Compound Butter(s)

I remember, in the courting process, after me and my husband met, he talked about his ability to grill up a mean steak (don't all men claim to be the King of the Grill?). Wow! Yes, please!!! Pleaseeeee grill me up a mean steak. I will take it any time you want to fire up that throne of yours outside. In curiousness, I asked him how he liked his steak cooked and he said "medium-well." Ugh. Ok, that was almost a deal breaker right there. But, I am a forgiver. I knew I could eventually work on this. That with a little coaxing, this is something that could be easily changed. Much easier than teaching them to put the toilet seat down, right? Well, in his first attempt of showing me his grill royalty, I reminded him that I only liked mine medium-rare and he said, "No problem." I mean, we all know that us rare/medium-rare people cannot do a well-done steak on our plate. We just can not. Period. So, let me get this straight. Did you say "No problem?" He responded, "Yeah. No problem," with his chest all puffed up. Sweet! A man who can cook steaks to any temperature. Yay! Well, I won't go into much more detail, but good gravy! Let's just say thank God for second chances? We all make bad meals. Oh my goodness. It happens to the best of us! 

So, yeah, in a couple of weeks, his second chance was granted. Ummm, okay. This was going to be more work than I thought. I needed to get on the grill and get some lessons out. Quickly. So, now that his ego had settled down, I remember cooking my first grilled steak dinner for him...my way. And, yeah, I cooked his medium-barf-well and cooked mine to a perfect, bloody mess (a bloody mess to a rare/medium-rare person is a good thing. A GREAT thing.) But, I also got a weird look when I plopped that plate down in front of him and his steak had a half-dollar-sized butter coin on it. But, he obviously had never experienced a steak cooked decently for him, nor had he ever experienced the compound. The compound butter factor. Trust me. It works better than that pint of A-1 sauce he normally dumped on his meat.

I would like to say that my husband has come a long way. He now does medium-rare and can now decipher the difference between a rib'eye' and an 'eye' of round roast. :/ Yeah, we won't go there, either. But...look! He's eating medium-rare now and no more A-1!! He even can tell you what the two sides of the T-Bone steak cut are! What did he ever do before me? And what was his ex-wife cooking for him? I can't even imagine...-- The Queen of the Grill

Butter. Yeah butter, baby. It does a dish good. So, let's go ahead and talk about compound butters. This is just a way of kicking up butter to a new level. Adding whatever you want to a softened stick of butter to create a smooth, flavorful, gild the lily masterpiece that completes savory (and even sweet) dishes! And, I must say compound butters are divine on steaks.

I have made my steak compound butter for you in this blog post. I change it up sometimes, but this is the basic recipe. Like I said earlier, you can add whatever you want to cater to your taste buds. This is just my version. On the morning of steak night, take out a stick of unsalted butter from the fridge and let it sit out all day and come to room temperature. This is a must. It won't work well unless the butter is softened to room temperature.

Here are my ingredients, all ready to prepare for this recipe. Salt and pepper (I actually use table salt here. Since we are not cooking this recipe, kosher salt does not dissolve well in this recipe), garlic, chives, onion powder, a chipotle pepper rub, parsley and my softened butter:

Chop about a tablespoon of chives and parsley, and dice your 2 small/medium cloves of garlic SUPER FINE. I do not mind the flavor/taste of raw garlic. Some people say you should never serve raw garlic, but screw 'em. I like it. Just make sure you mince it as fine as you can. If you do not like raw garlic, you can definitely use a teaspoon of garlic powder here. Add everything to a bowl.

Then, take a fork and mash your ingredients into your stick of butter and mix well.

Lay a piece of plastic wrap flat on your counter and plop the butter mixture on the plastic wrap on the bottom third of the surface.

Roll up the bottom side over the butter mixture and start to roll up the butter mixture in the plastic wrap, making a log formation as you roll.

Make sure your log is rolled uniformly and twist up the ends. Place right into fridge. It doesn't take long to harden back up. Maybe 30 minutes, but can be stored for 2 weeks. Use it to butter your bread for grilled cheeses. Use it in baked potatoes. Over grilled asparagus. Use your imagination for the leftover butter.

Immediately, when your steak comes off the grill, add a pat of your butter on top of your steak and let the heat from the steak slowly melt your butter all over the top of your steak. You should let your meat rest before slicing anyway...so let it rest with butter oozing all over it. Oh, gosh...heaven! It adds a richness and a wonderful flavor to any steak.

We talked about adding anything you want to a stick of butter to make compound butters your own recipe. Try making a sweet compound butter:

Add 2 tablespoons of honey, a tablespoon of brown sugar and a pinch of cinnamon to butter. This is good for morning biscuits or bagels. Also good for warm banana bread. Waffles and pancakes would love this butter, too!!!

What about an Asian butter?

Add a couple of dashes of soy sauce, diced chives (scallions would be too big), some crushed red pepper, a few toasted sesame seeds and freshly grated ginger. Broil fish with this butter. Try it over grilled chicken!!!  

Use your imagination. Come up with your own flavors and get creative...even with butter!!!

Recipe Card (for steak/savory butter):
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley
2 medium-small garlic gloves, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon chipotle dry rub (use crushed red pepper flakes, too)
pinch table salt
pinch freshly ground black pepper