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Today, I’d like to talk a bit about butter. Specifically compound butter. Now before you run away in fear, compound butter is far more interesting and far easier to make than its mathematical name implies. It would be just as accurate, for example, to call this “herb and lemon butter” or “chipotle and orange butter.” Compound butter is literally butter than has been infused with other seasonings and then used as a very basic sauce on anything from steak to clams, baked potatoes to corn.
Before I get ahead of myself, let’s consider butter and why it is possibly the simplest, most perfect sauce for this time of year. As any good French woman will be sure to tell you, bacon and butter make everything better. Butter can be part of a sauce as with monter au beurre, butter whisked in at the end of a reduction of wine and stock to add silky texture. Or, butter can be the sauce as with brown butter, or butter that is slowly swirled and cooked until the milk solids toast turning the melted butter a scrumptious shade of caramel.
Hot weather begs for a sauce that requires little to no time on the stove. No one wants to spend an hour with a burner on high reducing chicken stock while the temperature rises. Meanwhile some of our favorite summer foods, from fresh shellfish to steaks off the grill, call for a kick of flavor. And really, nothing adds flavor and silky mouth-feel quite like butter.
Enter compound butter, a simple technique of infusing softened butter with a range of seasonings (e.g., herbs, citrus, chili, garlic). The potential combinations are endless. The ingredients are finely chopped and blended with softened butter, salt, and pepper.
Laid out on wax paper or plastic wrap, the butter can be formed into a log, rolled, and stored in the freezer. The flavors marry and the butter chills until show time. A slice of infused butter is cut off and placed on the object of choice, say grilled clams or a New York Strip and voila! The butter melts on the hot-off-the-grill items sending its delicious flavored juices cascading in a melted butter waterfall: instant sauce, no extra burners required.
The most classic combination involves a handful of fresh, bright herbs (parsley, basil, thyme, oregano, and tarragon are all good candidates) with lemon zest and chopped garlic. But options abound. Canned chipotle chili mixed with orange zest and cilantro or maybe a touch of honey would be nice on pork chops or cornbread fresh from the oven. For a Southeast Asian infusion, minced lemongrass, Thai chilies, garlic, and maybe some rehydrated kaffir lime--try that on grilled clams or basted over skewered shrimp.
If you make a log of butter and only use part of it that night no need to worry, the compound butter log will keep in the freezer, chillin’, until you fire up the grill again. When it comes to sauce, butter is always better, and come the summer, if that sauce can be made without extra heat, that’s not just better, it’s the best.
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
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The Beauty of Compound Butter
Today, I’d like to talk a bit about butter. Specifically compound butter. Now before you run away in fear, compound butter is far more interesting and far easier to make than its mathematical name implies. It would be just as accurate, for example, to call this “herb and lemon butter” or “chipotle and orange butter.” Compound butter is literally butter than has been infused with other seasonings and then used as a very basic sauce on anything from steak to clams, baked potatoes to corn.
Before I get ahead of myself, let’s consider butter and why it is possibly the simplest, most perfect sauce for this time of year. As any good French woman will be sure to tell you, bacon and butter make everything better. Butter can be part of a sauce as with monter au beurre, butter whisked in at the end of a reduction of wine and stock to add silky texture. Or, butter can be the sauce as with brown butter, or butter that is slowly swirled and cooked until the milk solids toast turning the melted butter a scrumptious shade of caramel.
Hot weather begs for a sauce that requires little to no time on the stove. No one wants to spend an hour with a burner on high reducing chicken stock while the temperature rises. Meanwhile some of our favorite summer foods, from fresh shellfish to steaks off the grill, call for a kick of flavor. And really, nothing adds flavor and silky mouth-feel quite like butter.
Enter compound butter, a simple technique of infusing softened butter with a range of seasonings (e.g., herbs, citrus, chili, garlic). The potential combinations are endless. The ingredients are finely chopped and blended with softened butter, salt, and pepper.
Laid out on wax paper or plastic wrap, the butter can be formed into a log, rolled, and stored in the freezer. The flavors marry and the butter chills until show time. A slice of infused butter is cut off and placed on the object of choice, say grilled clams or a New York Strip and voila! The butter melts on the hot-off-the-grill items sending its delicious flavored juices cascading in a melted butter waterfall: instant sauce, no extra burners required.
The most classic combination involves a handful of fresh, bright herbs (parsley, basil, thyme, oregano, and tarragon are all good candidates) with lemon zest and chopped garlic. But options abound. Canned chipotle chili mixed with orange zest and cilantro or maybe a touch of honey would be nice on pork chops or cornbread fresh from the oven. For a Southeast Asian infusion, minced lemongrass, Thai chilies, garlic, and maybe some rehydrated kaffir lime--try that on grilled clams or basted over skewered shrimp.
If you make a log of butter and only use part of it that night no need to worry, the compound butter log will keep in the freezer, chillin’, until you fire up the grill again. When it comes to sauce, butter is always better, and come the summer, if that sauce can be made without extra heat, that’s not just better, it’s the best.
Grilled Clams with Herb, Lemon, and Garlic Butter
Made with lemon wedges, Virginia clams, black pepper, unsalted butter, thyme, herbs, lemon, garlic, salt
Made with lemon wedges, Virginia clams, black pepper, unsalted butter, thyme, herbs, lemon, garlic, salt
Serves/Makes: 4
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 sprigs thyme, leaves only
- 1/2 cup mixed chopped herbs such as tarragon, parsley, and basil
- 1 lemon, zest only
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 24 large Virginia clams
- lemon wedges
Mix together all ingredients except for the clams.
Lay butter out on a piece of wax paper or plastic wrap. Roll to form a log. Twist ends closed and place butter log in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, fire up a grill with coals or gas to medium hot. When grill is hot, lay clams out in a single layer (work in batches if they won't all fit). Clams should start to pop open after 3-4 minutes. Being careful to save the juices inside, remove clams from the grill as the shell opens.
Place open clams on a tray. While still hot, slice off one half inch of the compound butter for each clam and place inside the shell, on the clam itself. Serve clams while still hot with extra wedges of lemon.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/amy-powell/1268-compound-butter/