I use a lot of butter in my kitchen and it is amazing how much flavor one simple ingredient can infuse into a recipe, whether I’m making a batch of mashed potatoes, working on a pound cake recipe or simply enjoying a slice of toast. Butter is delicious in its own right, but it’s flavor is relatively mild, allowing it to be easily transformed into delicious compound butters that can make your favorite dishes even more delicious. Flavored Butters is a cookbook dedicated to compound butters, which are butters that have other ingredients added to them.
The book opens with a chapter on butter basics. While plain, unsalted butter is a staple in the kitchen for most bakers – and a good starting point for many compound butters – it isn’t the only butter out there. Cultured butter has a slightly cheesy flavor that works welThe sweet butter options are perfect for spreading on toast, scones and other breakfast (or dessert, if you’re so inclined) dishes, while the savory options are idea for vegetable sides and meat dishes. You can stick with the flavor suggestions giving in the book or use them as a jumping off point for your own flavor combinations. l in many savory dishes, for instance, while high fat European-style butters are creamier than other butters. As with all recipes, it is important to start with high quality ingredients, from the butter to the “mix-ins” for best results. The butter recipes are divided into two chapters: sweet and savory.
There are plenty of photos to inspire you as you work and the book also discusses shaping your butters before serving them. Whether you use a mold to get a complex shape or simply roll your newly-made butter into a neat log to chill, these butters deserve a presentation that matches their amped-up flavors.
What do you think?