Compound butters (, pl. ''beurres composés'') are mixtures of
butter
Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...
and other ingredients used as a flavoring, in a fashion similar to a
sauce
In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi- solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavour, texture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French wor ...
.
Auguste Escoffier
Georges Auguste Escoffier (; 28 October 1846 – 12 February 1935) was a French chef, restaurateur, and culinary writer who popularised and updated traditional French cooking methods. Much of Escoffier's technique was based on that of Marie-A ...
(1903), ''Le Guide culinaire
''Le Guide Culinaire'' () is Georges Auguste Escoffier's 1903 French restaurant cuisine cookbook, his first. It is regarded as a classic and still in print. Escoffier developed the recipes while working at the Savoy, Ritz and Carlton hotels fro ...
'', Editions Flammarion Compound butters have a variety of uses. For hot dishes, a piece of cold compound butter is placed on top of cooked meat or fish before sending it to the table. Meat, fish, or mushrooms can be basted with them while cooking in an oven. Compound butters can be added as an enrichment in soups before serving. Chilled but malleable compound butters are used in pastry bags to make decorations for appetizers and cold dishes.
Compound butters are simpler to make than sauces, adding flavor to grilled or broiled meats, vegetables or slices of bread. Garlic or fresh herbs are classic ingredients. Less conventional butters are made by adding non-traditional ingredients. A compound butter can be made by whipping additional elements, such as herbs, spices or aromatic liquids, into butter. It is usually re-formed and chilled before being melted on top of meats and vegetables, used as a spread, or used to finish sauces.
American sweet cream butter has a neutral flavor and melts easily. Cultured European-style and Irish butter has a slightly tangy flavor from live cultures added to the cream before churning. The higher milk-fat content of cultured butter has a richer flavor, creamier texture and melts more slowly. Compound butter made from cultured butter will have a stronger flavor and hold its shape longer when placed on hot food.
''Beurres composés'' include:
* Beurre d'auchois – anchovy butter
* Beurre Bercy – shallot butter with white wine
*
Beurre à la bourguignonne – garlic and parsley butter
* Beurre au citron – lemon butter
* Beurre d'
escargot
* Beurre d'echalote – shallot butter
* Beurre d'estragon – tarragon butter
* Beurre de
fine herbes
*
Beurre maitre d'hotel – butter with parsley and lemon juice
* Beurre de moutarde – mustard butter
*
Café de Paris butter
*
Deconstructed Compound Butter – thin slices of butter are sprinkled rather than mixed with ingredients
*
Garlic butter
*
Miso
is a traditional Japanese seasoning. It is a thick paste produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and kōji (the fungus ''Aspergillus oryzae''), and sometimes rice, barley, seaweed, or other ingredients. It is used for sauces and spreads; p ...
butter – equal parts mild white or yellow miso and softened unsalted butter, grated ginger optional
* Truffle butter
* Worcestershire Butter – butter with
Worcestershire sauce
Worcestershire sauce or Worcester sauce (UK: ) is a fermented liquid condiment invented by pharmacists John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins in the city of Worcester in Worcestershire, England, during the first half of the 19th century ...
, thyme and garlic
See also
*
Beurre manié, butter kneaded with flour, used as a thickener in cooking
* Cannabis butter or
cannabutter, butter blended with cannabis and water, generally used in baking.
*
Egg butter
References
External links
*
Butter
French sauces
Steak sauces
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