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Butter , Fine Herbs

A butter flavored with tarragon, chervil, chives, and parsley, blended and formed into small balls.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Butter , Fine Herbs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the herbs

  1. Wash the herbs and blanch them in boiling water for 5 minutes.

  2. Drain and dry the herbs.

Make the herb butter

  1. In a mortar, combine the herbs with the butter and salt.

  2. Pound the mixture and rub it through a fine sieve.

  3. Form the mixture into small balls.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together824 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Chervil + chivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together370 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Tarragon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Tarragon + chivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together589 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Chervil + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together774 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Carries the herb flavor and gives the finished butter its richness and smooth texture.
Tarragon
Provides the sharp, anise-like aroma that defines the butter.
Chervil
Adds a delicate, fresh aroma that lightly sweetens the herb blend.
Chives
Contributes a mild onion-like aroma and fresh flavor.
Parsley
Adds fresh, grassy flavor and bulk to the herb mixture.

The step that matters

Blanch the herbs in boiling water for 5 minutes. A brief blanch inactivates the enzymes that break down chlorophyll, helping the herbs keep a bright green color. Longer cooking softens the herbs and turns them dull and drab.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tarragon, chervil, chive, butter):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Thymefits less well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against tarragon, chervil, chive, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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