Café de Paris Butter

I bought a steak a couple of days ago--- I love a good steak but only eat red meat occasionally.  I could never be a vegetarian or vegan because I want to eat meat once in a while.  I stick mostly with fish and chicken, but then, a few times a year, I really crave a steak.  It must be juicy and tender like a top cut of filet mignon. 

As I began to think of how to cook it, I remembered the compound butter called Café de Paris.  One of my daughters gave me a recipe for this flavorful butter many years ago that she had gotten from a fellow Ecolint classmate.  I had kept the recipe all these many years but I had never made it.  So...now was the time.

The list of herbs, spices, and other ingredients was very long... (that's probably why I hadn't made it!).

I decided,  right there and then,  that I had almost all of the ingredients so I would go ahead and do it.  It would be close enough but perhaps not exactly the "real thing".

Some of you may know the history of this seasoned butter, it goes back to 1941 in Geneva, Switzerland.  I'll insert the story from the internet below:

{Created by Freddy Dumont in 1941, specifically to go with sirloin steak, and served in the Restaurant Café de Paris in Geneva, this herb/spice butter was an instant success. So much so that it was almost impossible to get into the restaurant for years. The exact recipe is probably still secret today, and only a few restaurants world-wide are reputed to serve the original recipe, amongst them the Parisian ‘Le Relais de l’Entrecôte’ and the ‘L’Entrecôte de Paris’ and the ‘Café de Paris’ in San Francisco. The original Restaurant Café de Paris in Geneva still exists (albeit under new management) and still has the butter on the menu.}

If you were to do a internet search for this butter recipe, you would find many variations.

I followed this list:
                            

Beurre Café de Paris

Ingredients:
1 kg butter
60g tomato ketchup
25g Dijon mustard
25g capers (in brine)
125g brown eschalots
50g fresh curly parsley
50g fresh chives
5g dried marjoram
5g dried dill
5g fresh thyme, leaves only
10 leaves fresh French tarragon
Pinch ground rosemary
1 garlic clove, squashed then chopped very finely
8 anchovy fillets (rinsed)
1 tbs good brandy
1 tbs Madeira
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp sweet paprika
½ tsp curry powder (Keens)
Pinch cayenne
8 white peppercorns
juice 1 lemon
zest of ½ lemon
zest ¼ orange
12gm salt

I put everything in a food processor until all was mixed and whipped nicely.  I didn't use the brandy or Madeira.  If I had it in the cupboard, I would have added it, for sure! I didn't add the ketchup, either.  Roll the butter into a log shape, then wrap it in plastic.  Store it in the freezer for a longer keeping period.  When you need some, cut a slice from the log.

My steak is still waiting to be fixed, but I did sauté some scallops last evening with baby lima beans and melted some of this flavorful butter on top.  It was great! 

These compound butters will make an ordinary piece of meat (or vegetable) taste elegant.  It's nice to have different kinds on hand in the freezer for just that extra kick. ** I've got a lot of basil in my garden right now, I think a basil butter will be next. **

Give this a try....tell me if you like it.

Happy fixings,

Mem