My Cooking Got So Much Better After I Learned About Butter
Butter makes everything better. But did you know that some types of butter are better for certain recipes than others?
There are many types of butter in the world, each with its own specific flavor profile and characteristics. As a devoted baker and longtime lover of buttered toast, I’ve made it my business to understand and appreciate every one of them and their nuances. For this deep dive, I consulted fellow recipe developer and cookbook author Samantha Seneviratne for her takes on butter. Here’s everything you need to know about the six most common types of butter and how to use them.
Unsalted Butter
This is the baseline butter for many of us. Typically packed in individually wrapped sticks and sold in 1-pound boxes, American unsalted butter is at least 80% butterfat and doesn’t contain any additives, such as salt. Because of its neutral flavor, it’s a solid all-purpose option for baking, cooking, or spreading on bread.
Salted Butter
Typically found next to the unsalted butter in the dairy case, salted butter is—you guessed it—the same but with added salt. The specific amount of salt per pound varies by brand, but it’s generally understood to be somewhere around ¼ teaspoon per half-cup stick.
Many chefs and bakers avoid using salted butter in professional kitchens because it adds unspecified amounts of salt to their recipes and therefore might throw off the balance of flavor. But when it comes to home kitchen use, Samantha Seneviratne believes it’s absolutely fine.
“I’ve never experienced that it makes that much of a difference,” she says. “And even if (your baked goods) are a little saltier, I think it enhances the flavor. It gives...an edge of deliciousness.”
The bottom line? If you’re buying salted butter for spreading on toast, don’t worry about buying separate unsalted butter for cooking or baking. Just make sure you’re tasting your food as you go, and you’ll be absolutely fine!
Cultured Butter
Here’s where things gets fancy. While standard butter simply consists of cream that’s been churned until the fat solids separate from the liquid, cultured butter is made from pasteurized cream that has been exposed to active cultures (like yogurt) and fermented before being churned into butter. The result is a richer, more complex flavor with more acidity and noticeable tang.
Because it tends to be more expensive, Seneviratne recommends using cultured butter only where its unique flavors will shine, such as a plain pound cake or a scone. And of course it makes an amazing spread for toast, pancakes, or waffles.
European-Style Butter
European-style butter is richer than American butter since it contains a minimum of 82% butterfat (and in some cases, up to 90%!). Because of this, it has a noticeably softer texture and tends to melt faster. It’s also often cultured, so in addition to the flavor from the extra butterfat, it also benefits from those tangy, nutty flavor profiles. For all these reasons, it’s Seneviratne’s butter of choice. “It’s creamier...I feel like you get a more concentrated dairy richness,” she says.
Unlike American butter, which is usually sold in individually wrapped sticks, European butter is sold in solid pound or half pound blocks. It’s great for baking anything from chocolate chip cookies to croissants, and it’s also wonderful for butter sauces like Bechamel or hollandaise, where its additional richness brings a more luscious, indulgent texture.
Clarified Butter and Ghee
Clarified butter is pure butter fat. This means it's butter that has been simmered until the water evaporates and the milk solids sink to the bottom of the pot, leaving pure liquid butter fat (or clarified butter) at the top of the pot. At this point, the fat can be separated from the solids to yield pure clarified butter. If you continue simmering the butter until the solids brown and then strain them out, you’ll be left with a more highly clarified version called ghee.
Since there are no milk proteins to burn or go rancid, clarified butter has a higher smoke point and will keep for much longer than regular butter. It’s a great choice for high heat cooking, such as sauteing or frying, and it’s also good to note that, since clarified butter only contains negligible amounts of lactose, it’s a great option for those who may be lactose intolerant.
Light Butter
Light butter is almost the opposite of clarified. Instead of having its richness concentrated by removing water, it has additional water and air whipped into it. The result is a substance that contains no more than 40% butterfat, which in my opinion, makes it barely butter. It’s lighter in calories, flavor, and richness.
Since it contains so little fat, Seneviratne doesn’t recommend light butter for cooking or baking. “It’s not gonna perform the same way [as regular butter],” she says. “Your baked goods would just end up being drier.” If you’re trying to watch your calorie intake, it can be a good option for spreading on bread or melting over a baked potato. But that’s about it.
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