Choose a recipe then cream the softened butter with the other ingredients. Add a pinch of salt to each apart from the anchovy and bacon recipes and let sit at room temperature for at least an hour, best 2 to merge the flavours well
Lay out a square of foil with a square of clingfilm wrap over the top and spoon the butter mixture onto the middle
Hold each end of the film/foil like you're holding the mixture in a hammock and roll it back and forth to form a rough sausage shape
Roll it to one end then using only the clingfilm, roll and wrap it completely
Twist the ends tight. This will compact it and give it a good cylindrical shape
Overwrap the clingfilm with a square of parchment paper, then wrap the foil around that
Label it if you're making a few different kinds and put it in the freezer
It will happily stay frozen for up to a month allowing you to cut discs off whenever you need them
Alternatively you can spoon into ice cube trays and pop them out as needed or you can just store them in a small container as they are in the fridge for up to a week
Although I've written what I use these butters for in the headings, you can use them for pretty much any savoury dish you want to. Spread them on toast, top a baked potato with a slice, tuck between a couple of burger patties, use as a basting rub, tuck into a fish foil parcel, fry stuff in it, toss into cooked veggies, mix with rice or pasta, whatever takes your fancy!
For the bacon compound butter you need to do some cooking. Preheat the oven to gas 6 / 2000C / 400°F and line a baking tray with foil. Put the bacon on the tray and sprinkle a heaped tablespoon of brown sugar evenly over each slice. Bake until it goes crispy, around 12 minutes but keep watch so the sugar doesn't start to burn
Let it cool then chop it as finely as you possibly can (if you can resist just eating it!), then follow the mixing, shaping and storing instructions above
So delicious on toast or a bagel!
