below: 

Claire Butler is the Content Strategy Specialist for Taste the Local Difference. Contact her at [email protected].

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