Quick answer: A compound butter is made by mixing soft butter with a ground spice, Ceylon cinnamon, turmeric or pepper, then shaping it into a log before chilling it again. Like any butter with ingredients added, it always needs to be kept in the fridge, never on the counter, and it freezes easily, well wrapped.
Mixing a spice into softened butter changes a slice of bread, a grilled fish or a roast vegetable with no extra cooking at all. The technique is simple, but once spices are added, compound butter needs handling like a dairy product in its own right.
The basic technique
The butter is worked soft, almost to a paste, with a fork or a food processor, with the spice already ground so it spreads evenly. Once the mixture is ready, it is shaped into a log in cling film or baking paper, then returns to the fridge to firm up before being sliced into rounds when serving.
Which Madagascar spices for which use
Ceylon cinnamon powder pairs with a butter meant for a slice of bread or French toast. Turmeric, in a small amount, colours and flavours a butter for fish or rice. Black, white or wild pepper, ground at the last moment, suits a butter for grilled meat or a roast vegetable. Cloves, on the other hand, are ground very finely before going into the butter, or small pieces remain in the texture.
Why it keeps like a butter, not like a dry spice
A compound butter stays a dairy product: the spice added to it, even dry to begin with, ends up in a fatty, moist environment once mixed in. An American university centre specialising in food safety notes that a butter with ingredients added, herbs, spices or otherwise, must always be kept in the fridge, unlike plain butter, which is sometimes left out of the cold for a few hours. The log of compound butter therefore goes straight into the fridge after preparation, with no delay.
Freezing, a simple solution
Compound butter freezes easily, provided it is well wrapped to stop it picking up freezer odours. A whole log or already-sliced rounds can then be taken out as needed, with no need to thaw the whole preparation every time. It is enough to take one or two rounds straight from the frozen log and let them melt over hot meat or a vegetable fresh from the oven.
Where these spices come from
At Vanille Désiré, the cinnamon, turmeric, black pepper and white pepper come from Vangaindrano, in the southeast of Madagascar. The Voatsiperifery wild pepper is gathered there in the wild, never cultivated. All these spices are ground or measured in the same way, whether they go into a compound butter, a batter or a sauce.
Frequently asked questions
Can a compound butter be left out of the fridge?
No, a butter with spices or other ingredients added must always be kept in the fridge, unlike plain butter, which is sometimes left out of the cold for a few hours.
Does cloves need to be ground very finely for a compound butter?
Yes, cloves are ground finely before going into the butter, otherwise small pieces remain in the texture and are unpleasant to bite into.
Can a spiced compound butter be frozen?
Yes, well wrapped to stop it picking up freezer odours, as a whole log or already sliced into rounds.
Which spice suits a butter for fish?
Turmeric, in a small amount, colours and flavours a butter meant to go with fish or rice very well.
Our products to go further: Madagascar Cinnamon · Madagascar Turmeric · Madagascar Black Pepper · Madagascar Cloves · Voatsiperifery Wild Pepper
The Vanille Désiré team
