When Chris Delaney moved to Charleston, South Carolina, eight years ago, he quickly adapted to the Southern lifestyle, or at least its food. “Boiled peanuts blew my mind,” says the 29-year-old chef de cuisine of The Macintosh. He goes on to list the other discoveries he made, including Allan Benton’s bacon, Carolina Gold rice, and whiskey--which, he jokes, “fosters good feelings until the fighting starts.”

A native of Massachusetts, Delaney attended Johnson & Wales in Providence, Rhode Island, then spent two years cooking at Al Forno, Johanne Killeen and George Germon’s seminal Italian restaurant. In 2004, he and his wife had plans to move to New Orleans that were derailed by Hurricane Katrina. They chose Charleston instead, a city Delaney had never visited. He spent five years working with Sean Brock at McCrady’s before joining the crew at The Macintosh.

For Sous Chef Series, Delaney made a spring pasta boosted with a full-flavored compound butter. Though it’s delicious on pasta, we’ve been dreaming of other ways to use the versatile butter--on fish, on corn on the cob, slathered on bread.

GET YOUR DAILY SERVING OF FOOD & DRINK CULTURE: MANAGE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AT TASTINGTABLE.COM/MANAGE