Garlic butter, also known as ''beurre à la bourguignonne'', is a
compound butter
Compound butters (french: beurre composé, pl. ''beurres composés'') are mixtures of butter and supplementary ingredients. Primarily, they are used to enhance flavor in various dishes, in a fashion similar to a sauce.Auguste Escoffier (1903), ...
used as a flavoring for many dishes or as a
condiment
A condiment is a preparation that is added to food, typically after cooking, to impart a specific Flavoring, flavor, to enhance the flavor, or to complement the dish. A table condiment or table sauce is more specifically a condiment that is serv ...
.
['']Larousse Gastronomique
' () is an encyclopedia of gastronomy. The majority of the book is about French cuisine, and contains recipes for French dishes and cooking techniques. The first edition included few non-French dishes and ingredients; later editions include many ...
'' (1961), Crown Publishers
(''Translated from the French, Librairie Larousse, Paris (1938)'') It is composed of
butter
Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...
and
garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...
mixed into a paste. The ingredients are blended and typically chilled before use.
Dipping sauce
In the United States, garlic butter in small cups is sometimes served with seafood (such as
lobster
Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...
),
pizza
Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...
, or
breadsticks
Breadsticks, also known as grissini, grissino or dipping sticks, (''ghërsin'' in ) are generally pencil-sized sticks of crisp, dry baked bread that originated in Piedmont, a region of Italy. There is also a soft-baked breadstick version popul ...
as a
dip. To prolong shelf life, the dip may use
clarified butter
Clarified butter is milk fat rendered from butter to separate the milk solids and water from the butterfat. Typically, it is produced by melting butter and allowing the components to separate by density. The water evaporates, some solids (i.e. w ...
or flavored oils.
See also
*
List of butter dishes
This is a list of notable butter dishes and foods in which butter is used as a primary ingredient or as a significant component of a dish or a food. Butter is a dairy product that consists of butterfat, milk proteins, and water. It is made by ...
*
List of condiments
A condiment is a supplemental food (such as a sauce or powder) that is added to some foods to impart a particular flavor, enhance their flavor, or, in some cultures, to complement the dish, but that cannot stand alone as a dish. The term ''cond ...
*
References
Butter
Garlic dishes
French sauces
Foods featuring butter
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