Mai

In June 2023, we took a trip to Croatia for the wedding of our close friends. We ate extremely well for the entire trip, but two meals stood out to us: the first was Croatian-inspired tapas at SOL tapas na hrvatski and the second was a 4-hour tasting menu at Torero Restaurant.

It was at the latter where we were served a mysterious-looking black candle, which turned out to be a delicious house-made butter flavored with squid ink and anchovy extract. The flavors were so striking and deep. I immediately thought about recreating it with fish sauce, since (good) fish sauce is made with just anchovies and salt.

We finally got around to R&D-ing this recipe recently and I’m happy to tell you it turned out delicious! The fish sauce brings its characteristic savory and umami magic and the squid ink gives the butter a luxurious and shiny black color.

You can either make your own butter from scratch or use a high quality store-bought unsalted butter.

If you’re love fish sauce like we do, you’ll love this excuse to basically eat it in solid form. If you’re not quite at that level, you can reduce the amount of fish sauce so tone down the pungency and add salt to make up for it.

Eaten fresh, the butter has a whipped texture and is delicious spread on a piece of warm bread. Once stored in the fridge, it will have the texture of regular butter and should keep for at least 2 weeks. You can also use it with pasta, especially a seafood pasta dish, to add an umami punch!

INGREDIENTS FOR SQUID INK FISH SAUCE FLAVORED BUTTER

• Heavy cream (30-35% fat) OR High quality store-bought unsalted butter
• Squid/cuttlefish ink: You can buy squid ink in liquid form (usually in a small jar or sachets) from an Italian or Spanish speciality store or a fishmonger.
• Fish sauce – Nước mắm: arguably the most important seasoning sauce in Vietnamese cuisine. Made from fermented anchovies, it is salty and incredibly umami. Non-vegan Vietnamese recipes without fish sauce are very rare. The best nước mắm comes from Phú Quốc or surrounding islands off the coast- Southwest of mainland Vietnam. Our favorite brand available outside of Vietnam is Red Boat (U.S.).
• Salt – if reducing the fish sauce quantity

DIRECTIONS FOR SQUID INK FISH SAUCE FLAVORED BUTTER

Making butter from scratch (skip to next section if using store-bought butter)

1. Add heavy cream to stand-mixer with the whisk attachment and gradually increase speed to about 4 out of 10.
2. As cream thickens and splashing reduces, increase speed to 8 out of 10.
3. Whip the cream, pausing occasionally to scrape the sides with a spatula.
4. After the cream reaches a whipped cream stage, it will begin to turn yellow and loosen.
5. Watch very closely, as the butter will form quickly at this stage. When you start to see tiny butter specks, turn the speed down to 6.
6. The butter solids and buttermilk will start to separate.
7. When the butter starts sticking to the whisk, turn off the mixer.
8. Line a strainer with a piece of cheesecloth then place the strainer over a large clean bowl.
9. Pour the entire content of the mixing bowl into the cheesecloth-lined strainer, using a spatula to get all the butter solids out of the whisk attachment.
10. Gather the corners of the cheesecloth and press the butter into a ball, squeezing any excess buttermilk out of the butter.
11. You should have about 150 grams of fresh homemade butter!

Making the squid ink fish sauce butter

1. Add your butter to a clean mixing bowl.
   If using store-bought butter, let the butter sit on the counter until it is nice and soft at room temperature.
2. Add in the squid ink.
3. Add in one teaspoon of fish sauce.
4. Mix the flavorings into the butter using a spatula until you can no longer see any liquids and the color of the squid ink is evenly distributed.
5. Add half a teaspoon of fish sauce at a time to taste. If you do not add the full amount of fish sauce in the recipe, you can add salt to make up for the salt that would have been in the fish sauce.
6. Eaten immediately, the butter has a whipped texture. Once stored in the fridge, it will have the texture of regular butter and should keep for at least 2 weeks.

RECIPE VIDEO

Squid ink fish sauce flavored butter

Recipe by MM Bon Appétit Course: SidesCuisine: Fusion, VietnameseDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Total time

0

minutes

A luxurious and incredibly umami black butter flavored with squid ink and fish sauce.

Ingredients

• Butter

• 500 ml 500 heavy cream (30-35% fat) OR

• 150 g 150 high quality store-bought unsalted butter

• Flavoring

• 2 tsp 2 squid/cuttlefish ink (See Notes)

• 3 tsp 3 fish sauce

• Salt (to taste – if reducing fish sauce quantity)

Directions

• Making butter from scratch (skip to next section if using store-bought butter)
• Add heavy cream to stand-mixer with the whisk attachment and gradually increase speed to about 4 out of 10.
• As cream thickens and splashing reduces, increase speed to 8 out of 10.
• Whip the cream, pausing occasionally to scrape the sides with a spatula.
• After the cream reaches a whipped cream stage, it will begin to turn yellow and loosen.
• Watch very closely, as the butter will form quickly at this stage. When you start to see tiny butter specks, turn the speed down to 6.
• The butter solids and buttermilk will start to separate.
• When the butter starts sticking to the whisk, turn off the mixer.
• Line a strainer with a piece of cheesecloth then place the strainer over a large clean bowl.
• Pour the entire content of the mixing bowl into the cheesecloth-lined strainer, using a spatula to get all the butter solids out of the whisk attachment.
• Gather the corners of the cheesecloth and press the butter into a ball, squeezing any excess buttermilk out of the butter.
• You should have about 150 grams of fresh homemade butter!
• Making the squid ink fish sauce butter
• Add your butter to a clean mixing bowl.
  If using store-bought butter, let the butter sit on the counter until it is nice and soft at room temperature.
• Add in the squid ink.
• Add in one teaspoon of fish sauce.
• Mix the flavorings into the butter using a spatula until you can no longer see any liquids and the color of the squid ink is evenly distributed.
• Add half a teaspoon of fish sauce at a time to taste. If you do not add the full amount of fish sauce in the recipe, you can add salt to make up for the salt that would have been in the fish sauce.
• Eaten immediately, the butter has a whipped texture. Once stored in the fridge, it will have the texture of regular butter and should keep for at least 2 weeks.

Recipe Video

Notes

• Squid/cuttlefish ink: You can buy squid ink in liquid form (usually in a small jar or sachets) from an Italian or Spanish speciality store or a fishmonger.

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