Cooking Stack Exchange
Cooking Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [butter]

A dairy product made by churning milk to separate the butterfat from other milk components. Questions may involve butter either as an ingredient or as a final dish.

This tag is for both questions about using butter in cooking and about making butter.

331 questions
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9 answers

Should I use salted or unsalted butter if the recipe doesn't specify?

When recipes call for “butter” but doesn’t specify “salted” or “unsalted”, which should I use? Does it matter?
Laila
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22
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4 answers

What's the purpose of clarifying butter?

Seriously, if it's just an ingredient in something larger, is it going to make a difference if the butter's been clarified or not?
Sean
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21
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12 answers

How do you correctly soften butter for spreading?

How do you correctly soften butter for spreading on bread? Is it simply a matter of leaving it at room temperature for a few hours, or do tools like butter conditioners do a better job?
Brian Willis
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18
votes
1 answer

Making butter at home

I decided to make home made butter. I haven’t done this since I was a kid. We shook the jar until the liquid separated. I wasn’t sure if this meant it was done or not even though I kept reading the instructions over and over. Now I have a cream that…
Amanda
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15
votes
4 answers

Do I need clarified butter to make mac-n-cheese?

Ok, someone mentioned Mac-n-Cheese. Which led me to a mornay sauce. Which requires a bechamel. Leading to roux. Dropping me on the doorstep of clarified butter. I haven't ever used or made it. Is there a reasonable way to make it? Can I make a…
Rob
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9
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5 answers

Did I make butter, or something else?

Tonight I tried to make some butter from some raw cows milk. I followed the instructions here, and let the cream I skimmed off a gallon of milk sit for about 24 hours to "culture." It didn't really smell "slightly sour" yet, but as I had already…
Flimzy
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8
votes
4 answers

How to make home-made butter?

Has anyone tried it before and how was the result? What are the steps and what ingredients and kitchen tools do I need?
zachary
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8
votes
5 answers

Why do different brands of butter taste different?

This has been playing on my mind for a while and I thought it was time to ask! In any supermakert, there is usually at least 5+ regular brands, then 3-4 supermarket brands. In addition to some supermarkets stocking expensive/specialised…
wilhil
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8
votes
1 answer

Can you create brown butter directly from heavy cream?

The other day I made cookies with homemade brown butter. I first churned the butter from heavy cream, separating the butterfat from buttermilk. Then I took the remaining butter and melted it in a pan then browned the milk solids to make brown…
ryan
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7
votes
1 answer

Is this 'browned butter'?

I just tried browning butter. I placed the butter in a saucepan and heated it. It melted, then started to bubble and sizzle. Once the sizzling subsided, brown particles started forming in the butter. The liquid itself didn't seem to change colour…
user2249626
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7
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2 answers

Is there a better way to wash home-made butter?

Freshly-churned butter has to be washed clean of residual buttermilk to keep well. The only method I've seen recommended is to massage the butter by hand in changes of iced water. This can be quite uncomfortable and a little cumbersome.. I wondered…
Robin Betts
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6
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1 answer

What is the foam that comes out when making clarified butter?

When making clarified butter you get a bottom layer of milk solids, the center layer of clarified butter, and the top layer of foam. What is in the foam? Does it have any uses?
Ceribia
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6
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3 answers

creaming butter vs adding to flour in cakes

Most cake recipes call for creaming the butter and sugar first, then adding liquids and flour alternately . Recently I have seen several recipes instructing to add cool butter in small chunks to the flour/sugar mixture beating after each butter…
Pam Rollins
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6
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4 answers

Why is there no sweet (as in 'with sugar') butter?

I understand salted butter can be useful is some situations, but why there's no such thing as "sugar butter" that can be sold in stores? I mean, there is sweet milk (concentrated, for instance) and sweet yoghurt, but no sweet butter nor sweet…
anol
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5
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5 answers

what is the difference between butter spread and pure butter?

first of all, basically what is the difference? what are their uses and is there a big difference? for example is there a case where I should use pure butter for some things but never a spread or vice versa? When the recipe says butter which one…
Fitri
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