How To Butter Your Bread

A friend was surprised today that I keep a stick of butter out at room temperature.

“Won’t it go bad?”

NO!

Well, okay----eventually.  But how long does it take you to eat a stick of butter?  In the winter, I go thru at least a stick a week.  And I only weigh 105 pounds.    

Butter will keep perfectly fine on the counter for a week or two---maybe even longer, tho mine’s always gone by then.  On a hot summer day, sure I’ll stick it back in the fridge so it doesn’t melt all over my kitchen table; but butter loses a certain amount of its flavor and aroma when it’s cooked in a cold state----that’s why many chefs keep a sixth-sized hotel pan of it at room temperature near the sauté station. 

I only keep the salted butter out, so I can’t speak for unsalted.  Salted butter keeps longer---the salt works as a preservative.  And I just prefer a little salt in my butter. 

Unsalted butter goes rancid much quicker and also has a tendency to soak up any refrigerator smells.  I keep a bit of it in my refrigerator, but most of it lives in the freezer.  Super cold butter is also the best for making pie crusts, biscuits, shortbread, etc. 

And I hate to break it to you, but that “spreadable butter” is generally butter mixed with some kind of oil---IF there’s even actual butter in there.

You can leave butter out in any covered container.  In the old days, they would keep it in a crock.  In the U.S., most butter is sold in packages of four sticks (known as “Elgin-style” as the packaging originated in the early 1900s at a dairy in Elgin, Illinois).  Kitchenware makers quickly began designing dishes that would house this unique shape.  If you don’t already have a butter dish, go on eBay and do some window shopping.  My tastes run towards Depression glass, but there’s something on eBay for everyone. 

I seem to remember buying my simple, white ceramic butter dish at Pier One years ago.  And it’s done me right for over a decade---at room temperature! 

So while it’s not exactly the same as telling women in the 70s to get rid of their bras…

Go to your refrigerator!  Remove that stick of butter!  And just leave it on your kitchen table!!!  Just LEAVE it there!

You can thank me as you spread soft butter over your toast in the morning.