Savvy Secrets – Butter

If you have been around Two Chums for very long you will most certainly know that one of favorite foods is butter. We cook with it, we bake with it, we smear it all over our bread or anything that needs just a bit of extra…well, JOY is what comes to mind! We LOVE our butter 🙂

Today we have 4 Savvy Secrets to share with you for ways to use butter that you may not have thought of before.

1. To soften butter quickly, use a large cheese grater and grate the butter.  The smaller pieces will soften faster as there is more surface area exposed to the warm room temperature air.  In moments, otherwise very hard butter that would tear up a piece of bread if you tried to spread it on it, will be soft and quite spreadable. You can use this technique as well if you are in a hurry, to produce small pieces of butter to be stirred into flour for biscuits or pie crust. If you are making biscuits or pie crust, freeze the butter first as it needs to start out really cold.

2. When cooking we’ve found that one of the things you can do that leads to success and ease in cooking is to prep ingredients in advance. As mentioned before we use lots of butter which sometimes requires measuring out the amount needed. To measure butter use the markings on the side of the wrapper and pre-slice butter into tablespoons before you begin cooking.  You will have just the amount you need available as you need it, without having to stop stirring or mixing, to measure and cut.

3. Sometimes simple is best. Simple browned butter makes a wonderful sauce for vegetables, fish, or even pasta.  As the butter melts, the milk solids sink to the bottom of the pan and begin to brown.  Browned butter is also really delicious in baked goods in place of fresh butter, adding a rich nutty flavor.

4. Compound butter is made by adding fresh herbs to butter.  After softening the butter by bringing it to room temperature (or grating it up as we mentioned above) mash it up, and mix in chopped herbs. You can use one kind of herb, or a combination of herbs of your choice. Once the herbs are thoroughly mixed in, roll the butter in waxed paper forming a sort of log, and then refrigerate it until it is solid again.  Cut slices and serve on top of grilled meat, chicken or fish in place of a sauce.

Here are a couple of compound butter recipes you might like to try:

Mustard Butter
1 stick of butter
2 Tbsp country Dijon mustard (with grains)

Lemon Chive Butter
1 stick of butter
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp dried chives or 1 tablespoon fresh chopped chives
1 tsp lemon peel, grated

Classic Garlic Herb Butter
1 stick of butter
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped fine
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped fine
1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, minced

These are just a few compound butter suggestions for you to try, but the possibilities are endless.

The bottom line is this : pull some butter out of the refrigerator and enjoy life. You know what they say…”everything’s better with butter”!