About Pate and The G&M Kitchen:

About Pate and The G&M Kitchen

Jan 10, 2019 · Leave a Comment

Hi, I'm Pate, and welcome to The G&M Kitchen!

The G&M Kitchen is a recipe blog that specializes in southern baked goods. Here you will find classics like buttermilk and honey biscuits and beautiful show stoppers like strawberry basil cupcakes. While all recipes are inspired by traditional southern classics, they all have a twist or adjustment that elevates them and brings them into the modern age.

Flavors born in Kentucky

I grew up in Kentucky in an old farmhouse that had been in the family for seven generations. Both sides of my family were very into food, eating, and using good food to celebrate together. This is where the name The G&M Kitchen comes from; the G is for my father's side, the Giltners, and the M for my mother's side, the Millers. The kitchen was always the most exciting part of the house and where you wanted to hang out; it was where all the magic happened. Vegetables were being cooked to death, pies and cakes were being baked, and drinks were always flowing.

My maternal grandmother was famous for her pies (and she had several blue ribbons to prove it). My mother's greatest compliment to me was that my pie crust was better than hers. (I'm pretty proud of this, and I think it proves my most controversial opinion, that butter will always be better than shortening.)

Tastes that developed in the city

I have since lived in Los Angeles, Florence, Italy, and London, England, which helped to open my palate to new flavors, textures, and methods. I love French pastry, light English bakes, and creamy Italian deserts and love throwing hints of those into my recipes. Transforming southern classics and flavors into something new with world influences is my favorite aspect of recipe development.

I moved back to Kentucky in early 2020 and currently reside in Louisville. Thanks so much for stopping by, and feel free to reach out at thegandmkitchen@gmail dot com.

The Best Whipped Vanilla Butter

Dec 4, 2022 · Leave a Comment

This sweet and salty homemade whipped vanilla butter combines good butter with sweet vanilla seeds, flakey sea salt, and a little powdered sugar, and it is the perfect topping for Southern Buttermilk Biscuits with Self Rising Flour, cornbread, or rosemary dinner rolls!

A glass filled with vanilla butter, with a sliced baguette on a cutting board with butter smeared on the slices.

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Why you will love this recipe:

Creamy compound butter is the best way to elevate any dinner or gathering! It's so easy to make, and it makes such a lasting impression! You could also easily put this butter in butter molds after whipping it together for a real show-stopper!

This recipe is so delicious because it combines already great-tasting high-fat European-style butter with vanilla and a little powdered sugar. Using high-fat butter ensures that the flavor of the butter is the star of the show and that the vanilla and sugar just sweeten the already great butter. I used Kerry Gold, but any premium butter will do! Pulgra, Danish Creamery, and Vermont Creamery are also fabulous.

The ingredients for vanilla butter on a brown stone table.

Key Ingredients:

Unsalted Butter: High-fat European-style butter is key because they have more fat and flavor than American table butter. Trust me; you won't go back to ordinary butter once you step up your butter game and use high-fat butter.
Vanilla pods: seeds from vanilla pods deliver a more potent and intense vanilla flavor. You could substitute for vanilla extract, but you may need to add more sugar to ensure the butter doesn't become too watery.
Flakey Salt: flakey salt adds a salty flavor, and since the flakey granules are so big, it also adds a wonderful texture to the butter!
Powdered Sugar: a little sugar adds a little sweetness and a little more structure to the butter.

How to make this recipe:

Sliced vanilla pods on a wood cutting board.

Using a knife, cut the vanilla pods in half lengthwise, exposing the seeds. Then use the knife to scrape out the seeds.

Butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla seeds in a mixing bowl.

Add the butter, vanilla seeds, sugar, and salt to a mixing bowl.

The butter mixed and whipped from an electric mixer.

Beat with an electric hand mixer until smooth!

Butter in a glass with salt sprinkled on top.

Serve with biscuits, cornbread, or fried chicken!

Tips for success:

This recipe is so easy the only trick is to use room-temperature butter. It helps the vanilla and sugar blend together.
Serve at room temperature so that it is easily spreadable.

FAQ's

How to store this recipe?

It will keep for up to three days at room temperature or for one month in the refrigerator.

Can you substitute for vanilla extract?

Yes, substitute for 4 teaspoon vanilla extract or 4 teaspoon vanilla paste. You may want to add more powdered sugar to keep the butter from getting too watery.

The Best Whipped Vanilla Butter

Author: Pate Giltner
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 1 cup butter 1x
Category: Condiment
Method: whipped
Cuisine: American

Print Recipe

Description

This sweet and salty homemade whipped vanilla butter combines good butter with sweet vanilla seeds, flakey sea salt, and a little powdered sugar.

Ingredients

Units Scale

1 cup good unsalted butter like Kerry Gold
2 vanilla pods
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
½ tsp flakey sea salt

Instructions

Let the butter come to room temperature.
Using a knife, cut the vanilla pods in half lengthwise, exposing the seeds. Then use the knife to scrape out the seeds.
Add the butter, vanilla seeds, sugar, and salt to a mixing bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer until smooth!
Serve with biscuits, cornbread, or fried chicken!

Holiday Pomegranate Margarita

Nov 30, 2022 · 1 Comment

A Holiday Pomegranate Margarita is the perfect way to celebrate the season! It's full of earthy, sweet, and tart pomegranate juice, tequila, lime juice, and orange liqueur. You can enjoy this cocktail all year, but pomegranates are at their prime during the holiday season!

This festive and bright red Christmas Margarita is the perfect way to celebrate the season and make the most of in-season pomegranates!

A pomegranate margarita on a gold tray surrounded by ornaments.

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Why you will love this recipe:

I love celebrating holidays with festive cocktails and recipes! Just check out this Bourbon Spiked Apple Cider Mimosa, Apple Cider Bourbon Prosecco Punch, and this Cranberry Aperol Spritz! And this margarita is the perfect addition to the holiday cocktail rotation!

Pomegranates are red fruits full of edible seeds called arils. The juice is extracted from the seeds, and they are earthy, tart, and totally unique! The fruit tastes the best when it's in season, which is October - January, making it the perfect ingredient for Holiday recipes!

The ingredients for the pomegranate margarita on a marble table.

Key ingredients:

Pomegranate Juice: 100% no sugar added pure pomegranate juice makes up for the bulk of the cocktail. Use any brand you want POM Wonderful is an excellent choice, as is Lakewood Pure Pomegranate Juice.

Blanco Tequila: the trick to a good margarita is good ingredients, so use good tequila- my favorites are Casamigos and Espolòn's Blanco. But here is a great list if you want more recommendations. Bonus points if you get one with notes of citrus.

Lime Juice: no margarita is complete without lime juice and the lime brings out the citrus notes in the St Germain

Agave: this cocktail has just a bit of sweetener to perfectly balance and complement the pomegranate juice. You can use agave, simple syrup, or even honey, whatever you have on hand.

Cointreau: a little orange liqueur adds a bit of sweetness and a hint of orange to balance out the tartness in the other ingredients.

Pomegranate seeds for garnish.

See recipe card for quantities.

How to make this recipe:

Ice in a cocktail shaker with tequila being poured in.

Start by adding ice to a cocktail shaker.

Pomegranate juice being added to the shaker.

Next, add the tequila, lime juice, pomegranate, agave, and orange liqueur.

The shaken cocktail sitting on a table surrounded by ornaments.

Shake to aerate the cocktail.

The cocktail in a glass, garnished with pomegranate seeds and salt.

Pour into cocktail glass with ice.

Optional: rim one side of the glass with salt by brushing with agave and then pressing flakey salt into the agave.

How to open and peel:

There is a trick to opening and peeling them, and I've found the best way is to cut a large square around the top and slowly peel it back. Once the top is removed and you can see the inside, cut the skin down along the lines of the pith; there are usually 4-5 sections. Then pull apart the cut sections and enjoy!

Symbolism:

I also love to use pomegranates because of the stories and symbolism accompanying them! My favorite is the myth of Persephone and Hades.

Persephone, the Goddess of Spring and daughter of Demeter, was abducted by Hades and taken to the Underworld to be his wife and Queen. Demeter found the loss of her daughter to be so profound that she stopped all of the earth's plants from growing. Because of this, Zeus demanded that Persephone be returned, but before leaving, Hades fed Persephone pomegranate seeds which bound her to the Underworld and to him. This meant that she had to spend part of the year with him and part of the year with her mother, which resulted in the seasons. Spring and summer are when Persephone would return to the earth, and plants would bloom and grow, and fall and winter are when she would return to Hades. From this myth, the pomegranate became a symbol of marriage and fertility.

This also makes any pomegranate cocktail the perfect way to toast a new marriage, engagement, or birth!

The finished cocktail on a table surrounded by red ornaments and fake snow.

Looking for more Holiday recipes? Check these out!