Good Butter

[MarcelNL]

While we are at pictures, this is the butter section in the nearest supermarket.
Frenche Beurre de Barat, Turkish butter (did not stop to check where it's actually made) and plenty of choices from within NL. (Butter can only be used for 100% butter, no additives allowed (other than salt and carragen)

 

[Michi]

While we are at pictures, this is the butter section in the nearest supermarket.

Yeah, rub it in. @Brian Weekley will appreciate it!

 

[MarcelNL]

My beef is that while readily available the majority of these 'brands' are not of any additional value, taste-wise.

 

[Delat]

Unfortunately the last third ended up tasting EXACTLY like fancy blue cheese. I know fat-based foods can absorb odors from the fridge, but the only blue cheese I had was in it's foil wrap and in a ziplock bag. Anyway, I tossed the last third out because I couldn't find anything to pair it with.

The cheese flavor is what happens when butter gets too old; it’s not from absorbing smells. It might be an early stage of turning rancid?

I don’t use butter much so I tend to keep it for quite a long time and only ever had it happen to me once, so I’ve since started to vacuum seal and freeze my butter unless I plan to use it.

 

[J_Wisdom]

I'm heading off to Publix, which seems to carry both Plugra and Finlandia, neither of which I've tried.

 

[Chips]

The cheese flavor is what happens when butter gets too old; it’s not from absorbing smells. It might be an early stage of turning rancid?

I don’t use butter much so I tend to keep it for quite a long time and only ever had it happen to me once, so I’ve since started to vacuum seal and freeze my butter unless I plan to use it.

Im also thinking it was just the process of a cultured butter continuing its natural progression instead of rancidity?

I really wish I'd gotten off my butt and made something (baked goods) with them before I switched to keto.

 

[MarcelNL]

Can anyone explain what fermentation is used for butter? I cannot for the world find details, other than; the old fashioned way, in my mind the old fashioned way was to churn cream into butter and buttermilk...and that is how I've seen it done in my youth (yeah I'm old) but I do not recall ANY fermentation.

 

[parbaked]

Can anyone explain what fermentation is used for butter? I cannot for the world find details, other than; the old fashioned way, in my mind the old fashioned way was to churn cream into butter and buttermilk...and that is how I've seen it done in my youth (yeah I'm old) but I do not recall ANY fermentation.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015208-homemade-cultured-butter

 

[MarcelNL]

Thanks, sadly it's behind a 'data collection' wall but it shows the info is out there, I'll search some more!

 

[Delat]

Im also thinking it was just the process of a cultured butter continuing its natural progression instead of rancidity?

I really wish I'd gotten off my butt and made something (baked goods) with them before I switched to keto.

Seems possible - I actually thought the cheesy flavor wasn't bad. When I did some googling I found posts saying it was a sign the butter was going bad.

 

[parbaked]

Thanks, sadly it's behind a 'data collection' wall but it shows the info is out there, I'll search some more!

Sorry...didn't realize that...I'll cut and paste for ya!

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups good quality heavy cream
• ½ cup plain whole milk yogurt
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste

PREPARATION

1. Combine cream and yogurt in a large jar or bowl. Seal jar well and shake aggressively until combined, or whisk well if using a bowl. Cover jar or bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let mixture sit in a warm area of your kitchen for 18 to 36 hours; it should thicken and taste rich and tangy.
2. Seal the jar or cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until it reaches 60 degrees, 1 to 2 hours. If you refrigerate it longer, allow mixture to warm slightly at room temperature before proceeding.
3. Line a fine-mesh sieve with a double layer of cheesecloth and place it over a large bowl. Make sure there is plenty of extra overhang of cheesecloth.
4. In the bowl of a food processor, add the thickened butter mixture and process on high until the yellow curds begin to separate from the buttermilk, 2 to 3 minutes. It will have the appearance of liquidy cottage cheese.
5. Slowly pour the buttermilk through the mesh sieve and then dump the butter curds in. Let sit for 1 to 2 minutes, allowing buttermilk to drip through. Gather the ends of the cheesecloth up and around the butter, pushing the curds down and into a ball. Twist the cheesecloth and squeeze the ball to extract as much buttermilk as possible. You will be left with a butterball.
6. Pour the buttermilk into a separate container and reserve for another use. Place the butterball in the empty bowl. Be sure to squeeze out all excess butter from the cheesecloth. Pour 1/3 cup of ice water over the butter and, using a spatula, “wash” the butter, folding it over itself and pressing down to extract the extra buttermilk. Drain off the milky liquid and discard it; repeat this process until the liquid is clear, 4 to 6 times. The butter will start to harden; at that point your hands may work better than the spatula.
7. Place the butter on a clean kitchen towel and pat lightly to remove excess moisture. Knead a few times with your hands and pat dry again; this will help extend its storage life. Sprinkle the finished butter with salt and knead a few more times to combine.
8. Lay out a sheet of parchment paper, or two if you would like to divide the batch in half, and place the butter on the paper. Form the butter into a log and then roll it up in the paper and twist the ends to seal. Make sure the log has a uniform thickness throughout. Refrigerate until ready to use. The butter will last about a month in the refrigerator.

 

[zizirex]

Welcome to Canada! … The home of mediocre butter at outrageous prices.

Witness this absolutely unremarkable brand!

View attachment 161173

As you can see they are flying off the shelves. Go buy a better brand you say … they don’t exist! It’s illegal to sell imported brands in Canada. Gotta protect those dairy farmers. It wouldn’t be so bad if Canadian dairy farmers actually produced a decent product. They don’t … full stop.

Oh BC.. where the sh!ttest dairy come from, Especially Saputo DairyLand stuff. i wonder who makes this stuff. Avalon is probably the nicer one that i could find locally.

Is that what you're paying for store brand at that side of the country? We got some better stuff for less over hear out east.

That is why West Coast is the Worst Coast. Stupid hippy stuff trying to be healthy BullCrap. everything is overpriced like crazy.

That really sucks. For that kind of price you're getting to the nicer stuff we can get in Toronto

I've got this in my fridge right now
View attachment 161176

As well as I'm going through a log of this: Mr. Amish Hand Rolled Butter 2lbs – Mr. Amish

Also, Those ones are probably the best butter I could get but it's super expensive, for example, that one cost 6-7 bucks here and it's very small. It's from Montreal so they know what they're doing unlike here where the population are 60% lactose intolerance and doesn't know what they are doing.

Either way, the Best butter you could find is if you could get a Bordier Butter, followed by Echire, Isigny St Mere, Rodolphe Le Meunier, and President. these are all from France.
other than that I could think of is Lurpak, Kerrygold, Plugra, Vermont, and Colliers. every time i went across the border I always spend $50+ on these because it's impossible to get one in Vancouver.

 

[esoo]

Either way, the Best butter you could find is if you could get a Bordier Butter, followed by Echire, Isigny St Mere, Rodolphe Le Meunier, and President. these are all from France.
other than that I could think of is Lurpak, Kerrygold, Plugra, Vermont, and Colliers. every time i went across the border I always spend $50+ on these because it's impossible to get one in Vancouver.

Shall I make you sad in that President butter is now made in Canada?

 

[MarcelNL]

I just did a quick and overall meaningless comparison, and can confirm I prefer the Lidl Bio Butter over the French Beurre de Baratte that was fermented, the Lidl butter has much more flavor depth and breadth.

 

[sansho]

Thanks, sadly it's behind a 'data collection' wall but it shows the info is out there, I'll search some more!

block ads and other annoyances
bypass paywalls

 

[Corradobrit1]

Speaking of HEB Central Market. This one from the UK is very good. Pricey but good. They also have a great selection of Normandy butter

 

[zizirex]

Shall I make you sad in that President butter is now made in Canada?

Haven’t tried Canadian President since I live in Worst Coast. Either way, if it’s made In Quebec or Ontario it will be okay. Cows creamery out of PEI is not too bad, but it’s a bit too salty.

 

[zizirex]

In a test a while ago Kerry Gold did pretty good, believe it was best of the large manufacturers. For my taste it's too plain, Beurre d'Isigny is nice.

I wonder if Lidl in the US is also selling Organic butter, that is my goto butter since a few years. Not the best top range butter I ever had, but it's real good!
Not sure if they'd print the origin on the package, in the EU you can track where dairy and meat products come from reasonably well using the code in the oval showing country and producers nr (here on the back).

http://das-ist-drin.de/glossar/betriebsnummern/BY-70007-International-Cheese-GmbH--970/Shows they get it im Unterallgäu, Bavaria.


View attachment 161030

Nice, I kinda want to tried a Dutch Butter, since it’s a staple in Indonesian kitchen. Especially Wijsman in a red Can, where it’s a must for making cookies in Indonesia

 

[MarcelNL]

Nice, I kinda want to tried a Dutch Butter, since it’s a staple in Indonesian kitchen. Especially Wijsman in a red Can, where it’s a must for making cookies in Indonesia

Regular Dutch Butter out of the major dairy processors is nothing special and closely resembles Kerry Gold.
Back in the day when the EU sat on a Butter mountain the cheapest butter often was from long term frozen storage, leaving it without any flavor.

Typically when you sample the milk from any dairy producer also selling butter you can predict how it'll taste, my all time favorite is the butter made from Alpine cow's milk during Summer, you can literally taste the Alpine herbs the cow's eat.

 

[Luftmensch]

We chatted about this in A bread thread (starting bottom of page 3). Nice to see a dedicated thread for it!

My contribution is really only for the Ozzies... I advocated for Peppe Saya's in the bread thread... I'll do it again here!!

 

[Luftmensch]

The cheese flavor is what happens when butter gets too old

Im also thinking it was just the process of a cultured butter continuing its natural progression instead of rancidity?

Seems possible - I actually thought the cheesy flavor wasn't bad. When I did some googling I found posts saying it was a sign the butter was going bad.

I am with @Chips... cultured butter continues to 'mature' - it is alive after all. I love the delicate cheesy taste! If you store it in the fridge, you ought to get a couple of months out of it. We move through our butter slowly... the flavour profile certainly changes... but it has never gone rancid.

 

[Noodle]

Funny, but was just thinking about butter too. Love the good french stuff, but it’s expensive here. This is different from the Costco New Zealand butter, it’s more complex, and “funkier,” and worth a try, if you’re looking for something different.

 

[benito]

I can find minerva amish butter at my local grocer in Socal.

shout out to Amish butter.

 

[Receiver52]

Welcome to Canada! … The home of mediocre butter at outrageous prices.

Witness this absolutely unremarkable brand!

View attachment 161173

As you can see they are flying off the shelves. Go buy a better brand you say … they don’t exist! It’s illegal to sell imported brands in Canada. Gotta protect those dairy farmers. It wouldn’t be so bad if Canadian dairy farmers actually produced a decent product. They don’t … full stop.

Don’t get me started. All to protect 31,000 dairy farmers in Ontario and Quebec.

 

[Jovidah]

My beef is that while readily available the majority of these 'brands' are not of any additional value, taste-wise.

What also bothers me is that a lot of it is just annoying to cook with. I don't know why, since it's all supposed to be the same, but a lot of that supermarket butter seems to have a noticably higher water content, leading to a lot of splattering when used for cooking.

The cheese flavor is what happens when butter gets too old; it’s not from absorbing smells. It might be an early stage of turning rancid?

I don’t use butter much so I tend to keep it for quite a long time and only ever had it happen to me once, so I’ve since started to vacuum seal and freeze my butter unless I plan to use it.

Yeah I normally keep my butter on the counter at room temperature, and it starts to get a bit cheesy after a while (a month? more?). Never had this problem in the fridge, even though I usually stock up for a few months whenever it's on sale.

Regular Dutch Butter out of the major dairy processors is nothing special and closely resembles Kerry Gold.
Back in the day when the EU sat on a Butter mountain the cheapest butter often was from long term frozen storage, leaving it without any flavor.

Typically when you sample the milk from any dairy producer also selling butter you can predict how it'll taste, my all time favorite is the butter made from Alpine cow's milk during Summer, you can literally taste the Alpine herbs the cow's eat.

Reminds me of good raw milks cheese (boerenkaas) in the right season. Stolwijker in autumn... mmmmm.

 

[HSC /// Knives]

So good you can eat a butter sandwich