Garlic Butter

A compound butter of the plainest kind: blanched garlic, butter, salt, cayenne. The whole point is the blanching, which takes the raw heat out of the garlic and leaves a rounded sweetness that raw garlic in butter never gives.

• Blanch properlyThe recipe calls for "plenty of water." Drop peeled cloves into a large pan of boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes, drain, and repeat with fresh water if you want the flavour milder still.
• An ounce of garlicWeighed peeled, that is roughly 6 to 8 average supermarket cloves, or one small head. Weigh rather than count, since clove size varies widely.
• Half a pound of butterTwo American sticks, 225 g. Use it at cool room temperature — soft enough to take the garlic paste, not melted, or it will separate when it chills.
• Red pepperIn a book of this date this is generally taken to mean cayenne, not paprika and not crushed chilli flakes. A pinch is enough; it is there for warmth behind the garlic, not for heat you can name.
• PoundingA mortar gives the smoothest result, but a small food processor works if you scrape down often. If you want it finer still, push the finished butter through a drum sieve or fine strainer with the back of a spoon.
• Yield and keepingAbout one cup. Roll it in parchment into a cylinder and chill; it keeps a week refrigerated and three months frozen, cut into coins as needed.
• Where it goesCompound butters of this kind are finishing butters — a slice melted over grilled steak, fish or vegetables, or whisked into a sauce off the heat.