Bring-The-Heat Garlic Chicken Breasts

Every region of every country has its long-held laments about the weather. I've noticed that in places where the climate is particularly extreme in one way or another, the locals are especially prideful about weathering the weather---such as the Pacific Northwest (where 40 consecutive days of rain are considered "light drizzle" and not cause for the building of arks.)
Here in Southern California, phrases such as, "May gray" and "June gloom" dismiss the odd day when the weather does not live up to Disneyland-worthy perfection. This year, however, both July and August have given us an unusual number of cool, gray days. My response? Bring the heat! Some like it hot, and some like it muy caliente.

8 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon salt
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon white pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin* (see note below)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon paprika
3/4 cup unsalted organic butter

In a medium bowl, allow the butter to soften to room temperature. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F or light the barbecue. Mix all the spices into the softened butter thoroughly. Rub mixture on chicken and bake or grill for 30 minutes or until cooked throughout. Makes 4 servings.
If you bake this in the oven, the remaining juices mix beautifully with mashed potatoes or cauliflower.
*Note: When available, use whole cumin seeds instead of cumin powder since powder loses its flavor more quickly; seeds can be easily ground with a mortar and pestle. To bring out the fullness of cumin's aroma and flavor, lightly roast whole cumin seeds before grinding.

Food Fact! When we think of butter, the first thing to come to mind may not be Iraq or the River Euphrates, but we can thank those regions for providing the base for baking, sauce making, and frying for thousands of years. It is believed that butter---from the Latin butyrum, which is borrowed from the Greek boutyron---was likely invented in the Mesopotamian area between 9000 and 8000 BCE. The earliest butter would have been from sheep or goat's milk; According to Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking, (2004), cattle are not thought to have been domesticated for another thousand years.