Whipped butter: Restaurant kitchens have a history of playing with butter, and I think it's a bit of a love-hate relationship. Chefs love butter for the flavour and the way it adds gloss and silkiness to a sauce; restaurant owners hate that butter weighs heavy on the bottom line. It must have been an owner who came up with the idea of serving whipped butter with pancakes—less butter, more air—good for the bank account, bad for the pancakes!
Compound butter: But it's in restaurants where you are most likely to encounter one of the loveliest butters around; compound butter. Simply, it's butter, sweet or salted, mixed with whatever you're heart desires. Perhaps a simple butter of lemon zest and pepper to top a piece of fish, or butter blended with berries and honey, dressing up plain waffles. It's easy to make and a terrific way to elevate any meal. In fact, Chicken Kiev is just a breast of chicken wrapped around a large chunk of chilled herb compound butter, sometimes up to a 1/4-cup of butter per breast!
Buerre noisette: And it was the French kitchen that gave us beurre noisette or brown butter. Butter is slowly heated over low heat, until it develops a nut-brown colour and nutty flavour, perfect with eggs, vegetables, or fish.
Not quite butter
Now I don't mean to be alarmist, but I must tell you about movie theatre "butter". Unless there are big signs shouting proudly "We use real butter!", it isn't butter. It isn't anything near to being butter. Mostly it's a not so healthy concoction of soy bean or coconut oils, chemical flavourings, artificial colourings, and sodium—copious amounts of sodium—saturated and trans-fats. It's a real shame that it's almost impossible to find a cinema that offers the real thing on their popcorn. And if you haven't tasted the difference in a long time, try it again, and then look for a small, independent movie house that melts true butter.
You're talking butter!
I'd like to leave you with a few expressions that remind us just how important butter is to our culture:
• "She's a real butterfingers!"
• "That girl sure landed with her bum in the butter."
• "He knows what side his bread is buttered on."
• "I'll have to butter him up if I want that necklace."
• and from Canadian comic, Mike Myers, "It's like buttah, a Land o' Lakes moment."
Can you think of any I've missed? Make a comment and let us know!
Some fun butter videos on YouTube:
• Lehman's Butter Churn Demo: Lehman's Butter Churn is demonstrated in Lehman's Buggy Barn at the store in Kidron Ohio
• Churning Milk in Fayoum: A woman in Fayoum churning gamoosa milk in a goat skin
• How It's Made - Butter: How butter is made in a factory
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