Compound butters are a thing of beauty. Whether you are making cinnamon maple butter for hot rolls or muffins or adding sundried tomato basil butter to your favorite pasta, putting in some work up front is sure to bring you dish after dish of pure culinary bliss. This time around, I bring you the key my perfect summer - year round actually - steaks. Fish Sauce Butter.
I love this combination of flavors and what it can do for all manner of meaty dishes, but especially a steak seared in a cast iron skillet or sizzled on a hot cast iron grill plate. Simply add a dollop of this compound butter to the top of your steaks as you are finishing them. The butter melts and seasons everything perfectly … no need to work in other seasonings or rub!
But before you decide this one's only for steak, it does other things too. Try it on kebabs, roasts, added to stir fries near the end of cooking, sauces (again, near the end of cooking), or even slathered onto the bread of your next grilled cheese sandwich! Maybe it's more than just steak nirvana … maybe it's basic culinary nirvana! Enjoy!
Fish Sauce Butter
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened, divided
- 4 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 small shallot, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon chili crisp
- 1 ½ teaspoons fish sauce
- ¼ teaspoon rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the garlic and shallot; cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft but not browned, about 10 minutes.
Stir the chili crisp, fish sauce, and rice wine vinegar into the saucepan. Cook over low heat until the mixture is reduced to about 3 tablespoons, about 10 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat, and let it cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
Stir together the cooled fish sauce mixture, basil, lemon zest, and remaining butter; transfer the mixture to the center of an 11-inch square of parchment paper. Roll into a tight 8 x 2-inch log, twisting both ends of the wrap to seal and compact the log; chill in the refrigerator until firm, about 1 hour.
- Yields: 12 tablespoons seasoned butter
- Preparation Time: 15 minutes plus chilling time