You don’t need a degree in culinary education to make and eat delicious food. In fact, sometimes the fanciest of foods require almost no advanced skills. For instance: compound butter. It sounds intricate and sophisticated, but in reality, compound butter is just flavored butter. It’s not only super easy to incorporate into your everyday home cooking, but making it is a walk in the park.
It begins with butter. In France, compound butter is a staple of French cuisine, and cooks will sometimes leave their butter out overnight to soften. However, unlike the chefs in France, most ordinary people aren’t working with 20 pounds of butter, so an hour should suffice perfectly fine. Use either a stand mixer or a bowl and wooden spoon to beat the butter until smooth. A hand mixer works as well.
Beat the butter until it becomes as light and fluffy as you desire. Then, add a pinch of salt and whatever flavor ingredients you want, like mustard, cheese, olives, alcohol, fruit, jam, or spices. Keep the ratio at about 30% of the overall amount of butter. Place the butter on wax or parchment paper and roll it into a 1-inch cylinder. Twist the ends before refrigerating. It will last for 3 to 5 days in the fridge, or several months in the freezer.