Fancy butter

As long as it’s real butter I don’t really care. Just keep that plastic margarine away from me.

It's not about your middle class tastes and your need to announce that you are middle class and that that's okay. No one cares.

Some butters have a good deal more milk fat than other butters. When used in baking, the fat content of the butter significantly affects the outcome.

I bought some Kerrygold butter recently. Not one iota better than store brand Walmart butter.

May I ask a stupid question (better than anyone, Rose)

What is the difference between salted and unsalted butter, other than the obvious. When does one use salted versus unsalted butter in a recipe?

When I have the time and am motivated I like to make my own butter in the KitchenAid mixer. Making it is easy, but getting it properly washed afterward so it won't go rancid is a good bit of work.

R4 for baking dishes you don’t want salt in. Salted butter tastes better on its own.

When does one use salted versus unsalted butter in a recipe?

In baking you always use unsalted butter because you have no idea how much salt is in salted butter. Baking is a science and measurements need to generally be followed carefully. Salted butter is primarily used on the table for putting on biscuits, etc.

Are you guys cray ? Kerrygold is ten times better, richer creamier

[quote] What is the difference between salted and unsalted butter, other than the obvious. When does one use salted versus unsalted butter in a recipe?

r4 A very good question, indeed. For me, the primary difference is in taste. For instance in making cake icing with butter and sugar ~ don't use butter with salt. You will spit it out! There's other reasons, as well, for baking, but taste is the main difference.

There are very few baked dishes that don't require some salt. Try backing a dessert without using salt and you'll end up with a flat tasting failure. Salt perks up the sweetness. Bake some brownies without using salt and your throw them in the bin.

I got Kerrygold a couple weeks ago for spreading and it was soooooo much better than regular butter, much less waxy with a far better taste.

I've never used it in baking so I can't really comment on that. Just know that it's far better for fresh applications.

Also, i've been baking cakes and making buttercream icing for years and have used salted butter. It's always tasted great and nobody spits it out.

Now when it comes to actual BAKING things that call for unsalted butter, i go by that whenever i can.

Thanks for the answers. I've always wondered about the salted versus unsalted thing. Luckily I don't bake.

German master bakers swear by quality butter.

What Tallulah at r9 said.

Too lazy to go to the store for unsalted butter, I used what I had- salted butter for white buttercream frosting; the kind of frosting that called for the labor and time of making and cooling a stovetop milk and flour pudding and then adding it small chunks at a time to beaten butter, sugar, vanilla... you get the picture?

Ugh. The salted butter gave the frosting a harsh flavor. I learned my lesson and made it correctly. The smooth, subtle, rich flavor the unsalted butter gave to the frosting was heaven.

I've never had WTF butter, OP. Who makes it?

Parkay!

Butter? Kerrygold has a weird undertaste, to me. I like Lurpak and Plugra for foods where you’re eating it cold on delicious carbs like bread. There’s a very nice butter made in Maine, called Kate’s. It’s very nice. The very best and fanciest, IMO, is Beurre d’Isigny.

Land O’ Lakes is one of the better-tasting store brands, on par with Breakstone’s and Hotel Bar. For most baking and frying eggs, I’ll use the store brand.

r14 your recipe/method of buttercream is something i've NEVER done. My buttercream is made in the mixer and not cooked. flour/milk pudding on stovetop for buttercream? never done it. I've made ganaches that call for stovetop cooking but simple buttercream frosting is more akin to the recipe below. A ganache that works requires all ingredients to be top notch for it to work (including temp and stirring frequency), so i would follow that recipe to the tee.

I’m not a “supertaster” by any means—I can never tell “notes” in wine or coffee—but those different types of butter taste dramatically different to me.

Kerrygold tastes much richer (fattier) and is much easier to spread when it’s been out of the fridge for a bit. It has this note in it that’s a little grassy, when I eat it I can see the Irish cows munching on some intensely green grass.

Plugra has that same rich quality but it’s more pure milk tasting, not grassy, and it’s a lot less salty than Kerrygold. I imagine fancy cooks using this one of the three.

Land O Lakes compared to those two is like the difference between skim and whole milk. It’s just as salty as Kerrygold or maybe even more.

My grandmother used to make frosting in a saucepan, but I think that’s what’s known as “hard” frosting, not buttercream. We use that for Christmas cookies still.

All U.S. butter must be at least 80 percent butterfat. (That leaves about 18 percent as water and 1 to 2 percent milk solids)

Fresh butter is heavenly.

With store bought better Kerrygold is easy to find and not that expensive, it's definitely a better option than typical mass produced American butter. High fat content, better butter flavor, made from grass fed cows.

Fancy buttah?

Barbra Streisand, bitches!

[quote] Too lazy to go to the store for unsalted butter, I used what I had- salted butter for white buttercream frosting; the kind of frosting that called for the labor and time of making and cooling a stovetop milk and flour pudding and then adding it small chunks at a time to beaten butter, sugar, vanilla... you get the picture?

R14 Why yes, dear! That is exactly what I meant. Thank you for demonstrating, Della. 💐

But, I must add one thing about butter quality. If you put butter side-by-side and do a look-see and taste comparison, you will find European brands (where product is actually made in Europe) have a less, how shall I say, processed and creamier taste than American butter. Much better for croissants and fine pastry.

Cloverland Cow speaks

You're all typing fat.

there is a huge difference if you buy fresh butter. I used to buy it from the Amish in the fall and the spring. One I loved and the other I hated but I could never remember which it was. It had to do with them eating feed or the grass.

[quote] You're all typing fat.

I’m sitting here putting off my errands to chat about butter on DL, where did my life go off the tracks?

Yeah even OP could tell the difference between fresh butter and a store brand.

r20 yes that sounds correct. For regular buttercream or even chocolate frosting, a saucepan has never been involved (unless that's the way you want to melt the chocolate w/out the meek-ro-wav-ay).

Something I learned from my baker cousin: French butter is the gold standard in baking because its fat content vs milk solids is very high. American butter tends to have a lot of milk solids. Irish and other European butters are in-between, but Irish grass fed butter is best used only for spreading, as it can impart some strong flavors in baked goods.

Don't get those that think Kerrygold tastes the same as others. Everyone's tastes are different I guess, but Kerrygold is massively different - and better - than anything else I can find at my local supermarket.

I wonder if different types of storage or shipping methods make a difference?

It depends on what you are using that butter with r26. Don't be afraid of some fat, it's the carbs that are the problem with most peoples dirt.

The low fat craze was a mistake.

When I've seen butter being hand churned it's been white. When and how does it turn yellow?

I love Kerrygold butter. It goes on BOGO at Publix every third blue moon and I buy 10 bars ~ 8 salted and 2 unsalted. I can always add more salt if I need it. I go to usually two or three stores during the BOGO frame. I also do that with good cheese like Cabot. Always stock up extra BOGO with the good stuff.

There are several recipes for buttercream. American buttercream (trash IMO) is little more than whipped butter, flavoring, & sugar). French buttercream & Swiss Meringue, Italian Meringue & Italian Meringue buttercreams are divine, but far more involved and require some skills.

8 unsalted and 2 salted... oh, dear

You have an extremely crude palate r3 and I shudder to think what foods you consider good. No doubt you also think Walmart brand soda is better than coke. I use kerry gold all the time and it's definitely a more flavorful butter. It's best used when the butter is a main part of the food's flavor like eggs or spread on toast.

Which works better as lube?

It's not all about the extra milkfat in premium butters. Many are also cultured, which imparts a deeper, richer taste.

I've never had anyone do anything other than rave at my "American" trash buttercream. It's not like the stuff you get on grocery store sheetcakes and can be tampered with for lightness/flavor/sweetness.

When you've been baking for 40+ years, you kind of learn to tweak recipes to your/guests palates. We tend to not like overtly sweet things in my family/group of friends.

Same with baking breads/cakes/cookies/scones/muffins. There's flexibility when you know the chemistry and ingredients.

OK, just in case anybody was curious about the kind of frosting I made at r14, it was from the overly fussy NY Times Cooking section (I'm going to try r18's, too) :

"This is an old-fashioned icing, also called boiled-milk frosting. The results are as light as whipped cream but with much more character. It was the original icing for red velvet cake. For best results, you may want to double it: A little extra frosting never hurts."

INGREDIENTS

5 tablespoons/40 grams flour, 1 cup/235 milliliters whole milk, 1 teaspoon/5 milliliters vanilla extract, Pinch of salt

1 cup/ 230 grams unsalted butter, softened

1 cup/200 grams granulated sugar

PREPARATION Over medium heat, whisk flour and milk in a small saucepan and heat to a simmer, stirring frequently until it becomes very thick and almost puddinglike.

Remove from heat, whisk in vanilla and salt. Pour into a bowl to allow it to cool completely. Put plastic wrap on the surface to keep a skin from forming.

Use a mixer to cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on medium, add the cooled flour mixture a little bit at a time. Continue to beat until the mixture becomes light and fluffy and resembles whipped cream.

They call it "Ermine Icing"

Is "sweet cream butter" fresh butter?

[quote] When I've seen butter being hand churned it's been white. When and how does it turn yellow?

A very good question, dear. In a word ~ diet.

Butter has a natural pale-yellow color but can range from deep yellow to white depending on feed used and the breed of cow the milk originates from. In the United States, the diet of cows varies from those in Europe, and there are also breed differences. The level of the natural pigment carotene in milk, derived from the diet of cows, is the strongest determinant in whether butter appears yellow. For areas preferring butter that is more on the yellow side, coloring can be used.

Kerrygold, Lurpack and Anchor are just normal butter here in the UK and Ireland, US butter always tastes weird and low quality to me.

R34 The color of the butter is determined by the cows' diet and the breed of the cow. Grass fed butter tends to be more yellow because there is beta carotene in it from the grass the cows eat.

[quote]Butter? Kerrygold has a weird undertaste, to me.

A weird undertaste, spit it out, Rosemary!

They're going to do terrible things to you if you eat the chocolate mousse!

[quote] It's not like the stuff you get on grocery store sheetcakes

My drug of choice.

You have an extremely crude palate [R3] and I shudder to think what foods you consider good

I use the better butters for serving on the table. But if you think a cake baked with Walmart butter tastes any different than the same cake baked with Kerrygold or any other premium butter, you couldn't be more wrong.

There is some high-end butter that is on par with French butter but made in Vermont. Apparently it has to do with their breed of cows and diet. I watched a vid about it a couple years ago, but unfortunately, I don't recall the name. Not cheap, and not easy to procure either. But in demand at many high end bakeries in NYC and around the country. You could probably google it.

Thanks for all the responses. this is interesting; sounds like I have to try Kerrygold!

[quote] It's not about your middle class tastes and your need to announce that you are middle class and that that's okay. No one cares.

Oh and fuck you r2 what the hell are you even talking about?

No r44. Sweet cream butter is just the type of butter usually found in America. It is made from fresh pasteurized cream rather than having that cream be cultured that is common in Europe.

Fresh butter is exactly what it sounds like. Butter made fresh and by hand rather buying a mass produced store product.

I only use butter for baking. A few years ago I realized that butter no longer softened. It stayed hard as a rock and I had to cream it forever to get it to a useable consistency. I read in some thread here on our beloved Datalounge that had become a requirement of American butter.

Switched to lovely, silky Kerrygold and have had no problems since.

You could serve me a ten dollar bottle of wine or a hundred dollar bottle of wine, and I wouldn’t have a clue which is better. I know there is a difference between Coke and Pepsi, but if you asked me which is which in a blind taste test, I would be at a loss. But give me a quality butter and it is immediately apparent that it is superior and obviously so. It’s really apparent when you are traveling trough Europe to different countries how different each’s butter taste and just how much better it is then in the United States. I usually only splurge for very special occasions like Irish Soda Bread around St. Patrick’s Day. If cost wasn’t a factor I would only use high quality butter.

In baking, you really can notice a difference. A good quality butter can make any baked goods taste better, rise better and be more tender. I love making chocolate chips cookies, and when I used a lesser quality butter, they spread more and are tough and hard like a rock. Believe it or not, using a high quality butter like Plugra, made the cookies greasy and they spread like crazy. However, Plugra, which is a higher fat butter, makes the most beautiful and flakiest croissants. For most of my baking, I fell in love with Nellies organic butter. It has a sweet , delicate and creamy taste. My second choice is Keller's . All unsalted.

Has anyone tried Échiré?

Della, I have never had a NYT recipe worth the effort. Well, there was one, but it didn't make up for the half dozen that weren't. I just picture trust fund kids who don't actually cook at all lying in bed all day making up recipes based on a vocabulary gleaned from fancy menus and a dictionary of semi-obscure ingredients and utensils.

I only use unsalted butter. It's easier to control the level of salt in a dish. Salted butter is for amateurs.

Della’s cooked frosting is well worth the effort. We always called it “poor man’s whipped cream” and it’s fluffy and flavorful. It’s all I ever use for “vanilla” frosting or filling (unless a custard is called for).

Buttercream with confectioner’s sugar and butter is gritty and too sweet, IMO. Trash.

Just because someone is a professional or celebrity cook does not mean they know best. Martha Stewart was always saying "make sure you use real vanilla extract, not imitation". But some time back the experts revealed that imitation vanilla is just as good in baked goods as real vanilla, because the components of real vanilla that are not found in imitation vanilla are completely burned away in the baking process. I tested it out on a pound cake long ago and was shocked. They were right.

Anyone who would use powdered sugar to make buttercream should be slapped.

Baking should never lead to violence.

Irish butter is awesome! You CAN taste the difference.

OT, all the stories about margarine being made to fatten turkeys that ended up getting them killed and marketed towards humans as total BS fake news.

I'm wondering how long some of you commenting on how things are gritty and confectioners sugar should never should be used have been baking???

What would you suggest to use for sugar in a chocolate frosting??

Don't even bother. I've been baking forever, i've had people tell me i should bake professionally, have decorated cakes, have had requests for YEARS for my baked goods. i'm bowing out here and didn't think people had their noses in their air so much about wonderful tasting baked goods.

peace out.

I went through a phase where I bought all the premium butters sold at my supermarket. They all tasted pretty much the same. They didn’t have Lurpak though, which is my favorite.

Chefs say salt make sweet taste sweeter

The diet of the cows makes a difference in the taste of butter.

R55 - Coming originally from Wisconsin, I've had butters made in certain other states and it was the nastiest inedible crap.

Daralounge fat whores berating other datalounge fat whores over animal fat.

Must be Sunday.

I like Land-O-Lakes, because it's endorsed by Indian maidens.

I like my butter fancy, like Applebees!

[quote] I like Land-O-Lakes, because it's endorsed by Indian maidens.

r71 Those are just residents of The Villages, FL.

Kerry Gold salted butter user here. My comparison would be Land O Lakes.

My uses: on bread (not toast) and muffins. I like biting into and chewing cold butter, not melted butter. I don't bake at all.

Kerry Gold has a nice texture (creamy) and is easy to spread compared to Land O Lakes. It also just has more flavor and is probably more salty as well.

People will hate me, but the Kerry Gold texture reminds me of margarine texture (which I like for spreading).

Kerrygold butter is available at Costco.

Kerrygold butter is available at Walmart.

Kerrygold butter is BOGO at Publix.

R65, I make a chocolate frosting with unsweetened/baker’s chocolate and a cornstarch slurry. Someone gave the recipe to my mother in the 1970s. It’s almost like pudding, very smooth and flavorful. I’d also use a ganache.

R70 - Phooey. I've heard essentially the same conversation between exercise nuts and bodybuilders at my health club countless times. You need to get out more.

I had no idea Kerrygold was so highly prized in the US. As someone said above, it’s just a decent but very standard butter here in the UK. To me a “fancy” butter would be something twice the price, wrapped in a cloth and sold in a cute little box etc.

Confectioners sugar should not be used in buttercream because it contains cornstarch to keep the sugar from caking up. It might work in American buttercream, but it definitely would not work in any of the meringue buttercreams.

[quote] Thanks for the answers. I've always wondered about the salted versus unsalted thing.

Not sure who you are thanking since you got completely opposite answers on whether salted vs unsalted butter should be used in baking.

[quote] I had no idea Kerrygold was so highly prized in the US. As someone said above, it’s just a decent but very standard butter here in the UK. To me a “fancy” butter would be something twice the price, wrapped in a cloth and sold in a cute little box etc.

American user of Kerrygold butter here. I think Americans are used to blah butter. Hence, Kerrygold is a revelation. I love it.

Baking: the general rule is to use an unsalted butter. Why? Because every brand of butter uses a different amount of salt in their "salted" butter.

When you bake with unsalted butter, you get a consistent result. When you bake with salted butter, you get an inconsistent result. (Frankly, it's probably still going to be delicious.)

As stated above, cakes and cookies (sweets) recipes still do call for and still do need salt. (E.g., ___ teaspoon for a cake). Salt makes all the other flavors pop. However, with unsalted butter, you have more control over the final amount of salt.

I am no kind of foodie and I think my sense of taste is poorer than most people's based on how so many people react so strongly to foods. I almost never have strong reactions to foods. And that said, if I had discovered Land O'Lakes butter, which I grew up with, abd Kerrygold butter, I would have classified them as different substances altogether. Kerrygold is egg yolk-yellow, smooth and creamy, and it has a strong flavor. Land O'Lakes (and other US butters) is pale yellow, waxy and it barely tastes like anything.

Salt's a preservative in butter. Better chance of getting fresh butter if you buy unsalted. Can always add salt as needed.

Kerrygold is butter for people who grew up eating margarine. There is no “best” butter, it all comes down to individual taste and purpose. I prefer a cultured butter for most purposes.

[quote] Kerrygold is butter for people who grew up eating margarine.

The whole country of Ireland?

Kerrygold is widely available in the US so if the average American goes to their local supermarket that's probably the best they are going to find r79. You can certainly find fancier butters at more speciality, high end grocers

Yeah, I see a lot of different butters at Whole Foods. But I'm happy with Kerrygold, for now at least.

Kerrygold for the butter dish is the best.

For home baking by average folks, any mid range unsalted butter is fine.

For home pastry chefs, Plugra is considered the best easily available butter in America. It is an American, uncultured butter. I just bought it for 2.50 a bar at Safeway.

[quote]I like Land-O-Lakes, because it's endorsed by Indian maidens.

Not anymore.

[quote]To me a “fancy” butter would be something twice the price, wrapped in a cloth and sold in a cute little box etc.

We'd probably call that "artisanal."

I've tried different butters, and actually think the butter sold under Kroger brand at Ralphs is the best (not to mention lower cost). I believe dairy products for the chain are produced locally, so this may be the case only in Southern California. Trader Joe's butter is very good as well.

All Irish butter comes from grass fed cows which is why it tastes better than most other mass produced stuff.

I've been baking about 10 different types of cookies at Christmas for the last few years and I only use Land O'Lakes salted butter, unless the recipe calls for unsalted. Never had any complaints.

I make buttercream frosting with 1.5 sticks salted butter, 4 cups powdered sugar, a little vanilla and a little milk, plus cocoa powder if I need chocolate.

One time I asked the baker at the grocery store about what to use for frosting and he said salted. I think the salted butter balances out all the sugar in the frosting and most dough.

Kerrygold is great on toast, and does spread easily like other have mentioned.

[quote] American user of Kerrygold butter here. I think Americans are used to blah butter. Hence, Kerrygold is a revelation. I love it.

That is so true. I always have to ask for 'real' butter when dining out in middle chain restaurants like Applebee's. Even stuff they present as 'butter' looks like pale yellow lard.

The best commercial butter I've ever used.. The others taste greasy compared to it. I have never seen it in the US, but this is what I always used in Italy.

[quote] I've been baking about 10 different types of cookies at Christmas for the last few years and I only use Land O'Lakes salted butter, unless the recipe calls for unsalted. Never had any complaints.

For baking, I'm not surprised. I'm sure your cookies all taste great.

Kerrygold is made in Ireland, their cows aren't fed the crap american cows are. Non gmo etc as well.

[quote]Kerrygold is made in Ireland, their cows aren't fed the crap American cows are. Non-gmo etc as well.

I agree!

If the cows' diets determine the taste and color of the butter, unless the cows are free range and no artificial chemicals are used the growing of their feed, the butter will be affected even though it may be rich in fat and 100% pure.

If you get the chance, try Beurre D’Isigny. It’s fantastic and I think even those above claiming they can’t tell the difference between butters will be impressed.

R35 is the guy who demanded the lady at the sandwich shop sell him all of the Red Dragon Cheese. I don't know you!

Kate's is fantastic. Only the salted version seems to available outside of New England--still it takes things like sweet corn to a new dimension.

I can usually find Plugra on sale and it does make a noticable difference in cooking/baking.

R104 In the UK we can also get Isigny Sainte-Mere Unpasteurised Salted Butter which is even better, not much more expensive than Kerrygold either.

You have weird rules over unpasteurised dairy in the US.

R98 It's the one I and my mom always use. Definitely the best brand in Italy's stores, some of you are really hardcore about baking, I can tell.

Aldi brand butter. $2.49 on sale; regularly $2.99. Salted or unsalted. That's all I ever buy.

Salted butter (it varies by brand) contains about 1/4 tsp of salt per stick. I always by unsalted, but on occasion I've accidentally grabbed the salted variety. It's not that big of a deal to adjust your seasoning accordingly if you're cooking with it.

Also, since when is Land O Lakes considered "fancy butter"?

R109, for older people, counting myself in, margarine was what we ate (U.S.). When people were easing off of margarine and switching back to butter, IIRC, Land O Lakes was a name brand (vs. a store brand). Just having butter again was an upgrade in itself. Store brands have a better reputation now (e.g., Kirkland), but in the old days, store brands were not well-regarded.

There are very articles about just buying the kind of butter you need versus always buying "the best"; in many cases, Land O Lakes is just fine. I've bought butter at farmers markets & some of that stuff is very watered down. Fine for cookies, but not so great for higher end baking.

I had Echire butter in a small individual foiled serving at a bistro, and I liked it very much. So I picked some up from a fancier grocer and tried it at home. The larger portion came in a small fiber basket and looked impressive, but had a skunky aftertaste. I think it may have been unrefrigerated at some point.

I also bought some homemade butter at a farmers market in upstate New York. That had a strong funky taste to it, too.

Kerrygold is only good when compared with mass-produced American butter like Land O' Lakes, etc. (Obviously, Kerrygold is mass produced itself, but to a higher standard than we have in the USA.)

I've been buying this for a few years and it's now my favorite butter.

We made butter in my second grade elementary school class. You put the ingredients (don't expect me to remember which ingredients, it was 1966) in a jar and shake it. My classmate, Anthony S. (he's a policeman in my hometown and was involved in suicide by cop in 1997, so I'll just use the first letter of his surname) lost his grip on the jar and it exploded.

If you over-whisk heavy (double) cream you get butter, the liquid left over is buttermilk.

Kerrygold is quite good, and much better than any American brand I've had.

I wonder if those who found it indistinguishable from any other brand tried it after sitting even briefly at room temperature? When very cold the actor is less pronounced, but as it warms a bit toward room temperature its flavor is much more pronounced for me.

I've had good butter in France without knowing the brand/supplier. In Belgium I've had commercial and home made butter from Wallonia that has been great. In Spain there's a tinned brand from Asturias, Imperial (?), that's quite good.

From "Saveur" magazine:

If you think it’s butter, nuts it’s snot, it’s Chiffon

But it’s snot

R116 The production of butter in Europe (and the UK) is heavily regulated, if it doesn't meet the rules it can only be described as a spread and not butter.

In general even the non-branded stuff is good quality.

R114 - we did that in my 1969 first grade class when learning about Thanksgiving. The teacher reinforced two cardboard half pints of heavy whipping cream with some staples and they were passed around the room with each kid shaking then like crazy. After quite a long time we each got a saltine with a little “homemade” butter on it.

Um…..hello👋…what about us down here in the Southern Hemisphere, one of the worlds biggest exporters of dairy products…all grass fed and GMO free.

Perhaps if you were bigger and younger r122.

R122 I'm sure your butter is great, but it's pretty environmentally reckless to ship dairy products across the globe, especially with so much grazing land in the Americas and Europe.

Does China use butter? That seems like it'd be your primo neighboring market, plus India for ghee.

IMO, New Zealand has the best of everything. I love it there.

Perhaps if you put Gandalf on the label, R122?

A few months ago, I tried a fancy butter—Kerry Gold, I think. It tasted and smelled too milky for me. I went back to regular butter next shopping trip, and never thought about it again until now.

R124 Your geography is terrible.

The distance between New Zealand and India is about 7,000 miles, slightly further than New Zealand to LA.

Same class activity here, complete with Saltines, r121.

In 1955!

Kerrygold and other "fancy" butters are higher in butterfat content, good for buttercreams etc. If you are expecting ot slab some Kerrygold on a roll and have your life changed, sorry not going to happen.

Let’s talk about fantasy butter now.

Theres nothing in GMOs that hurts people, even the governments that ban them say so. There is no science to prove any difference. The objection is to the companies that make them such as Monsanto, and use neferious policies to make farmers use them. There is no GMO butter and very few GMO crops at all. Stop using GMOs as a whipping boy when you don't even know the truth.

I'm surprised that experienced home bakers have never made ermine (or "cooked-miles" or "cooked-flour") icing.

It's the original choice for red velvet cake and is very workable and light. And delicious.

The blinking clucks of "Why, I never!" are funny.

r133 it's not much different from french or Italian meringue buttercream. Instead of egg whites, you are using flour as a binder.

Normal rich countries have at least a dozen supermarket brands of butter that are top quality and priced a bit above store brands. Of course the USA can't manage this.

Yes, I know, dear, R134. Although that's quite a difference, actually. (I like Swiss, meringue, by the way.)

I'm simply surprised that more people aren't as well-versed in these basics are you are. But mere consumers do tend to have ignorant mouths.

Honey R136 don't forget DL is 25% mature men with IRAs well over 5 million, a husband, 2+ houses, rental properties, and room for a pony, and 55% are eldergays and disability queens who bravely scratch out stoic bare bones lifestyles on fixed incomes and are having grand Mal seizures because DOLLAR TREE UPPED THEIR PRICES 25%!!!!

No, R135, but they do have 126 varieties of Doritos, most in ass many as 5 size variants? Paper towels? Oh now that's where it really gets complicated...

Mascarpone cheese is buttery, IMO. This brand, Crave Brother (Wisconsin), makes a really good mascarpone. It also reminds me of Devonshire or clotted cream.

President butter was a good buy for a while, between sales and coupons. I quite liked it for baking. Kerrygold is good for spreading on baked goods. I saw shoppers go nuts for Amish butter when our grocery carried it, but I think they were into the plain packaging. It comes rolled in white paper. I never tried it.

Oh, I agree with you, r58. Although I subscribe to the NY Times Cooking Section, I do it for entertainment purposes and not to actually use the recipes because of what you point out.

Still, being the sugar and fat glutton that I am, when I read that Ermine Icing recipe, I couldn't resist giving it a whisk, er, excuse me, I mean, a whirl. Aside from the initial mistake of not following the damn direction to use unsalted butter, since I corrected that, it's the most delicious frosting I've ever tasted.

I bought a Betty Crocker Dark Chocolate Cake box recipe, upped the richness with an extra egg and a smashed banana incorporated into the batter, topped it with Ermine Frosting...

and, remember Hostess Suzy Qs? That cake I made was a luscious, decadent, flavorgasm. It dialed my dopamine neurons to 11.

r137 well I don't have two houses, millions or any of that but I do bake and decorate cakes for a living.

Clotted cream! Now, there is a question. What the hell is that?

R143 It's complicated, sort of a mixture between butter and cream. Technically cheese.

Generally called ricotta or ir-ricotta outside of the UK.

Currently I am enjoying Land 'O' Lakes butter and canola oil spread. Yums.

R143 absolutely love clotted cream but only in Devon. Just scrumptious.

Don't you put clotted cream on scones with jam and butter? Do you use ricotta for that.

Yes I love Kerry Gold butter, cheeese and more. Their cheddar is divine so too the Dubliner. And I can tell the difference while store bought U.S. butter is ok, Kerry Gold knocks it out of the park.

The Dubliner cheese is nothing special. Kerrygold butter is better than LandOLakes but not as good as Pulgra.

Fat content varies and can impact flavors and results. I do like Kerry Gold.

Clotted Creme is nothing like Ricotta. How dare you! Clotted cream is creamy and thick and slightly sweet like unsalted butter but with the consistency of cream cheese. Basically, it was a way to preserve milk, like butter. You heat heavy cream at a low temp for 24 hours and gather the fat the congeals at the top. That is clotted cream.

Trader Joe's had a good baked lemon ricotta this weekend. I used it on saltines. It was sort of like lemon pie.

It wasn't as good as Aldi's cranberry cinnamon goat cheese log, though. I nearly ate one in its entirety when I was high.

I've been using Mascarpone on scones. Ina Garten suggested it as a replacement for clotted cream. Some day I will make clotted cream.

Back to the butter topic. Today I bought some fancy made in France butter. But since it is sold here it is pasteurized.

Generic store brand (Kroger) or Challenge (the one with the deer on it). I don't use enough butter to care that much about subtle differences. It's butter.

I’m curious now as to how bad “regular” butter in the US is, if Kerrygold is such a revelation.

R155, I favor Kerrygold to the big brand American butters that dominate that market, but find butter generally better and more flavorful in Europe.

For all that, I wouldn't say that American butters taste bad in general, rather that in them what I "taste" is more a temperature, a texture, a density — rather than flavor. American butter doesn't have much flavor, or if it does it's of salt or something not buttery; and it's that flatness or absence of taste that marks American butter for me.

American butter is churned and contains 80% or more butterfat.

European butter is cultured and contains 82% or more butterfat.

I just discovered I hate American butter spread on something. Must be salted European butter. I used unsalted American butter on bread the other night and it was like a tasteless blob of Crisco.

We only use fancy butter in the fancy eatin' room.

I've just begun noticing the lack of flavor, as you say, r156. And the more expensive Vermont or other American "farm" butter doesn't taste much different to me, if at all.

But then, I haven't had the pleasure of that 11-cow farm's product.

I HATE the milky dairy sweetness of real butter. I prefer margarine because it is more salty.

Like buying freshly ground beef at the butcher to make hamburgers. Why bother! I hate that animal flesh flavor. I prefer the perfect salty sweet and savory taste of a Big Mac. Doesn't everyone?

Most european butter is from grass fed cows. Most american butter comes from mass dairy farms.

Don't the same cows that baby feed you milk and formula end up in your Big Mac?

Only in the USA, Tallulah. All cows in other countries are organic, grass-fed pets of children who cannot stand to see them go far away.

[quote]We only use fancy butter in the fancy eatin' room.

r158, also known as the billy-yard room.

OP here. I never imagined 165 replies here. You gals like your saturated fats, don't you.

You betcha, girlfriend!

[quote] Paula Dean

Oh, dear.

Oh Jesus I just tried Kerrygold. I take it all back, it's better

Prosecco, champagne, Sprite, it's all the same. I can't tell the difference. Just bullshit by fancy snobs.

Doesn't anyone use duck butter?

Harvard, Devry - a degree is a degree. I don't see what the fuss is about!

Palm oil extracts may also be fed to cows in some countries.

Pebbles, rocks...they are still but stone (and dinner).