Compound or flavored butters are a staple in kitchens around the world. Keeping a knob of garlic butter on hand just makes life easier. You can make it yourself with your favorite butter, raw or cooked garlic, salt, cayenne pepper and fresh chopped parsley. It will make a quick pasta sauce, garlic bread, or baked potato. It can be used to baste fish or meat in the pan adding flavor and creating a wonderful pan sauce. It can be whipped and added as a finishing touch to clam chowder or any number of soups. It can garnish a risotto or make scrambles eggs something special. This is why we love flavored butters.
Today Alex decided to flavor the cream that he made butter from. He had a craving for XO sauce and mixed it into his heavy cream and let it infuse in the refrigerator for several hours before making it into butter. It's a small adjustment with great rewards. I can't imagine why we didn't think of it sooner. Instead of just butter, we ended up with flavored butter and buttermilk. Gotta love it.
