Butter Bliss Pt. 2

Homemade Butter & 2 Killer Compound Butter Recipes

Greetings Friends, 🥂

Following up with more Butter-Madness… we’re going to make butter at home, drop (2) amazing compound butter recipes after we go through some more butter 🧈 specifics.

Since we’ve been talking Dairy 🥛 🧈 after we wrap today nextup is going to be Ultimate Cheesecakes in (2) parts… don’t miss it!

If you missed Part 1, refer back to get caught up on why Butter is so Magical 🧈 🪄 ⬇️

Butter Bliss 🧈

Types of Butter

There’s a lot of variations within butter. Technically 16, but here’s a few commonn

Salted?

Unsalted?

European Style?

Sweet Cream?

Grass Fed?

Raw Milk?

Cultured?

What difference do any of these make?

Let’s break it down

Butter Styles

Below will clear up any confusion on subtle differences or, rather, just put you in the know so you know exactly what’s in your butter. The taste of butter all starts with the Milk… which is where the cream is coming from for churning. Raw milk will have a lot of variation depending on location and time of year. Grass fed carries a more vegetal/green flavor. Your standard dairy cow operation will produce the mildest butter, which can be advantageous as well, depending on your goals.
Let’s talk butter 🧈

Sweet Cream Butter

Made from pasteurized fresh cream, this style of butter is the most widely available in supermarkets. The flavor profile is a mild and sweet butter, as the name implies. Think of this a “neutral” butter. (Sweet cream butter can be sold in salted or unsalted)

European Style Butter

European-style butter contains a higher percentage of butterfat. This means a lower moisture content. While this might not make a big deal in savory cooking, the increased fat:moisture ratio makes this butter perfect for pastry work. (See Part 1 for more discussion on Baking & Pastry with Butter).

Cultured Butter

Cultured butter is typically and “Artisan” or handcrafted product. After the pasteurization process, live cultures are added to the cream and left to ferment before the churning process begins. This usually occurs for 8-12 hours (although there can be variation depending on fermentation temperature). Cultured butter has a distinct flavor profile: tangy, grassy and acidic. These flavors contrast nicely with the creamy and rich fat in the butter itself.

Ghee

Ghee is butter that is slowly cooked to remove all the milk solids and evaporate the water out of the butter. What remains after straining and evaporation is pure butterfat. The clarifying makes a higher smoke point and a richer, fuller flavor. from the cooking out of the solids. Flavor profile is nutty, rich, grassy and rich.

Salted vs Unsalted Butter

This is probably the most asked question shoppers have. “Salted or Unsalted?”

There’s no “right” answer but a few considerations. Salt is added during the manufacturing process to accentuate the flavors of the butter. This seems logical. Traditionally salted butter is used as a “finishing” butter, like spreading on toast or sandwiches. The common average is about 1/4tsp of salt per 4oz of butter. It makes a big difference.

Over the years Unsalted butter has become most popular especially in restaurants and baking/pastry. The reasoning is during baking or cooking, the chef/baker wants to have complete control over the seasoning and the less variation between batches of butter the better.

In higher end restaurants that do a bread service, they will usually sprinkle unsalted butter portions with flaky finishing salts.

The above should give and idea of what works best for you.

If you have a favorite butter that is salted, just factor that in to any baking or pastry recipes using the salt:butter ratio listed above as a ballpark.

Buying Your Butter

Here are (2) popular butters that I use a lot as well as a premium cultured option that is divine.

Plugra: European Style Unsalted. Used this a ton in most restaurant kitchens (outside of making our own or getting artisan butters in from specific makers). This is a workhorse butter that is great for baking/pastry as well as whipping, basting… you name it. This is not a cultured product.

Kerrygold: Pure Irish Butter. This butter comes in Salted and Unsalted varieties. A really popular variety. I like the salted, it’s tasty. They use grass-fed milk, this is not a cultured butter, however.

Rodolphe Le Meunier Butter. Straight from Normandy, this butter is cultured and absolutely delicious. Use primarily for spreading, compounds or finishing. If budget is no option, use it all the time 😂 🙌

This a good start… if you have any particular butters you have questions about, drop in the comments.

Making Your Own Butter 🧈

Ok… so let’s take this to the next level.

While there are some good quality store bought butters, it’s hard to beat making your own butter. Being in control of all the variables allows you to make your own “House Butter”. You can use raw milk, culture (or not), salt to your taste (or not)…

There’s a few pitfalls to keep in mind but the process is simple. So here’s a foolproof process to make butter at home. If you get really into it you can get a dedicated butter churner but not mandatory at all… then you’ve got (2) compound butters that will blow your mind (using homemade or store bought butter 🧈 )

Grab some cream and lets go!