Butter
Butter is a churned dairy fat that underlies much of Western baking and sauce-making, prized for the richness, flakiness, and browned flavor it brings to everything from pastry to pan sauces.
How to buy
Choose unsalted butter for baking and sauces where you need control over salt, and salted butter for spreading or general cooking. European-style butters have a higher fat content and lower moisture, giving flakier pastry and richer sauces than standard American butter.
How to store
Keep butter refrigerated, wrapped tightly to avoid absorbing fridge odors; it stays fresh for a few weeks and can be frozen for several months if well wrapped. A small amount can sit at room temperature in a covered butter dish for easy spreading, but should be used within a few days that way.
Culinary profile
- Flavor
- Rich, creamy, and faintly sweet, with cultured or European-style butters adding a tangier depth. Cooked past melting into brown butter, it turns nutty and toasty as the milk solids caramelize.
- Texture
- Solid and spreadable when cold, softening quickly at room temperature, and melting into a smooth liquid when heated; whipped into a sauce, it turns silky and emulsified.
- Aroma
- A rich, creamy, faintly sweet smell that turns nutty and toasted once browned.
How to prepare
- Browned — Melted and cooked until the milk solids turn golden and nutty, used as a finishing sauce.
- Creamed with sugar — Beaten with sugar until light and fluffy, the base step for many cakes and cookies.
- Clarified — Melted and separated from milk solids and water, raising its smoke point for cooking.
- Whipped into sauce — Whisked cold into a hot liquid to create a glossy, emulsified sauce like beurre blanc.
Classic dishes
American
- Compound herb butter — Softened butter mixed with herbs and garlic, melted over a finished steak.
- American buttercream frosting — Softened butter beaten with sugar into a sweet, fluffy cake frosting.
- Buttermilk biscuits — Flaky Southern biscuits made tender and rich by cutting cold butter into the dough.
Italian
- Risotto alla milanese — A saffron-tinted risotto finished with a generous knob of butter for richness and shine.
- Brown butter sage sauce — Butter browned with fresh sage leaves, poured over gnocchi or ravioli.
Japanese
- Hokkaido butter corn ramen — A Japanese ramen style topped with a pat of butter and sweet corn, from Hokkaido's dairy region.
Indian
- Murgh makhani — Butter chicken, a rich, tomato-based curry finished with a generous amount of butter and cream.
- Butter naan — Leavened flatbread brushed with melted butter right off the tandoor.
French
- Beurre blanc — A silky French sauce made by whisking cold butter into a wine and shallot reduction.
- Hollandaise sauce — A rich emulsified sauce of egg yolk and melted butter, classic over eggs Benedict and asparagus.
- Croissant — A laminated pastry where thin layers of butter create its signature flaky, airy texture.
- Beurre noisette — Butter cooked until the milk solids brown, giving a nutty sauce for fish, vegetables, or pasta.
- Beurre manié — A paste of butter and flour whisked into sauces and stews as a quick thickener.
German
- Butterkuchen — A sweet German yeast cake topped with a generous layer of butter and sugar before baking.
British & Irish
- Scottish shortbread — A crumbly, buttery cookie made from just butter, sugar, and flour.