Why do some recipes call for unsalted butter and then add salt to the recipe?

After reading this thread, I opened a bottle of the 99 Viader tonight. Decanted for 1-1/2 hours. Did not take any notes, but mrs. mbansek and I both enjoyed this one. First time in a while she actually went back for a second glass.

Rated it a 92. Will not open another for a while, but the best glass tonight was the one tasted about three hours after opening. I am not sure it will last until 2007, but have two more bottles to test the theory.

I have not purchased any of the 2000, and have no intention of buying any. QPR is not there, even for the 99, and I won't take the chance on the 2000 at that price.

Mike

I'm no chef but my guess is bc you cant control the amount of salt thats in the butter...

Board-O, in my experience, salted butter is oftentimes too salty (or irregular from brand to brand) and the only way to control it is to use unsalted butter and to salt the dish accordingly. I'm not sure if this has anything to with it but notice that unsalted butter and salted butter are wrapped in different wrappers: one is in paper and the other is in foil (I think unsalted is in foil). I saw this on a program about butter but I don't exactly recall the reason why.

Corkage,

The unsalted is more susceptible to bacteria growth and thus the foil wrapper - keeping light out and bacteria growth down.

Salted is not, so paper wrappers.

Saw this on Good Eats (love that Alton Brown).

I've seen recipes for amounts of food large enough to serve numerous people that start with two tablsepoons of unsalted butter. The volume of food is so great that any variance in the amount of butter in 2 tablespoons is insignificant, especially when they later instruct you to add salt to taste.

Salted AND unsalted come in paper around these parts. At least all the brands I have bought.

I tend to like the French and Italian unsalted butters. In fact, even on toast, I would rather use a great unsalted butter and add some good gray salt to it.

I very much enjoy high quality butter, the only problem is finding a good, reliable local source that stays around is sometimes problematic.

The commercial butter here is all foil-wrapped! The best butter comes paper wrapped and it is all salted and regional - Cornish, Devon, Lancashire etc. There are several unsalted now but they are mass-produced and fairly bland but I like the lack of salt sometimes, especially in cooking. There are English, Dutch and Danish ones, no French or Italian that I can get hold of

I would prefer to use unsalted butter with a good sea salt if the recipe required.

Has anyone tried to make their own butter? It's not difficult. Just takes patience. The result is something that is creamy and light and so fresh, you'll wonder why you ever bought the stuff in the store to begin with.

It freezes very well and can be flavored the way you like.

If you haven't, do you think it is something you would *like* to do? Here are the instructions:

Homemade Butter

Ingredients: 1-pint heavy (whole) cream

Tools: a jar that seals tightly and is easy to hold/shake, preferrably plastic (you'll see why later)

Fill the plastic jar half-way with cream and screw the lid on tight. If the kids are helping it is a good idea to tape the lid to the jar so they can't open it. Plastic jars are safer since it's easy to drop these with all the shaking.

Now shake the daylights out of the cream. At first, the cream will slosh around. In a short while it will thicken into whipped cream. Keep shaking and very soon the fat in the cream will separate from the water. You will suddenly have butter and buttermilk.

Open the jar and pour off the buttermilk. Close the jar and continue shaking for about 2 more minutes. This will remove more moisture from the butter. Open the jar and pour off the additional buttermilk.

Scoop out the butter and chill. The new butter can also be placed into a small decorative mold or individual serving cups prior to chilling.

Your butter can be sweet (above method) or salted by adding a pinch of cheese salt (extrafine salt) prior to shaking. You can also flavor your butter with the addition of a pinch of garlic or onion powder, your favorite herbs, or even sugar and ground cinnamon.

Too easy.

Saw something called almond butter. Anyone tried this? Is it like peanut butter?

Dr T - Yes. It's like peanut butter, only out of almonds. I also see cashew butter on the store shelves, but haven't tried it.

I use almond butter in a cake recipe I make sometimes. Quite tasty coconut cake.

Interesting. What color is the final product? Commercial butter has a yellowish tint. Does this method produce white butter? If so, do you color it?

JimmyV - It's white/creamy colored. The color of the butter will vary on the contributing cows' diet, sometimes on the time of year (different feeds at different times of year).

Margarine has color added. Butter does not.

I suppose it would be easy enough to add a food coloring, though. Make blue butter, or green, etc.

I was just thinking in terms of getting it past my 5 year-old's critical eye. I'll give it a try and see how it compares to what I usually buy. I was just thinking that it might come out as white as the cream itself, which would make it look like cream cheese. But as long as it looks like the commercial stuff, she'll eat it.

You can always add a drop or two of yellow food-coloring. Won't hurt it and might make it appealing to a youngster. She'll love helping to make it, as well. Kids love shaking those jars.

Good to know, Skwid. Thanks.

Lilac,
Have you added a little truffle oil to you butter while making it. I make a little butter now and then for precisely this purpose. Add several drops of truffle oil or grate a tiny amount of truffle into the cream while shaking and whipping.

I've made butter by accident a couple of times, whipping cream and getting carried away!!