Coarse ground country style mustard and whiskey make a delicious flavor combination for compound butter for steak. Whiskey butter is a perfect way to dine Western Style with a steakhouse finish.
Another favorite compound butter for steak is this recipe for Blue Cheese Butter. It’s great on this lean cut of meat, Merlot Steak.
What Is Compound Butter?
It’s simple! Compound butter is butter that’s been softened to room temperature, then flavored with seasonings or fresh herbs. Then refrigerated to again to harden. Compound butters are most well known as a savory topping for grilled steaks, but there are also sweet compound butter recipes that are used for brunches. Compound butter is just a fancy way to say butter that’s flavored with add-ins.
Why Whiskey Butter Belongs on Steak
Flavored steak butters make dinners instantly taste better without breaking a sweat. Plus they’ll keep in the freezer for six months. For this Whiskey Butter recipe, we’re adding Country Mustard. The flavor combinations will WOW steak lovers.
- It’s easy! Starting with softened butter, mixing in seasonings, roll and refrigerator.
- If you’re looking for a perfect flavor addition to an already beefy grilled steak, this compound whiskey butter is it!
- The vanilla-y caramel flavor is a perfect compliment to grilled steak.
- Infused with whiskey, mustard and Worcestershire sauce, it’s decadent, yet rustic with flavor.
- Not to mention e-a-s-y! This Whiskey Butter is so easy to make, but plan ahead, you do need a a 1 – 2 hour refrigeration time.
Culinary School…practically everything we learned to cook was dripping in butter. Does it get any better than that? You don’t hear me complaining. And I certainly didn’t need to attend culinary school to learn how to make compound butter for steak. It’s simply so very simple.
On the other hand, I certainly learned to appreciate compound butters during my time at school. We made so many flavors …the combinations seemed endless.
Let’s take a look.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Ingredients You’ll Need
- White Pepper: Considered milder in flavor than regular ground black pepper. Less forward, earthy and sometimes described as “grassy”, White Pepper is fun to experiment with. It adds an interesting layer of flavor to this steak butter.
- Kosher Salt
- Coarse Ground Mustard: For this steak butter recipe, I used Maille Country Rich Dijon. But any coarse brand of mustard will work well.
- Unsalted Butter: Using unsalted butter is better for balancing salt factor after the steak has already be seasoned for cooking.
- Whiskey or Bourbon
- Worcestershire Sauce
The Process, It’s Easy
- Step 1: Place all ingredients in a bowl.
- Step 2: Using a large sturdy fork to smash and blend the ingredients together until well combined.
- Step 3: Place the Whiskey Butter on a sheet of plastic wrap.
- Step 4: Using your hands, roll the plastic wrap around the steak butter and compress and shape it into a 4 – 5″ log.
- Step 5: Refrigerate for about 1 – 2 hours until hard and easy to slice into rounds.
Absolutely yes. This gives you the opportunity to make a double batch and keep it in the freezer to enjoy all Summer long. Keep it wrapped in plastic wrap and it will keep for several months.
No. As there is no pre-cooking for this butter. And the short amount of time the butter sits on the steak is simply a melting period. The butter doesn’t get hot enough for the alcohol to evaporate.
Bourbon will bring a vanilla caramel flavor to compound butter, great for ribeyes or New York Strips. A rye whisky has a spicy and dryer flavor. Rye butter is best suited for a lean cut like top sirloin. Scotch and it’s famous smoky and peaty flavors would be well suited for a big beefy Porterhouse Steak.
Tips For Success
- Salted Butter: Using unsalted butter is common for chefs to use for any recipe. It allows them to control the salt level. You can most certainly use salted butter for this recipe savory steak butter recipe. But using unsalted butter is most important when making sweet compound butter recipes.
- Kerrygold Butter: We didn’t use it in Culinary School, but if you have access to Kerrygold Butter, please choose this brand. Kerrygold is an Irish butter that has a higher butterfat percentage than most American butter brands. You’ll notice a brighter yellow color and a creamier more buttery flavor.
How To Serve It
- Allow about one hour for the sliced butter to come to room temperature before serving compound butter.
- Once your steaks are cooked, plate the steaks and then place a slice of Whiskey Butter on each steak. The butter will melt into the steak for a luscious buttery treat. You’re ready to eat.
- To achieve a fluffier butter, blend with a mixer. You would use this method if you’re not going to form it into a roll, but rather chill and use a small scoop to to serve. However, using a fork and bowl works just fine for this recipe.
What Else Can I Put It On?
What is compound butter good for? It’s not just for steak.
- For Chicken: Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, once grilled or roasted, make a slice down the center of the chicken piece and add a round of whiskey butter.
- Lamb Chops: We love whiskey butter on lamb chops. Again, simply seasoned with salt, freshly ground pepper and a little lemon zest. Either grilled or roasted, once cooked, just add a dollop of Whiskey butter on top and serve.
- Grilled Pork Chops: Season pork chops with a sprinkle of Montreal Steak Seasoning. Grill or fry then top with whiskey butter before serving.
- Salmon: Grilled, roasted or pan-seared top it with a round of Whiskey Butter before serving.
- Vegetables: Compound butter is a natural for baked or fried potatoes, but next time you’re firing up that grill, slather a few ears of corn on the cob with a smear of mayonnaise and salt and pepper. Once the corn is charring in spots, remove it from the grill and add a round of Whiskey butter and let it melt over the cobs. It’s delicious.
More Steak Recipes You Might Like
And if you’re looking for more, don’t miss my category for Beef Recipes. You’ll find lots of great grilling and burger recipes and the most popular on my site for Beef Tagliata. An Italian flank steak recipe that easy and crazy delicious.
What to serve with steak with compound butter? We most certainly like traditional baked potatoes. Take a look at my recipe for Garlic Butter Slow Cooker Roasted Potatoes, or how about Scalloped Potatoes? One of my favorite sides to serve with steak is this simple Green Vegetable Medley.
If you liked this recipe, please leave a star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the recipe card below and leave a comment. I always appreciate your feedback and hearing how everything went.
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Whiskey Butter (Compound Butter) For Steak
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter softened to room temperature (1 stick)
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Country Style Mustard
- 3 teaspoons Jack Daniels or other whiskey
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ½ teaspoon Ground white pepper
Instructions
- Start making this compound butter for steak at least 3 hours in advance of dinner.
- Combine room temperature butter, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, whiskey, salt, and white pepper. Using a fork, mix well.
- Scoop the butter onto a piece of plastic wrap. Use your hands to roll and shape the butter to form a round log that's about 5 inches long. Refrigerate until hard enough to slice into rounds. At least one hour. I allow 2 hours.
- When ready to use, let the rounds of steak butter sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes to an hour. You just don't want the butter ice cold, as it will melt better onto a sizzling hot steak. To serve, place a round immediately on a grilled steak.
Notes
-
- Salted Butter: Using unsalted butter is common for chefs to use for any recipe. It allows them to control the salt level. You can most certainly use salted butter for this recipe but using unsalted butter is most important when making sweet compound butter recipes.
- Kerrygold Butter: We didn’t use it in Culinary School, but if you have access to Kerrygold Butter, please choose this brand. Kerrygold is an Irish butter that has a higher butterfat percentage than most American butter brands. You’ll notice a brighter yellow color and a creamier more buttery flavor.
- Allow about one hour for butter to come to room temperature before making this steak butter recipe.
Nutrition
Whiskey Butter … It’s What’s for Steak
Why Trust My Recipes? I am a Culinary School Graduate and a lifelong student of home cooking. I hope to inspire you try to cook as often as you can. I’ve been cooking for 50 years, and my recipes are tried and true tested and tested and then tested again before published. To read more take a look at my About Page.
Wow what an amazing recipe you have listed down here! Planning to make this one for my husband soon. Thanks for sharing this! I’ll update you and hopefully that the result would look the same as yours. Haha 🙂
This is something I never use but should and often plan to make then don’t. I’m enjoying learning what you learned in school.