Chili…honey…butter. Need I say more? It’s actually dangerous to keep this condiment around because you will find yourself buttering your toast with it, frying up eggs with a bit of it melted in the pan, not to mention making home fries, too. And that’s just breakfast. It can also be used to sauté green beans and carrots, to brush on grilled fish, even to baste a whole chicken for roasting. The possibilities are endless.–Padma Lakshmi
LC Compound Interest Note
This sensational, couldn’t-be-simpler schmear of sweet and spice—a simple mash of everyday ingredients—is actually a classic culinary trick. It goes by the technical term “compound butter.” While we imagine the term “compound” comes from the potential for varied ingredients, it also sorta describes the compound interest it brings to what’s on the table. Slathered on cornbread, biscuits, bagels, pancakes, waffles, scones, and the like. Smeared on steak. Dabbed atop steamed vegetables. Heaped on toasted burger buns. Dolloped onto roasted sweet potatoes (or for that matter, roasted russets). Lavished upon corn on the cob. Melted over popcorn. Even bestowed upon naan. (Though in that last instance, perhaps you ought to consider using ghee?)
Chili Honey Butter Recipe
Hands-On Time: 5 minutes | Total Time: 5 minutes | Makes about 1/2 cup
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon cayenne
- Salt to taste
Directions
- 1. In a blender, a food processor, or a bowl with a fork, combine the butter, honey, cayenne, and salt until a smooth, messy mixture forms.
- 2. Spoon it into a resealable container of some sort and keep it in the fridge for up to a couple of weeks–though chances are you’ll need to make yourself a second batch long, long before then.
Hungry for more? Chow down on these:
- Sweet Pistachio Butter from 101 Cookbooks
- Maple Almond Butter from Food in Jars
- Maître d’Hôtel Butter from Leite's Culinaria
- Clarified Butter from Leite's Culinaria
Chili Honey Butter Recipe © 2007 Padma Lakshmi. Photo © 2007 Ditte Isager. All rights reserved.
