Menton’s Butter Soup

 

What is chef Barbara Lynch's choice for the best dish on Menton’s menu? Butter Soup, a decadent dish with briny shellfish, a honey emulsion, and caviar. "You’ll want to take a bath in it. It’s 87 percent butterfat with butter from Diane St. Clair’s Animal Farm in Vermont." - Chef Lynch, Zester Daily.com


Serves 4 to 6

For the shellfish:

¼ pound each:

Clams
Razor clams
Mussels
Bay Scallops
2 each 1 ½ pound lobster

Steam ahead the mussels, clams, lobsters, and razors separately. Clean and discard the shells.

 

 For the soup base:

½ cup water
1 ½ pounds butter
salt and pepper to taste

Caviar for garnish

Place water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Whisk in the cold butter until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm. Poach bay scallops in soup and add in other shellfish.

 

For the honey emulsion:

¼ cup honey
¼ c water
yolk of one egg

Warm the honey and water in a saucepan until dissolved together. Using a hand mixer, add in the egg yolk and mix together, keeping the emulsion quite warm.

Place in serving bowls and garnish with caviar and a spoon full of honey emulsion.

 

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Thank you to Menton and chef Barbara Lynch for this recipe.

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Carotene Butter

This carotene butter tastes more like a carrot than a carrot and more like butter than butter. That's because skimming off the carrot's cellulose (the insoluble polysaccharides that make up the cell walls of plants) strips away any watery, fibrous flavor normally found in a raw carrot, leaving only the carrot's purest essence: sweet, slightly nutty, and, of course, bright orange.

Read the article on chefsteps.com...


Carotene Butter Recipe


4.4 oz  Carrot juice, from about 6 carrots

8.8 oz  Butter

-

Ice water, for chilling, as needed

Equipment
Juicer
Fine-mesh sieve
Blender
Offset spatula

 

Timing:  1 hr

 

1. JUICE CARROTS

3 Carrots

Remove ends and peel carrots.

Juice, and pass through a fine mesh sieve. Reserve 4.4 oz.

Keep extra juice in the freezer for other uses.

 

2.  CLARIFY BUTTER

8.8 oz  Butter

On low heat, melt butter until a layer of milk solids forms on the surface.

TIP: Gently rake the bottom of the pot with a spatula to encourage all the whey to float to the top. Don’t mix.

Using a ladle or a spoon, carefully and gently remove the whey that has gathered on the surface.

The reserved fat is called clarified butter. This will hold in your fridge for weeks or in your freezer for a year.

 

3.  BLEND CLARIFIED BUTTER AND CARROT JUICE

4.4 oz  Butter, clarified

4.4 oz  Carrot juice, fresh

While the butter is still hot, blend ingredients on high until the emulsion breaks.

NOTE: The liquids will initially emulsify and thicken in the blender, due to the cold carrot juice being mixed into the fat from the butter. Eventually, the friction from blending on high will cause the emulsion to heat and separate. This takes about two minutes in our blender. To confirm that the emulsion has separated fully, stop the blender occasionally and watch for fat droplets to form as the liquid runs down the sides of the blender. You should be able to see that the liquid has thinned at this point as well.

Tip  -  Blending required
Breaking the emulsion on the stovetop in Step 5 is nearly impossible unless you blend the ingredients together as described in Step 3.

 

4.  POUR BLENDED INGREDIENTS INTO A SMALL POT; BRING TO BOIL

On low heat, warm the carrot butter until boiling. A raft of cellulose from the carrot juice will form on the top.

Turn the heat off and let rest for two minutes. This will result in better separation.

Skim off the solids. Strain with a handheld strainer for best results.

 

5.  CHILL

Place whole pot carefully into an ice bath and store in the fridge uncovered until the butter on top is hard.

 

6.  REMOVE THE PUCK

Run an offset spatula around the outside of the puck of hardened butter to dislodge it. Pat the puck dry with a paper towel.

Discard any liquid left in the bottom of the pot.

 

7.  SERVE OR RESERVE  

Reserve butter in the fridge until needed. Use cold, or melt as needed.  The carotene butter will last for at least a year in the freezer, or for months in the fridge.


Printed with permission from
ChefSteps



Epicure Walnut Butter

 

This delicious nutty butter is perfect to cook poultry or any kind of white meat. It also tastes great on toast or a slice of banana bread.

 

1/2 c  chopped walnuts

8 tbsp  butter

 

Blanch and peel fresh walnuts

Crush them coarsely and roast them (5 minutes) on the grill or pan

When nuts have cooled, stir them into softened butter

Roll into log and refrigerate until firm

 

 

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Thank you to Epicure and chef Eric Frechon for this recipe.

I posted about them here.

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This recipe was shared in a serving size fit for a restaurant, I divided the original recipe ingredients by eight.  

Epicure Walnut Butter original recipe:

Walnuts 600 gr
Butter 1 kg of salted butter



 

Seersucker Salted Molasses Butter

 

This butter looks like it will be very rich due to it's dark color, but it has a delicious subtle flavor.

 

8 tbsp unsalted butter

2.25 tsp molasses

1/3 tsp kosher salt

 

Allow butter to soften to room temperature. Add molasses and salt to butter and stir until fully mixed. Serve with warm biscuits or on pancakes.

 

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Thank you to Seersucker for this recipe. I posted about them here.

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This recipe was shared in a serving size fit for a restaurant, I divided the original recipe ingredients by four.  

   Seersucker Salted Molasses Butter original recipe:

     1 pound unsalted butter
     3 tablespoons molasses
     1.5 teaspoons kosher salt



 

Sage Brown Butter

This aromatic butter is a classic sauce for gnocchi and squash ravioli. Don’t be afraid to use whole sage leaves here—when they hit the hot butter, they become crisp like chips and their flavor mellows considerably.

 

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced

¼ cup sage leaves

½ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste

Generous pinch of freshly ground black pepper

 

Heat a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat until very hot. Add the butter and cook, stirring constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until browned. Remove pan from the heat; add the sage, salt, and pepper; and stir until the bubbling subsides. Serve the butter warm.

 

This butter keeps for several days tightly sealed in the refrigerator or several weeks in the freezer.


Printed with permission from
Flavored Butters
How to Make Them, Shape Them, and Use Them As Spreads, Toppings, and Sauces
By Lucy Vaserfirer




Churncraft

I was delighted to find the website Churncraft. Finally someone who adored butter as much as I do, enough to create a website about it. 

Churncraft was launched by Kristin and Hannes Frey in 2013. With help from their two daughters, the website offers lessons on making homemade butter, a wide variety of compound butter recipes and a blog filled with interesting information and beautiful photography. 

Photo credit: Churncraft.com

 They have created a modern, mechanical butter churn. Coming soon!

I'm going to order one. I'll let you know when I get it.



Red Chile Butter

All three dried chiles used in this recipe are mild in terms of heat, but each one brings a distinct flavor to the mix. They can be found at Mexican markets and some gourmet grocery stores.

Steak, pork chops, salmon, shrimp, roasted winter squash, baked sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, warm corn or flour tortillas, and popcorn are all good uses for this earthy, Mexican-inspired butter.

 

1 ancho Chile, stemmed

1 pasilla chile, stemmed

1 guajillo chile, stemmed

8 tablespoons (1 Stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 garlic clove, grated on a microplane

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste

1/8 teaspoon ground cumin

 

Heat a medium-size, heavy sauté pan or griddle over medium heat until very hot. Add the chiles and toast, pressing down on them firmly with a spatula, for 10 to 15 seconds, or until golden brown. Turn the chiles and continue to toast, pressing down on them firmly with a spatula, another 10 to 15 seconds, or until fragrant, golden brown, and pliable. Remove the toasted chiles to a bowl, add enough boiling water to cover, and let soak for 10 to 12 minutes, or until rehydrated. Transfer the chiles and 2 tablespoons of the soaking liquid to a blender and blend until smooth. Force the chiles through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the skins and seeds.

Blend together the chile puree, butter, garlic, salt, and cumin in a medium-size bowl. Form into a log and refrigerate until firm before slicing and serving, or use another shaping method.

Makes 8 servings


This recipe is from the cookbook Flavored Butters. I bought it a few years ago and it is filled with fantastic compound butter recipes.  


Printed with permission from
Flavored Butters
How to Make Them, Shape Them, and Use Them As Spreads, Toppings, and Sauces
By Lucy Vaserfirer