Flavored and Gourmet Butter

Making flavored butter at home is easier than you think. Also called compound butter, it is basically butter mixed with other ingredients, like herbs, spices or even alcohol, to enhance its taste.

Flavored and gourmet butter

A flavored, gourmet butter is another method of adding flavor to your dishes and improving your butter’s flavor profile. Here are some notable examples you can whip up to make you feel like a five-star chef in your kitchen.

Herb compound butter

If you’re looking for butter that adds a luxurious aroma to your dishes, herb compound butter might be for you. This flavored butter ranges from combining shallot, rosemary asiago or lemon herb for that rich, savory flavor to your recipes.

In the recipe I’ve included in this article, you’ll discover an easy way to make a flavored butter using only three ingredients plus parchment paper:

• unsalted butter
• fresh thyme
• sea salt

This flavored butter goes great with recipes like grilled bone-in pork chops.

Garlic compound butter

A popular staple in restaurants and home kitchens, garlic compound butter, such as roasted garlic, lemon garlic, garlic powder and black garlic, offers various savory, aromatic flavors for bread, meats, seafood, vegetables, pasta and even vegetarian meals. This makes this gourmet butter a versatile ingredient that will help you invent that signature dish you’ve been planning ever since.

Sweet compound butter

Use sweet compound butter, such as apple herb, cinnamon honey and maple brown sugar, to combine sweet and savory flavors in your dishes. Flavored butter of this variety works wonders in baked goods, breakfast items and meats.

Savory compound butter

To introduce bold and rich flavors, incorporate savory compound butter into your dishes, such as blue cheese, bacon, four cheese and pesto basil. This flavored butter is ideal for meats, vegetables and baked goods.

Other fancy butters

Not in the mood to make your own gourmet butter? There are plenty of other fancy butters that you can add to your butter repertoire. Consider some of the following.

Butters with a high butterfat content

Ordinary butter has about 80 percent butter fat. However, gourmet butters from Europe can go up even higher. Some are even as high as 87 percent butterfat. Your cardiologist may not approve but your palate will.

This higher butterfat content gives the butter a richer flavor and lower moisture content, which improves mouthfeel, taste and texture. “What’s the point of having good bread if you don’t use good butter,” is a sentiment shared by many, including Amanda Luhn from Knoxville Backyard & Beyond.

French butter

An excellent example of a European butter that’s worth the price — literally and figuratively — is French butter. It is loved worldwide for its rich flavor and texture, which elevates everyday dishes from soups to pastries. Ashley Wali, creator of Wanderlux, recommends using a trip to France to bring some home to enjoy. “They pass airport security and will stay cold until you get home. It’s the perfect edible souvenir you can’t get anywhere else,” she says.

A specific French butter to buy is called “Sure, it’s not always cheap — hello, sticker shock — but there’s no comparison when you’re spreading it on warm bread or swirling it into a sauce,” says Bitty of Eighty Recipes who’s been stashing specialty butters in their freezer. “Flavored ones, like Bordier, are incredible and hold up perfectly for months. When you treat butter as more than just an ingredient, it can make a meal sing,” she adds.

Irish butter

An 8-ounce slab of Irish butter for $4-7 will give you a sweeter and more flavorful alternative due to its higher butterfat content and the cows’ grass-fed diet. Most agree that Irish butter is creamier, spreadable and more flavorful than American butter. Lovers of Irish butter, like Glenda from Glenda Embree Blog, reserve this pricy butter for special occasions. Perhaps the best-known Irish butter is Kerrygold, which you can buy at Target for about $5 or in bulk — and likely at a discount — at Costco.

Portions of this article originally appeared on Food Drink Life.