By CHEF JEAN DOHERTY

In Burgundy, they eat their snails swimming in delicious, garlicky, parsley butter, spearing them from their shells with two-pronged forks made just for that purpose. But beurre d’escargots is not just for snails: It can be spread on warm crusty bread, a knob can be set to melt on a freshly-seared steak (we will then have beurre Matire D’Hotel), it can be spread on cod to be baked in “papillote,” melted over potatoes, and lots more. It keeps for weeks, if you don’t find uses for it all at once, and it also freezes very well.

Ingredients

2 lbs of butter

1 oz of coarse sea salt

1 pinch of ground black pepper

2 oz of crushed garlic (don’t forget to take out the germ in the center—that’s what causes bad breath)

1 ½ oz of finely chopped shallots

3 ½ oz of finely chopped parsley

At room temperature, let the butter get until soft. By hand, or with an electric chopper, finely chop the garlic, shallots, and parsley. Mix well all ingredients in a salad bowl until they become a homogeneous paste.

Transfer it to a zip lock bag, flatten it out, and keep it in the freezer, to break off pieces as needed. It should keep for a few months. Use it to cook “escargots” as well as sautéed potatoes, garlic mushrooms, tomatoes, and what have you. As always—you are the chef!