Use Your Garlic Press For Fast And Easy Compound Butters

Compound butter is an easy way to bring more flavor to your meals. Even humble toast can be elevated to new heights with a creamy spread of roasted garlic compound butter. Yet compound butter can take some time and planning to put together, so we're all for whatever hacks we can enlist to make the process faster and more convenient.

To make compound butter, the flavorful ingredients and seasonings of your choosing must be chopped, mashed, and combined with butter before the mixture is rolled and placed into the fridge to set. Instead of mashing garlic cloves with a pestle and mortar or finely chopping olives to include in your recipes, consider enlisting an older tool you have stashed away in your kitchen. The garlic press you forgot about in the recess of your utensil drawer isn't only meant for squeezing garlic cloves. The apparatus is ideal for making compound butter, as homemade recipes call for mashed-up ingredients. Should your stand mixer or food processor be out of commission, and your heart set on making compound butter, this reliable device is always ready.

Think of your garlic press as an excuse to work out any frustrations as you smash and crush ingredients into a mushy mess. Pitted olives are ideal to be shoved inside the compartment, and toasted whole spices like peppercorns and coriander can be easily crushed with your garlic press.

From pieces of fruit like strawberries, blackberries or blueberries, to roasted nuts, any items you're thinking about sneaking into your next compound butter creation can be smashed with this handy tool. Pair your fruit with complementary freshly chopped herbs, such as in a strawberry-basil compound butter. 

This tip for making compound butter will have your handshake muscles strengthened, and you'll have a flavorful butter to melt into your perfectly seared steak without needing to fuss with larger appliances. The hands-on approach will reignite your relationship with your forlorn garlic press, and you may find yourself reaching for the instrument to use in other culinary projects when you're needing to quickly decimate ingredients.