DailyDirt: Butter. Mmm. Butter.

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Fri, Aug 22nd 2014 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Butter is an awesome addition to nearly any breakfast food (except for cereal, but who knows, have you tried it on cereal?). One of the only problems with butter is that sometimes it's not as spreadable as you'd like it to be. Sure, you can buy special tubs of butter-like substances that are more spreadable, but sometimes you just want a cold pat of real butter on your toast. Here are a few suggestions that could make your life with butter everything you've ever dreamed.

Some folks adamantly recommend that everyone should NOT store their butter in a refrigerator. Room temperature butter is obviously more easily spread, but some people just don't like the idea of butter going rancid slowly on a kitchen table. [url]
Which edge of a butter knife have you been using all your life? If you said the serrated edge, try the other side when spreading butter. Maybe there is no wrong way, but there's more than one way to use a butter knife. [url]
If you want to buy a butter knife that's specifically designed to spread butter better than any other butter knife, throw some bucks at the Stupendous Splendiferous ButterUp knife. It's just a bunch of holes in the knife that act like a grater, so you can scrape off buttery bits, even off a cold stick of butter. [url]

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Filed Under: butter, butter knife, cutlery, food, spreadable
Companies: kickstarter

19 Comments

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Butter on cereal: chex party mix! FTW!

—Nicci Stevens

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djl47 (profile), 22 Aug 2014 @ 5:41pm

Terracotta Butter Cooler
The butter grater is a clever idea. An alternative is a terracotta butter cooler. Soak the cover in cold water and fill the rim with water. The water evaporates and keeps your butter cool enough that you'll finish a cube before it goes rancid while it remains soft enough to spread.
https://www.google.com/search?q=terracotta+butter+cooler
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WDS (profile), 22 Aug 2014 @ 6:16pm

butter keeper
There are butter keepers, that use a water seal to keep the butter from exposure to air. They will keep butter for a long time without it going rancid. It is a two part device, where the part with the butter goes upside down into the part that holds the water for the seal. You can get them a most high end kitchen supply stores. I think most are from France.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Aug 2014 @ 7:06pm

Butter on hot oatmeal! With a bit of maple syrup or some sharp cheddar.
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Lawrence D’Oliveiro, 22 Aug 2014 @ 7:16pm

My Fridge Has A Butter Conditioner
My fridge is nearly 25 years old, and has a heated compartment, with 3 temperature settings, for keeping the butter nice and soft.
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Andrew D. Todd, 23 Aug 2014 @ 1:47am

But... the Dogs?
Well, my relevant anecdote involves, on the one hand, a border collie, bearing the nickname "garbage disposal," on account of her enthusiastic attendance at the dinner table; and, other hand, a stick of butter, incautiously left in a butter dish on an elegant glass-topped coffee table. As Alexandre Dumas Pere expressed it in a similar case, we had (past tense) a border collie. We had had (past perfect tense) a stick of butter. As Dumas went on to observe, no further explanations are needed.
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Paul Renault (profile), 23 Aug 2014 @ 4:38am

Re: My Fridge Has A Butter Conditioner
There's a reason you can't find refrigerators with heated butter compartments: they catch fire.

If you have a fire fighter in your entourage, ask them whether you should turn it off.
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Jake, 23 Aug 2014 @ 5:07am

Re: But... the Dogs?
Solution: Keep the butter dish on a high shelf.
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John Fenderson (profile), 23 Aug 2014 @ 8:20am

It lasts that long?
I never refrigerate butter unless I'm making pie crust. Cold butter is evil. I've also never had butter go rancid. Maybe it's because I eat it too fast. Mmm, butter.
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JM Hanes (profile), 23 Aug 2014 @ 11:21am

Exactly!
When you care enough to leave your butter on the counter, it will be long gone before it has a chance to spoil. In high summer, it may melt into a formless blob that's easier to scoop up with a spoon, but there's nothing wrong with it. Why even bother with a butter dish cover, when it just gets in the way?

I'm not sure most people realize how much time it actually takes for butter to go bad. They'd also be surprised to learn that the extra flavor associated with "Country Butter" comes from allowing it to go slightly rancid in the churn.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Aug 2014 @ 6:01pm

Re: Re: My Fridge Has A Butter Conditioner
Hell yes turn it off. They've just been lucky for 25 years.
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Lawrence D’Oliveiro, 23 Aug 2014 @ 7:30pm

Re: heated butter compartments: they catch fire.
[citation needed]
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Lawrence D’Oliveiro, 23 Aug 2014 @ 7:33pm

Re: But... the Dogs?
Some friends of mine own a couple of dogs who operate very efficiently as a similar clean-up squad. But they know that only stuff that falls on the floor* is theirs, the table is off limits.

*Well, technically, looks like it will hit the floor, or at best makes only momentary contact with the floor before disappearing down a canine gullet. Their speed is amazing.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2014 @ 5:31pm

Re: It lasts that long?
I live in a mediterranean climate, so I have to refrigerate my butter in the summer to stop it melting, but I usually remember to get it out again before I want to use it.

Failing that, I just microwave it.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2014 @ 5:35pm

Re: Exactly!
In high summer, it may melt into a formless blob that's easier to scoop up with a spoon, but there's nothing wrong with it.

That depends how high your summers get :)

Here, it isn't unheard of for it to exceed 40C every day for a week, and even at 35C it is hot enough to melt completely and separate into layers (and that doesn't taste so good).
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JM Hanes (profile), 24 Aug 2014 @ 7:06pm

Re: Re: Exactly!
Don't know where you are, but in my neck of the southeast, it's certainly not unusual to push past 35C for a week to 10 days running. It's only marginally cooler inside my house, because I don't turn on the air conditioning unless my kids come home to visit. Nothing wrong with the separating butter blobs here!

Maybe you need to try a different brand…. or just consume it faster! ;-)
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Nicci Stevens (profile), 25 Aug 2014 @ 8:19am

Butter on cereal: chex party mix! FTW!
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John Fenderson (profile), 25 Aug 2014 @ 8:20am

Re: Re: It lasts that long?
During the summer here, things get warm enough to melt the butter. I just put it in a bowl instead of a butter dish during the hot season.
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Paul Renault (profile), 26 Aug 2014 @ 5:46am

Re: Re: heated butter compartments: they catch fire.
Info on product recall because of fires here:
http://www.waltersforensic.com/articles/fire_investigation/vol2-no2.htm
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Lawrence D’Oliveiro, 26 Aug 2014 @ 5:25pm

Re: heated butter compartments: they catch fire.
Well, thank the gods and the tree spirits that my fridge is not made in the USA.
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