Will flavors marry in compound butter if given sufficient time to rest?
Edit: I plan to actually do a blind taste test to put this question to bed and satisfy my curiosity. If anybody wants to beat me to it, please feel free.
If you make a salsa (for example) and store it in the fridge the flavors will marry over time.
Is the same true of compound butter? My hypothesis is that a compound butter that includes multiple flavoring agents (perhaps two different herbs) will taste essentially the same right after it has been compounded as it will after an overnight banishment to the refrigerator.
My initial reaction is that the magic that is helping salsa ingredients mingle is water (a solvent extraordinaire & excellently thin transport medium). Will butter insulate this wonderful exchange?
This Alton Brown recipe (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/compound-butter-recipe/index.html) suggests chilling for two hours before serving. He's one smart cookie, so I tend to follow his lead, but is it worth waiting?
Image from another recipe here: http://www.thehungrymouse.com/2009/03/27/fresh-herb-compound-butter/
Best Answer
If you leave the butter uncovered in the fridge, it will eventually pick up the tastes from everything else in the fridge. This really is why there is a special compartment for it. The compound butter has to do less work to infuse.
Our chef school teacher said they made their compound butter ~2-days ahead of the event so the flavours would infuse properly. The piece of butter I tried had no strawberries in it, but it sure smelled and carried the taste of strawberry.
I've even done the lazy-man's compound butter by rolling the butter stick in Thyme and stick it in the fridge.
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Quick Answer about "Will flavors marry in compound butter if given sufficient time to rest?"
Yeah, it would definitely be worth waiting. Various plant compounds have varying ability to dissolve in fats and aqueous solutions, and this process is going to be slowed by putting the butter in the fridge (basic chemistry..How long can you keep compound butter?
How long does compound butter last in the fridge and freezer. Store in a fridge covered or rolled in parchment paper for as long as the date on the butter package allows (1 month) or freeze for up to three months.Do you put compound butter on before cooking or after?
It's most commonly used as a \u201cfinishing butter\u201d for steak, chicken or fish. This means that after it's cooked and plated, a round of flavored butter is placed on top and allowed to melt into the meat. It's an easy way to add a lot of flavor without much effort, and it adds elegance to almost any dish.Can you put compound butter in the fridge?
Store Compound Butters (depending on what is in them) for up to 5 days in the refrigerator, 6 months in the freezer. Instead of freezing a batch in one long log, you may wish to cut it into smaller lengths, and freeze separately.Can you save compound butter?
A stick of the stuff from the supermarket is just fine. If you stock up on butter when it's on sale at the grocery store, you can freeze compound butters in batches so that they'll keep longer.Meg And Quagmire On The Run - Family Guy
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Answer 2
Yes it is worth waiting. It's not just water that is a good medium for flavors, but fats as well and butter is just a big chunk of fat. A good example is herb flavored oil, the same process that distributes the flavor of the herb in the oil works in butter as well, and it takes time to work. So some will make your compound better. Many chefs advocate making compound butters and then freezing them, using them when needed, they say the butters just improve over time. Within limits of course.
Answer 3
Yeah, it would definitely be worth waiting. Various plant compounds have varying ability to dissolve in fats and aqueous solutions, and this process is going to be slowed by putting the butter in the fridge (basic chemistry..virtually everything happens faster when the temperature is higher). However, prolonged high temperatures can also destroy some plant flavor compounds (anecdotally cilantro comes to mind). By allowing the product to rest for sufficient time you're going to get all those slow moving, barely-fat soluble flavor compounds mixed in nicely with the saturated fats in the butter.
I would even bet that sometimes the miscibility of two different types of herbs mean that the compounds would dissolve into each other as well, making for a delicious foodstuff.
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