Brick Butter Mushroom Crostini wtih Rosemary

This is a seemingly slight, but important and very adventurous variation on past recipes [1] [2]. What is "Brick Butter"? Let us just say "Brown Butter ++". Ruhlman turned me onto brown butter, but the trickiest beast in the "things with butter" chef's repertoire seems to be brick roux. So herein, I attempted (and luckily succeeded) with making a brick butter to impart the most nuttiness and aroma to the mushrooms.

Making a brick roux is like tightrope walking, just ask any chef; you're perilously close to burning the milk solids, so heat control and attention are critical. Knowing this, I armed myself with three tools up to the task: a thick copper saute pan and a mesh strainer, and a very fine mesh mini sieve. The technique is as follows:

• On low heat, begin to melt two stick of organic AA quality butter, one unsalted, one salted


• add 1/4 cup dried non-fat milk, stir


• continue over low heat, allowing the water to evaporate


• as the butter begins to froth, start stirring, keepin the heat very low


• if the froth is clouding your view from keeping an eye on the color of the milk solids, occasionally remove from heat and return


• scrape down the side of the pan for any lingering or crusted milk solids


• as the milk solid turn golden brown, you're now in the zone


• keep stirring constantly, removing from heat every few seconds to widen the window to catch the change to brick


• as brick redness begins to surface, remove from heat


• quickly use the mesh strainer to recover as much of the milk solids from the now clarified butter as possible


• repeat this process with the fine sieve and drain of any of the hot butter from the solids


• reserve the solids separately from the clarified (though now nutty) butter

The whole straining process took 15-20 seconds, you have to move quickly or you will burn the milk solids. The taste is superior to brown butter, more concentrated, more complex, very memorable.

For this preparation, I sauteed the mushrooms in the clarified butter, added finely chopped fresh rosemary near the end, and at the last second incorporated the milk solids after removing the pan from the heat. The crostini were sliced on a bias, sprayed with olive oil, and toasted in a 350F oven for 12-15 minutes.


Guests devoured the mushroom crostini, and I did not make mention of the technique, but many complements were given so I must infer that brick butter is actually better than brown butter. On a cautionary note, I would not attempt making a brick butter without a thick copper pan; copper requires and yields extreme precision.