Flavor That Ish: Seasoned Butters

So what do we want from our meals besides our daily dose of carbs, protein, and fat (yes you need some fat, not much but some). That would be flavor. There are many ways to put flavor in your food and to cook with it and I will try to highlight some of those ways through this blog over time.

One way that I personally think is cool, pretty easy, and sounds kind of impressive is seasoned butters. Yeah, that’s right, I said seasoned butters! Adding to butter is nice not only because its butter and seasonings, but also because it’s a cool way to use your herbs. Now you can use fresh herbs or dried herbs. But I like using butters as a way to extract the flavor from my dried herbs in a juicy way (and having more uses for dried herbs is really nice as they are cheaper and last far longer than fresh herbs). There isn’t anything wrong with fresh herbs, they are great and there will be recipes using them later on the blog, but they spoil quickly and cost more (though most don't cost a lot, just more than dried).

What do I season my butter with? A lot of things. The main additive (I have found) is usually herbs (ranging from the more ordinary dried basil to a more powerful dried rosemary or to fresh cilantro). Just think about what herbs/seasonings you would like on your dish and then mix it in softened butter. For steak I like to use garlic and thyme, for fish some garlic with fresh cilantro, for roasted poultry I like to go heavy on the dried herbs without shying away from tougher dried herbs (like rosemary) that I never use outside of a moistening medium (sauces, butters, broths, etc.) but that have a nice strong flavor to them. Additionally you can add things like fresh lemon juice, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and more to your seasoned butters to give them a nice kick (insert Emeril Lagasse “bam!” here). So here is a nice recipe with a flavored butter that I like http://www.thatsmyhome.com/fishermans/cilantro-snapper.htm.

After talking to a few more followers of the blog I will try to throw in more recipes and tips with fish (for all of you pescatarians out there) and vegetables (for the vegetarians)… sorry vegans but I may not be too helpful… as for the carnivores... I got you, especially when I decide to write about BBQ.