Warm chili oil, lime zest, and honey — corn's best friend and salmon's summer fling. Compound butter is the laziest great sauce in cooking: flavor mashed into fat, sliced onto heat, melting into glory.
What you need
Ingredients
Servings
8
Before you start
Mise en place
Yield: One 125 g log — eight coins of instant sauce
Equipment
Small saucepan
Whisk
Prep checklist
Butter — softened but not melted
Lime — zest and a squeeze
3 steps
Method
1
Beat the soft butter until creamy, then work in everything else until evenly distributed.
Why this works
Softened means a finger leaves a dent — melted butter won't re-form into a sliceable log.
2
Spoon onto parchment, roll into a log, twist the ends, and chill at least 2 hours.
120 min — timer available in cooking mode
3
Slice a coin over anything hot: grilled corn, salmon, shrimp, sweet potatoes. It melts into an instant, perfectly seasoned sauce.
From the pass
Chef's notes
Taste before serving and adjust salt and acid — the last 30 seconds of seasoning matter more than any single ingredient.
Afterwards
Keep, reheat & pair
Storage
Airtight jar in the fridge, 3–5 days. Press plastic wrap onto the surface of starch-thickened sauces to stop a skin forming.
Freezing
Its true home: 3 months in the freezer, sliceable straight from frozen.
Reheating
Reheat gently over low heat, whisking; butter- and egg-based sauces split when boiled. Loosen with a spoonful of warm water or stock.
Make ahead
Most sauces keep 3–5 days refrigerated and freeze in ice-cube trays for instant single portions. Emulsified butter sauces are best made within the hour.