Book 12: Flavored Butters by Lucy Vaserfirer

Well, let's call this the opposite of my last post (which was I Quit Sugar), and this one is essentially I Love Butter!  But hey, aren't people saying butter is good for you now?

I found this book in the community sales section of my local library.  It didn't take me long to pull the trigger.  I like butter.  More excuses to eat butter because it has added deliciousness?  O-kay!  I did feel a little sad for this book, too, cast off into the $2 section.  What did it do to deserve that?  At least it was not flavored margarines!

I bought this for toppings for my Thanksgiving rolls--a traditional herb butter.  However, many of Lucy Vaserfirer's butters are recommended for steak toppings, pasta toppings, and especially veggie toppings.  You may be surprised that butter needs its own book.   However, it is very thorough in its covering of compound butters (basically, butters combined with other ingredients) including savory and sweet, and also describes clarified butter (no water or milk solids) and how to make it.  There are a variety of surprising butters, including kimchi butter, wasabi butter, and red chile butter.

I made the shallot herb butter and found it quite complex and tasty.  When I've made butters before, I shortcutted and used dried herbs--the fresh make such a difference!  The shallot also just adds something special--I don't think of it as a common ingredient, but I see it used a lot in French cooking and, like onions, it really can be the core of flavor in a recipe.

The other recipe I made was the ginger butter.  This includes soy sauce and honey, in addition to the grated ginger.  I liked this also, but thought it would have been more appropriate on the seafood or snow peas she recommended it for.  I did find the soy sauce had separated from the butter after being out for a while--not sure if that just happens or if I didn't full mix them to begin with.

I am looking forward to making more of the butters in this book, especially the sweet ones, to go with waffles or pancakes.  Really I am still using the more traditional (or is it modern?) approach to butters as a complement to CARBS.  I will at some point move on to them as an accompaniment to protein!

This was hanging out my drafts since December 2016.  I sure do collect a lot of stuff in drafts...don't ask me how many drafts are in my Outlook email!