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Is there a butter backlash? for the purists ...


Gifted Gourmet

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Pam R started a discussion (Using Margarine, Sometimes it's just the thing.) and I thought I would bump this discussion back up as a counterpoint.

When my mom was a child, one of her responsibilties was to mix the yellow coloring into the oleo so it's no wonder she has been using oleo in all of her cooking and baking as long as I can remember.

Every year at Christmas she would make cookies called Butterballs and would always use margarine. As I got older and the baking of the Butterball cookies fell to me, I decided to use real butter in the recipe. I went out and bought the butter myself because my mother considers butter too expensive to buy when compared to margarine...which it is, but I think it's worth it. Wow! What a difference butter made in the flavor of the cookies.

At Thanksgiving, it eventually became my job duty to make the mashed potatoes from scratch. One year I decided to use real butter in the potatoes and again, wow, what a difference!

Then this last Christmas, I was making a huge batch of the Chex Party Mix (a yearly traditional snack for our family) and decided, on a lark, to use real butter instead of the margarine originally listed in the recipe's ingredients. I didn't tell anyone about the substitution and waited to see if anyone would notice. My older brother came to visit and started snacking on the Chex mix and just stopped mid-snack and exclaimed "This is the best batch of Chex mix ever! It tastes so...buttery!" I'll be using butter in the Chex mix from now on.

Has anyone else noticed a change for the better in a recipe when switching from margarine to butter? Any other converts out there? :laugh:

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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For me it can only be true butter if it's the butter experience I crave, and to up the ante, I'm starting to keep containers of browned butter around to saute the veggies in. IMO, if you're going to eat something bad for you (and I think margarine and butter are on the same plane, despite any studies to the contrary), I might as well go for the good stuff, and for butter my personal favorite is the Kerrygold Irish style.

If I want a substitute, I'll just dip (dunk) my bread in some of that new crop olive oil sitting in my cupboard and sprinkle with good salt, thank you very much, or I'll go for the duck fat to saute the vegetables.

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Well, most of us agree that butter is best, but what butter?

This is my favorite -- Vermont Butter and Cheese

My mother was/is a butter fiend. She will slice pieces of butter off the stick and eat them just like that. And yes, Virginia, she has had a heart attack . . .

She never made anything with margarine -- she said she couldn't wash it off her hands. Long before the truth about margarine became common knowledge.

My father keeps tubs of something yellowish in his fridge . . . I taste it with wonder once in a while. I can't imagine what it's made of, it doesn't behave like any other substance known to mankind. He buys the cheapest version possible. When I go home and cook for him, he is ravenous for anything I make -- with, of course, sticks and sticks of butter!

Recently I had freshly popped popcorn with melted butter on it for the first time since I was a kid.

Rapture.

I like to bake nice things. And then I eat them. Then I can bake some more.

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My favorite is the Kerrygold butter that I buy at Trader Joe's as they sell it much cheaper than other markets.

(The last time I looked at Vons/Pavillions it was 3.59 and it was a dollar less at TJ's.)

I don't care that you get twice as much of the other brands for close to the same price, I like the flavor of the Kerrygold. I have tried others and except for the imported cultured butters from France, I do not like them as well. I have tried the Vermont and did not like it as well.

If I can't get the Kerrygold, I can use Tillamook without too much stress.

The only other butter that I found superior, was made by Cabot and I bought it after Fat Guy posted about a special deal a few years ago.

They had a deal for two types of butter and one was an "Old-fashioned European style" something-or-other, and it was excellent, nearly as good as the French cultured butter. After than one time, I was unable to order it shipped to California.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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I'd rather go entirely without than put margarine on something.  Or worse yet, imitation margarine (sounds like an oxymoron!) - beloved by my parents, referred to with horror by my sister as "tub of stuff."

Imitation margarine?? I shudder to think of that.

At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since. ‐ Salvador Dali

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Well, most of us agree that butter is best, but what butter?

This is my favorite -- Vermont Butter and Cheese

Rapture.

That's funny, I live about an hour from the creamery, and I can get their Crème Fraîche, but can never find the butter. There is a space marked on the shelf, but there is NEVER any butter in it.

My favorite is the Kerrygold butter that I buy at Trader Joe's as they sell it much cheaper than other markets.

(The last time I looked at Vons/Pavillions it was 3.59 and it was a dollar less at TJ's.)

I don't care that you get twice as much of the other brands for close to the same price, I like the flavor of the Kerrygold.  I have tried others and except for the imported cultured butters from France, I do not like them as well.  I have tried the Vermont and did not like it as well.

If I can't get the Kerrygold, I can use Tillamook without too much stress.

The only other butter that I found superior, was made by Cabot and I bought it after Fat Guy posted about a special deal a few years ago.

They had a deal for two types of butter and one was an "Old-fashioned European style" something-or-other, and it was excellent, nearly as good as the French cultured butter.  After than one time, I was unable to order it shipped to California.

I like the Kerrygold, and the plain old Cabot's is not bad (never have seen the "Old Fashioned European Style" around here!). Kate's of Maine has a nice butter also. And don't let on, but I do keep some Land O' Lakes salted, stashed in the freezer for guests that need salted butter. :shock:

"It's like Betty Crocker and Charles Manson had a love child" - Anthony Bourdain
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The only other butter that I found superior, was made by Cabot and I bought it after Fat Guy posted about a special deal a few years ago.

They had a deal for two types of butter and one was an "Old-fashioned European style" something-or-other, and it was excellent, nearly as good as the French cultured butter.  After than one time, I was unable to order it shipped to California.

Cabot does have, what they call 83 Butter, perhaps this is renamed "Old-fashioned European style"?Cabot 83 butter

They also make a fine Greek Yougurt.

Edited by yeti (log)
"It's like Betty Crocker and Charles Manson had a love child" - Anthony Bourdain
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Butter is good.

Microwave is good.

We keep a box of Nucoa for when Gma visits, because (:boo hoo:) she says its easier to spread straight on bread than the cold butter.

She is, of course, correct. But......But...... 10 seconds in the nuclear oven renders butter perfectly spreadable.

We eventually trained her to make one cup of coffee using actual ground coffee beans, and she realized it only took 30 sec longer than 'instant'. We may eventually convert her on marge. I dont really care if we dont. The fridge is big enough for both.

(I HATED storing that instant coffee jar tho. Dont know why, really.)

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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The only other butter that I found superior, was made by Cabot and I bought it after Fat Guy posted about a special deal a few years ago.

They had a deal for two types of butter and one was an "Old-fashioned European style" something-or-other, and it was excellent, nearly as good as the French cultured butter.  After than one time, I was unable to order it shipped to California.

Cabot has two specialty butters and they are only available at the creamery in Cabot, VT.

One is "Old Fashioned Farmstead Butter", a whey cream butter that is a byproduct of the cheese making process. It is by far, my taste favorite. The other is "82", described as "European Style High Fat Unsalted Butter". I believe the 82 is for 82% butterfat.

I have a friend who makes more or less monthly trips past the Creamery on the way to visit her grandchildren, and I'm kept in good supply. If you live near Concord, MA, I could ask her to pick up some extra on her next trip. Email or PM me if interested.

Jim

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Christmas before last, I sent my mother a big assortment of Christmas cookies made, as always, with unsalted butter. (She will be 90 this May and is in a nursing home now.) For some reason, she got a little snippy with me and said, "I'll tell you one thing, the butter you used in those cookies was rancid."

I was devastated. I knew the butter was perfectly fine, but I called my sister, also a cookie recipient, to get her opinion. She told me that my mother "always" said that about my cookies, even though she told Mom it was her imagination. I thought and thought about what could be going on, and finally remembered that my mother had always used margarine in her baking.

When I next talked to her, I asked her if she had EVER made cookies with real butter, and she said she never had. So there was my answer, my mother did not know what real butter tasted like! Now when I send her cookies, I try to make those which are not dependent on butter as the major flavor. No shortbread or butter cookies, more chocolate and fruit flavors to cover up the good taste. Sigh.

Ruth Dondanville aka "ruthcooks"

“Are you making a statement, or are you making dinner?” Mario Batali

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The only other butter that I found superior, was made by Cabot and I bought it after Fat Guy posted about a special deal a few years ago.

They had a deal for two types of butter and one was an "Old-fashioned European style" something-or-other, and it was excellent, nearly as good as the French cultured butter.  After than one time, I was unable to order it shipped to California.

Cabot has two specialty butters and they are only available at the creamery in Cabot, VT.

One is "Old Fashioned Farmstead Butter", a whey cream butter that is a byproduct of the cheese making process. It is by far, my taste favorite. The other is "82", described as "European Style High Fat Unsalted Butter". I believe the 82 is for 82% butterfat.

I have a friend who makes more or less monthly trips past the Creamery on the way to visit her grandchildren, and I'm kept in good supply. If you live near Concord, MA, I could ask her to pick up some extra on her next trip. Email or PM me if interested.

Jim

Unfortunately, butterwise, I live in California. I really didn't mind forking out thirty-some dollars for shipping the butter to Calif., I have paid more than that for the stuff from France, but they apparently are not interested in packaging the stuff for shipping out here.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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i'd say i like butter and evoo about equally but definitely tend toward the latter for health reasons.  nothing yummier than a good butter croissant though.  i'm also reminded that i have some honey walnut butter in the fridge...but thankfully nothing to spread it on.

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Unfortunately, butterwise, I live in California.  I really didn't mind forking out thirty-some dollars for shipping the butter to Calif., I have paid more than that for the stuff from France, but they apparently are not interested in packaging the stuff for shipping out here.

Have you tried making your own?

Its ridiculously easy, and you can choose the salting and culturing to suit your own taste...

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch ... you must first invent the universe." - Carl Sagan

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