Buttering Up

   ne of the things I was served, recently was a very small insignificant pat of butter, with a plate of French toast. I was disappointed by the size, thinking nobody could ever believe the miniscule amount of butter would possibly cover the amount of toast I had on my plate.

But this little tiny yellow glob on the plate was a taste bomb waiting to explode, for this was mustard butter, with a bite, and being very mathematical in my approach, I tried to separate this small thing into as many pieces as I had toast.  Believe me there was more than enough, because of the minute amount needed. Only when the waiter came back to serve my partner did he explain about the butter, TOO LATE I thought.  

This was a very refreshing experience as I know my nan, always used to make crab and prawn butter which was served with oven warn, home made bread buns.  So lets refresh your memory of flavoured butters:  

Cream your butter well with a palette knife, add 1½ tablespoons of a good French mustard, to 1oz of good butter, a little at a time until it is mixed well. Then form into small pats, the size of oxo cubes, and set aside to harden, this works really well with fish, or grilled ham.  

Other butters are:  
Garlic butter
Orange butter
Shrimp butter
Lobster butter
Paprika butter
Tarragon butter
Anchovy ( with garlic) butter    

These have many uses especially as dressings for fish, and meats like baked ham, or grilled gammon.