Vodka Butter Is An Unexpected Mashup Your Guests Will Love
The holiday season, which seems to start earlier and last longer every year, has several micro moments. There's pumpkin spice season, with all its rich history. Discounted Halloween candy season, with its traditional aged nougat. And, one of our favorites and a relative newcomer, boozy butter season. Vodka butter, to be more precise, was first popularized by recipe developer Carolina Gelen on TikTok in late 2022, when the food influencer suggested it as a kicky New Year's Eve treat. The world's buzziest compound butter has myriad applications, evidenced by the abundant takes and creations that followed its introduction to the annals of dairy spreads.
@carolinagelen
Vodka butter is exactly what it sounds like — the formerly unexpected mashup of its titular ingredients. And, just to get this out of the way, it is unlikely to cause intoxication, barring any outlying scenarios. The recommended 3 ounces of vodka to two sticks of butter equals only a little more alcohol than you'll find in a standard martini, portioned throughout a lot more butter than most people (although, again, there's no accounting for outliers!) will consume in one sitting. Try to make it boozier, and it'll turn out too thin. Hold back, and there's hardly any point in dirtying your food processor. But, bring that ideal ratio of ingredients to room temperature and pulse to combine, and you've made a little boozy butter season magic.
The best uses for vodka butter
While you could, say, baste a steak in your besotted compound butter, or use it as a shortcut for making homemade pasta sauce, it's finest at its most festive. Being that vodka pairs so sensationally with pickles and other briny foods, for example, you can add it to a party platter of anchovy toasts, as Carolina Gelen does. You can also slather a bit between baguette medallions and tapenade or bruschetta. Or, for a particularly decadent presentation, divide a bit into a ramekin and serve it with a bowl of potato chips and a tin of caviar. Guests should scrape just a little butter onto a chip and scoop up a few of the fish eggs for a truly memorable taste.
Unlike a lot of life's unwritten quality guarantees, there is no need to use the highest caliber products in your budget for this one, but still try to keep it about mid-range. It's okay to aim a little lower than top of the line, because it's unlikely you're using vodka butter as a star ingredient. This is also, obviously, something of a stunt food. So, save your cash for your actual drinking and pastry making, and toast to this unabashedly goofy alliance.