Make Fresh Butter! A Simple Technique Via Chef Daniel Patterson

Daniel Patterson is the Chef/Owner of San Francisco’s Coi Restaurant, acclaimed by Zagat as one of the “10 Best New Restaurants Of The Decade“.

In this video he shows Epicurious how simple it is to make fresh butter, in less than 15 minutes.   This recipe uses only one ingredient:  heavy cream.  Daniel recommends using the best you can find, “which usually means organic cream from a small producer”.  In this recipe he uses whipping cream from California’s Straus Family Creamery, which comes from grass fed cows and is about 36% butterfat.

Here’s his simple technique:

Fresh Butter
1 half gallon of whipping cream (this makes a quite a bit, for home use you could half this and use 2 pints, aka 1 quart, for 2 cups of butter. A basic rule of thumb is that 1 pint of cream will yield 1 cup of butter.)

Add the cream to a mixing bowl, and enclose the area between the top of the  bowl and the top of the mixer with plastic wrap to avoid a mess.  Using an electric mixer, beat on #6 until mixture thickens a bit, and then increase to #7 setting, for a total of 6 minutes.  Place the mixture into a colander or strainer, let the fresh buttermilk drain out.  Squeeze with your hands to expel as much liquid as possible.  Mix in salt if desired.  Add herbs or flavorings if a compound butter is desired, and roll the butter into a log with plastic wrap. Use within 2 weeks.

Regarding flavorings, the possibilities are endless!  Chop the ingredients as finely as possible, and keep at room temperature for 2 hours (before rolling) so that the flavors may blend.  Some delicious variations for compound butter:

• Chipotle pepper with cilantro and lime butter (for sweet corn) from Chef Brett Bannon
• Fresh berries, cinnamon,or honey and toasted pecans for a pancake or breakfast toast topping
• A garlic and lemon, or chardonnay and shallot butter for sauteeing or baking with fish or shellfish
• Fresh basil and sundried tomatoes to top pasta or warm baguette slices
• Roasted garlic, shallots, or fresh chive butter for potatoes, bread, or vegetables.

If you have a favorite compound butter recipe, please do share with us in the comments below.