Butter is good. Brown butter is better. Cooked to the breathtaking boundary between caramelized and burnt, it’s nutty and complex, the sultry signature flavor in French-y classics like financiers. But in 2016, brown butter isn’t just for Francophiles. We’ve seen it as a glaze for wok-fried brussels sprouts at Chicago’s Mott St and infused into bourbon for the Good Ol’ Boy cocktail at The Bonnie in Astoria, NY. “It adds another dimension, a depth you don’t get from anything else,” raves chef Vivian Howard. At Boiler Room, her Eastern Carolina oyster bar, Howard brightens pushed-to-the-edge brown butter (the deeper the color, the deeper the flavor) with hot sauce and freezes it, creating a compound butter used atop roast oysters. “The warmness of the brown butter balances the brininess of seafood,” she says. “It’s the perfect partner, rounding out everything without becoming the star.”
- Melt and drizzle over squash soup.
- Fluff into still-hot white rice.
- Add to the pan with scrambled eggs just before they’re done cooking.
- Use a knob to enrich a bowl of white beans.
- Add a pat to roast oysters.