Herb Butter
I have found that nothing turns a simple dish into something sophisticated more easily than herb butter. It is so easy to make, and has so many variations — as well as so many uses – that it is an absolute must in the repertoire of any cook worth his or her salt.
To start, it should be stated that fresh herbs should be used, as the freshly cut herbs will release their flavor directly into the butter, which will soak it up. Fresh herbs will often lose their flavor if they are used in cooking, but with herb butter there is no cooking involved until the butter itself is used, so all the flavor remains. If you have read my post about flavor carriers, you will know that the fat in butter is excellent at bonding with flavor molecules, and does a great job of spreading the flavor throughout whatever it is added to.
Any herb can be used in herb butter, but it is best to use bold flavors. Soft flavors like chervil tend to get buried in the flavor of the butter. The classic combination of herbs to use for poultry — parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme – is also great for herb butter; in fact, look below for a great use of herb butter on poultry. Aside from these herbs, I have also used cilantro, basil, oregano, tarragon and chives in various combinations.
To start, get a pound of butter (or whatever amount you decide on) and let it come to room temperature. You want it to be soft enough to mix the herbs in really well. Do not use heat to warm the butter, as we do not want to cook it. While the butter is softening, chop your herbs up very finely. If you are using rosemary it is especially important to chop it very finely, as the needles tend be be tough, and you don’t want them interfering with the texture of the butter.
In addition to the herbs, I like to add some lemon zest. If you have not used it before the very outside surface of the lemon is the most powerful source of aroma and flavor of the fruit. You can buy a lemon zester that scrapes off the best part, but you can use a regular vegetable peeler too, as long as you do not peel too deeply. You only want the yellow part, as the white part is very bitter and not at all tasty. Chop this up very finely and add to the herbs.
Once your butter is soft and your herbs chopped, add the herb mixture a bit at a time and mix well. Keep adding herbs and stirring until you have the consistency you want. it will not take a lot of herbs to completely flavor the butter, but too much and you will lose the texture of the butter.
Once this is mixed together, let the butter mixture site for half an hour or so to let the flavors get absorbed. The you can put it in the fridge, use it in your recipe, or even freeze it (more on this later).
As I mentioned before, herb butter is extremely versatile. It makes a great topping for veggies, rice, or any savory dish that uses butter. A roasted or steamed squash with herb butter is absolutely heavenly! Baked or mashed potatoes will practically beg for this stuff, too!
One of my favorite uses for herb butter is in roasted chicken. You can gently lift the skin of the chicken and push some butter into the opening. Massage the skin of the chicken until the butter reaches every area underneath the skin that it can. Make sure to rub some on the outside of the wings and legs too, as well as the outside of the skin elsewhere. Not only will this flavor the chicken, but it will help brown the skin as well. Another little trick I use is to boil the lemon that I zested and place it in the cavity of the chicken to help moisten it while it roasts. Make sure you poke some holes in the lemon to allow the moisture and aroma to escape. Since I normally roast two chickens at once, I just cut the lemon in half and use one half in each bird. Why boil the lemon first? To make sure it does not cool down the interior of the chicken while the outside cooks. That way everything cooks evenly, and there is no uncooked chicken and food poisoning. (On that note, I should also remind you to wash your hands completely and thoroughly after working with raw chicken, as the bacteria that can come with it is nothing to be trifled with.)
The fact that herb butter can be frozen allows you to save it in a clever way. While the butter is still soft, put it on some wax paper in kind of a line along the long edge. Roll up the wax paper to wrap up the butter in a roll about the thickness of a cookie dough package, and wrap this in plastic wrap and plunk it into the freezer. When you need a little bit of flavor added to something, just slice a bit of the herb butter off. This makes a really nice finish to a steak, by the way; no need for any other sauce!
Last thing I want to add: you can add a bit of tomato paste to the butter for a different taste.
Yours in Good Taste,
Erik Christensen