It's all about butter, baby
I envy the man whose job it is to taste test butters from all over the globe. Here he is, Paul Lukas for the New York Sun.
Here's a highlight:
Our taste tests indicate that you'll be in good shape with basic supermarket butter like Breakstone's, Land O'Lakes, or Hotel Bar. But if you want something a cut above, a few brands stand out from the crowd:
PARMIGIANO REGGIANO BUTTER ($4.49 for 8 oz. at Union Market, 756 Union St., Brooklyn): No, it's not cheese. But the cream used for this unsalted Italian butter comes from the same cows whose milk is used for Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. It was by far the best butter sampled for this article, with a depth of flavor and creamy finish that other brands lacked. And as a nice bonus, it's shaped into an appealingly rustic-looking slab and packaged in a grommet-sealed paper wrapper.
VERMONT BUTTER & CHEESE COMPANY CULTURED BUTTER ($5 for 8 oz. at Whole Foods and gourmet markets):Years ago, "cultured" meant the butter was made from slightly fermented unpasteurized cream; today it means a bacterial culture was added to the cream after pasteurization, resulting in a slightly more complex-flavored product. This brand's salted and sweet versions are both very good, and there's also a variety with crunchy crystals of sea salt, but it's packaged in an annoyingly ornate little basket - and is wildly overpriced ($7.49 for 6 oz.).
KERRYGOLD IRISH BUTTER ($5 for 8 oz. at Whole Foods): This butter, supposedly produced from pasture-fed cows, was unremarkable at room temperature. But it performed much better when sampled straight out of the refrigerator: Whereas most other brands' flavors were blunted by the colder temperature, this one retained most of its buttery taste. A good impulse butter, as it were.
KATE'S HOMEMADE BUTTER ($4.89 for 1 lb. at Whole Foods): This butter, made in small batches in Maine, has a bit more character than the supermarket brands. And the salted variety is less aggressively salty than most of its counterparts, so the saltiness complements the buttery flavor instead of masking or overwhelming it.
Here's a highlight:
Our taste tests indicate that you'll be in good shape with basic supermarket butter like Breakstone's, Land O'Lakes, or Hotel Bar. But if you want something a cut above, a few brands stand out from the crowd:
PARMIGIANO REGGIANO BUTTER ($4.49 for 8 oz. at Union Market, 756 Union St., Brooklyn): No, it's not cheese. But the cream used for this unsalted Italian butter comes from the same cows whose milk is used for Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. It was by far the best butter sampled for this article, with a depth of flavor and creamy finish that other brands lacked. And as a nice bonus, it's shaped into an appealingly rustic-looking slab and packaged in a grommet-sealed paper wrapper.
VERMONT BUTTER & CHEESE COMPANY CULTURED BUTTER ($5 for 8 oz. at Whole Foods and gourmet markets):Years ago, "cultured" meant the butter was made from slightly fermented unpasteurized cream; today it means a bacterial culture was added to the cream after pasteurization, resulting in a slightly more complex-flavored product. This brand's salted and sweet versions are both very good, and there's also a variety with crunchy crystals of sea salt, but it's packaged in an annoyingly ornate little basket - and is wildly overpriced ($7.49 for 6 oz.).
KERRYGOLD IRISH BUTTER ($5 for 8 oz. at Whole Foods): This butter, supposedly produced from pasture-fed cows, was unremarkable at room temperature. But it performed much better when sampled straight out of the refrigerator: Whereas most other brands' flavors were blunted by the colder temperature, this one retained most of its buttery taste. A good impulse butter, as it were.
KATE'S HOMEMADE BUTTER ($4.89 for 1 lb. at Whole Foods): This butter, made in small batches in Maine, has a bit more character than the supermarket brands. And the salted variety is less aggressively salty than most of its counterparts, so the saltiness complements the buttery flavor instead of masking or overwhelming it.
posted by Kelly K. at 3:32 PM
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