Cultured butter - best uses

[stuartlikesstrudel]

Hi everyone,

I was recently given a few blocks of fancy/expensive cultured butter, and other than eating it straight with good bread (don't get me wrong, this is a great option and I'll be doing that with some of it!) I was wondering if there are any recipes/applications in which a good butter, or particularly a cultured butter, might shine...?

Something like hollandaise or a butter-based sauce just came into my head, but having not used cultured butter before I'm not sure to focus on. Would croissants work well?

[Mjx]

According to Cook's Illustrated (January/February 2012 issue) croissants turn out better with cultured (aka 'European style') butter, so that would be a brilliant use for it.

In general, baked goods made with cultured butter taste much more of butter (it also contains less water, so it can change certain textures). I'm in the EU, and the only butter available is cultured, which is great, but does sometimes mean I need to tweak recipes a bit. For example, the first time I made brownies with it, they tasted more like butterscotch bars, and I had to adjust the recipe to bring the chocolate back to the foreground.

[Marie-Ora]

Cultured butter works very well in scones too - I always use more butter than the recipe indicates. Then (obviously!) slather the cooked scones in the same butter and jam. One of my best memories growing up is oatmeal porridge doused in 'proper' butter and sugar. And wonderful freshly melted over vegetables and fish. If you like smoked salmon, eating it very simply with brown bread and this butter is its own heaven. Oh, and mashed with blue cheese and spread on bread. Wish I had more proper 'recipe' ideas - if I think of any will add them.

[Blether]

Purists say it's the only starting point for making real ghee.

[Jenni]

Purists say it's the only starting point for making real ghee.

Yes! Although actually, the starting point for real ghee is collecting the cream that forms on top of the yoghurt each day and setting it aside until you have enough to churn into butter. Some people use the cream that forms on the top of boiled milk and add a little yoghurt to that to culture it, but I prefer the yoghurt cream method.

[stuartlikesstrudel]

Great ideas, thanks

I look forward to getting into it soon!