Guga’s Butter of the Gods: Recipe and How-to Guide

Last Updated:
April 27, 2024

“Butter of the Gods” refers to a homemade compound butter made with bone marrow; It was coined by popular YouTuber, Guga foods.

Traditionally, all I use is unsalted butter brushed onto my steaks when I reverse sear on my charcoal grill.

However, butter of the gods – while certainly a time investment – is well worth the trouble in comparison.

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What Ingredients are Required for Butter of the Gods?

In order to make “Butter of the Gods” you will need:

  • Marrow bones
  • Shallots
  • One egg (specifically the yolk)
  • Unsalted butter
  • Anchovy paste
  • Garlic Paste
  • Parsley
  • Kosher salt
  • Sugar

Technically the above is classified as a compound butter. It just so happens that all of these ingredients create amazing flavor – some might call it “godlike.”

Note: There is a decent amount of prep work that is done before actually making the butter of the gods.

For instance, bone marrow is soaked in salt water for 3 days. It also takes 5-7 days for the egg yolks to cure.

The first thing I would do is cure the egg yolks. After 2-3 days of sitting in the salt/sugar mixture, I’d then start to soak the bone marrow in salt; This way you can make the butter on the same day.

Curing the Egg Yolks

To cure the egg yolks, you will need:

  • A plate
  • A mixing bowl
  • Large spoon
  • Kosher salt
  • White sugar
  • Egg yolk(s)*
  • Dehydrator and/or oven

*Only 1 cured egg yolk is required for 1 batch of butter of the gods. However, due to how long they take to cure, it’s obviously recommended to make more.

The amount of sugar and salt you use is also dependent on how many egg yolks you’re curing. Essentially all you’re using is 3 parts salt to 1 part sugar – enough to cover the bottom and top of the yolk.

Note: I’m curing 5 egg yolks.

Take out a mixing bowl and add to it 3 cups of diamond crystal kosher salt and 1 cup of white sugar; With your spoon, thoroughly mix the white sugar and salt together.

sugar and salt for curing egg yolks

With your plate, pour some of this mixture onto the plate and smooth it out.

Then with the spoon, create small divots/indents in the salt/sugar.

spoon indent in salt and sugar

Separate egg yolks from the egg whites and then place the egg yolks in these divots.

egg yolk in salt and sugar

Then with the remainder of your sugar/salt mixture, cover the tops of the egg yolks.

egg yolks covered in cure mixture

Place the plate in your refrigerator for 5-7 days.

After 5-7 days, carefully remove the egg yolks from the salt/sugar.

egg yolks after curing 6 days

In a small bowl, add some cold water. With the water remove any salt and sugar from the cured egg yolks.

rinsing egg yolks in water

From there, you need to remove moisture – a dehydrator works best but if you don’t have one, simply use your oven on the lowest setting with the door cracked (using a wooden spoon) – usually this is around 170F.

Also place the egg yolks on some parchment paper.

cured egg yolk on parchment paper

Personally, I used my Avantco dehydrator set to 122F for 2 hours.

egg yolks in dehydator

Here’s the cured egg yolks after dehydrating:

cured egg yolks after dehydrating

Cleaning the Bone Marrow

The first step is cleaning the bone marrow – essentially removing the blood.

To start, get a large mixing bowl; The bowl needs to be big enough to fit your bone marrow bones in while submerging them.

Similarly, add enough water to completely submerge the bones in.

soaking bone marrow in salt water

Once you’ve found an amount of water that works for you – take the bones out and then add your kosher salt.

While there is no exacting quantity of salt – a half cup of diamond crystal kosher salt is what I used.

You then want to agitate the salt and the water with a whisk to help it dissolve.

Once dissolved, re-add your bone marrow bones.

Cover the bowl with some saran wrap/foil/a plate etc. and put into your refrigerator for 3 days.

blood from bone marrow bones

After 3 days, the marrow should be completely white and the water should be a red hue (due to the blood being removed).

Roasting the Marrow Bones

With your cleaned marrow bones, place on an oven safe pan/dish.

bone marrow after soaking for 3 days

Ideally, the bones are split in half horizontally to create a boat. If your bones were like this, lay them so the exposed marrow side is facing up and the bone-side is facing down.

Often with how the marrow bones are sold in my grocery store, they’re sold as discs. For the sake of this article, I opted to buy them from Wild Fork Foods so they were half cut.

Set your oven to broil (550F) or the highest setting and place the bones in the oven for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes the marrow should be roasted.

bone marrow after roasting for 10 minutes

Allow to cool and then use a spoon to remove the bone marrow and set aside.

Combine Ingredients to Make God Butter

To combine, you will need:

  • Food processor – a Blender can also suffice.
  • Saran wrap – I didn’t have any on hand so I used ziploc bags.
  • Spoonula is ideal but a regular spoon suffices

For 1 batch of Butter of the Gods you need:

  • 4 Tbsp Roasted Bone Marrow
  • 1 Cured Egg Yolk
  • 8 Tbsp butter (soften the butter slightly in the microwave – roughly 10 seconds)
  • 1 Tsp parsley
  • 2 Tsp Shallots
  • 1 Tsp Garlic paste
  • 1 Tsp Anchovy paste
  • 1 Pinch of Diamond crystal kosher salt
god butter ingredients in food processor

Add all the ingredients above in the specified quantities to a food processor and mix until well combined.

god butter combining ingredients

Lay out a sheet of saran wrap/cling wrap.

Use a Spoonula to scoop the god butter onto the center of the saran wrap. Fold all the edges of the cling wrap onto the butter and then twist the ends.

Or if you’re like Me, scoop the God Butter into a plastic bag:

Guga's God Butter

Then, to set the butter back up, put the wrapped god butter into your refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Guga's God Butter
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5 from 1 vote

Guga’s Butter of the Gods

Guga Food's God Butter
Prep Time7 days
Active Time0 minutes
Course: Condiments
Cuisine: American

Equipment

  • 2 Large mixing bowl
  • 1 Kitchen Plate
  • 2 Spoon
  • 1 Dehydrator/Oven
  • 1 Rasp microplane
  • 1 Spoonula

Ingredients

Cure for Egg Yolks

  • 3 Cups Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
  • 1 Cup White Sugar

God Butter Ingredients

  • 1 Cured Egg Yolk
  • 4 tbsp Roasted Bone Marrow
  • 8 tbsp Unsalted Butter
  • 1 tsp Parsley
  • 2 tsp Shallots
  • 1 Pinch Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
  • 1 tsp Anchovy Paste
  • 1 tsp Garlic Paste

Instructions

Curing Egg Yolks

  • Start by separating Egg yolks from Egg whites; You will need 1 cured egg yolk per batch.
  • In a mixing bowl, combine 3 cups of kosher salt to 1 cup of white sugar. This amount worked for me for covering 5 egg yolks. You may need to adjust – just maintain a 3:1 ratio and ensure that all parts of the egg yolk are surrounded by the salt and sugar mixture.
    3 Cups Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, 1 Cup White Sugar
  • On a plate, lay out a layer of the salt/sugar mixture. With your spoon, make a divot in the cure to place your egg yolk on.
  • Cover the egg yolk with the remaining cure.
  • Place the plate in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. I cured for 6 days.
  • After 6 days, carefully extract the egg yolks from the salt/sugar cure.
  • If you own a dehydrator, use it. I set mine to 122F and dehydrated the cured egg yolks for 2 hours. If you're using an oven, set to the lowest temperature setting possible (usually ~170F), and crack the door with a wooden spoon. Then allow them to dehydrate for 30 minutes.

Soaking Bone Marrow

  • The third day into curing your egg yolks, soak your bone marrow. Grab a large mixing bowl and add your bone marrow bones to it. Fill it with water to determine how much you need to cover the bones.
  • Once you figure that out, take the bones out of the water and add half a cup of salt to the water. Agitate the water with a spoon to mix it.
  • Add the bones back to the water to soak. Cover with saran wrap or aluminum foil and put the bowl in your refrigerator for 3 days.

Roasting the Bone Marrow

  • After 3 days has elapsed, take the bone marrow bones out of the bowl. The marrow should be noticeably whiter than it was originally.
  • Place the bone marrow bones on a baking sheet.
  • Set your oven to broil and wait for 5-10 minutes for it to preheat.
  • Place the baking sheet on the 2nd rack from the top in your oven and allow the bone marrow to roast for 10 minutes.
  • After 10 minutes, take them out of the oven and allow them to cool or until you can handle the bones.
  • With a spoon, scoop the bone marrow out of the bones and add to a bowl; Discard the bones.

Making Butter of the Gods

  • Start by getting your food processor or blender ready.
  • Warm up a stick or 8 tablespoons of unsalted butter in your microwave for 10-20 seconds to soften. Add to your food processor afterwards.
    8 tbsp Unsalted Butter
  • Use your zester/rasp microplane to grate 1 cured egg yolk into the food processor.
    1 Cured Egg Yolk
  • Add the remaining ingredients.
    4 tbsp Roasted Bone Marrow, 1 tsp Parsley, 2 tsp Shallots, 1 Pinch Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, 1 tsp Anchovy Paste
  • Blend until well combined. Once combined, use your spoonula to scoop it into a plastic bag.
    If you're using saran wrap, scoop it into a large piece of saran wrap. Fold all the edges of the cling wrap onto the butter and then twist the ends.
  • Place the wrapped god butter into the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to set back up.
dylan bio profile picture
Dylan Clay
Dylan Clay is a pitmaster based in New Hampshire, with over 17 years of experience in grilling, smoking, and dehydrating meat. Throughout this time, he has worked with nearly every cut of meat. In 2019, he launched the Barbecue FAQ website to share his extensive knowledge about all things meat, aiming to assist others in making better barbecue at home.

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  1. Looking forward to trying this. One question… how do you store the cured egg yolks and how long do they last?

    1. Hey Michelle,

      So I personally just keep them in a ziplock bag in my refrigerator; The longest I’ve kept them is 2 weeks before tossing.

      They’re both cured (salt and sugar) and dehydrated (water removed) so they can last for quite a while but 2 weeks is about how long I’m comfortable with.

    1. Thanks for this Billy!

      Guga didn’t have it in his video description – I’ve just amended the recipe to include 1 tsp of garlic paste. Tastes great either way!

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