COMPOUND BUTTER

Compound Butter image

A mixture of butter and other ingredients makes a compound butter, which can be used as a kind of insta-sauce on top of cooked meat, vegetables or fish. A classic variety is maître d'hotel butter, which uses thyme and lemon juice as flavoring agents. But a cilantro-and-lime-juice compound butter is a marvelous thing to apply to fish, and you could even think of adding a tiny dice of jalapeño pepper to the mix. Lemon-basil is terrific as well - you could add some garlic to that and omit the shallots. Some cooks take maître d'hotel butter and add Roquefort cheese to it as a topping for steak. Compound butter is a theme on which to improvise. The following recipe provides the basic instructions.

Provided by Sam Sifton

Time 10m

Yield 1/2 cup

Number Of Ingredients 5

Ingredients

8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon herb leaves, minced
1 small shallot, peeled and minced
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
Splash Champagne or white-wine vinegar

Steps:

Put the butter on a cutting board and, using a fork, cut the other ingredients into it until the butter is creamy and smooth. Scrape the butter together with a chef's knife, and form it into a rough log. If making ahead of time, roll it tightly in a sheet of plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.

Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 214, UnsaturatedFat 7 grams, Carbohydrate 2 grams, Fat 23 grams, Fiber 1 gram, Protein 1 gram, SaturatedFat 15 grams, Sodium 5 milligrams, Sugar 1 gram, TransFat 1 gram