Simple and Compound Butters

I have always had an aversion to the premade restaurant sauces sitting around in hot water all day. They lose their freshness, all the delicate perfumes and flavors that take hours to achieve—gone after half an hour in that hot-water bath. At the Santa Fe Bar & Grill, where the kitchen cooking space was taken up by a huge grill (which left no space to make pan sauces), we needed easy sauces that could be made in advance but would not lose their fresh flavors by sitting around all night. And they had to complement a menu that was predominantly grilled items. Butters like ancho chili, sorrel, orange-cilantro, or tomato-rocket were the perfect answer.