Sriracha Butter

I bumped into a review of Randy Clemens' The Sriracha Cookbook on MattBites a week ago. I immediately opened another window in Safari and raced to Amazon. Given my penchant for all things spicy, I was punching the Two-Day One-Click button with no hesitation.

I am a lover of Sriracha. Obviously great with pho or ramen, or spring rolls, I adore it on eggs. My usage of this garlicky hot sauce has been primarily to complement Asian food. This compact cookbook appears to promise a whole host of other possibilities for the famed rooster sauce.

I've had The Sriracha Cookbook in my mitts for less than a week, so I haven't had much of an opportunity to test it out. I am anxious to try the Maple-Sriracha Sausage Patties, the Bacon-Sriracha Cornbread and the Piquant Pulled Pork (enthusiastically reviewed here).

Randy Clemens has a lot of creative ideas for condiments like Sriacha Tzatziki and Sriracha Pesto. I decided to test the waters with his simple yet rather brilliant recipe for Sriracha Butter.

Compound butter in general is a very good thing to have on hand. It lends excitement to steak, corn-on-the-cob, pasta or a ho-hum chicken breast. But truth be told, it would never have occurred to me to add Sriracha to the mix.

The ingredients and the process are simple. Butter, minced garlic, chopped parsley and Sriracha are all you need. A Kitchen-Aid is helpful, but you really just need to mash the ingredients together thoroughly to get the job done. You roll the butter up in plastic wrap and chill it and that's all. It keeps in the fridge for up to a couple of weeks and in the freezer for far longer.

Now you have a dinner-enhancer at your disposal. I sliced off two rounds to top our rib-eye steaks last night. And, wow! The butter is far mellower than a big squirt of Sriracha. It is richer and more complex. It imparts heat, but not the mouth-burning variety. The parsley adds a fresh element. And the garlic, well let's just say that a first date after a pat of this butter would be a very bad idea, indeed.

Sriracha Butter

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tablespoons Sriracha

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Using a wooden spoon or in the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with a paddle attachment, blend the butter with the Sriracha, garlic, and parsley until completely combined.

Scoop the butter onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Roll the plastic around the butter, forming a log about 1 inch in diameter. Wrap up tightly.

Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Once hard, the butter may be sliced and served on meat, sweet potatoes, corn-on-the-cob or tossed into hot pasta or rice. The butter keeps in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for 6 months.