Where do you keep your butter?

[Consecrated]

We don’t have any in the house at the moment.

:bigyikes: :imsorry:

 

[Cat]

Butter bell. It’s the greatest. Everyone should have one.

You can actually buy little butter bells to put out at place settings.

BUT…even in a butter bell, butter can go rancid and get moldy. If we go for several days without eating a lot of butter, and the weather is warm, the butter will go bad. Yuck!

Of course you won’t eat rancid butter on your bread. But if you are baking cookies, and you don’t realize that the butter is rancid, you might drop it into the bowl and only as you start stirring do you realize that cookie dough shouldn’t smell like that. Euugh! (It’s happened to me).

Another thing that happens is that I scoop out a knifeful of the rancid butter and throw it in the pan to sautee my fish (or whatever) and only AFTER I’ve put the fish ($$$) on top of the melted butter do I realize that the kitchen smells awful.

BTW, most margarines are really REALLY bad for you because of the trans-fatty-acids. A lot of new spreads have come out claiming to have no trans-fatty-acids. That should tell all the margarine fans that they were eating bad stuff all those years. Sorry.

When I switched from margarine to butter a few years back, my cholesterol dropped from 232 to 170. No other change.

 

[Brenda_V]

Some folks use the term “butter” as a generic term for yellow stuff you put on toast… so, my first question is are we talking about real butter or margarine?

My grandparents left margarine/oleo on the counter.

Butter, as a dairy product, will go rancid after a couple of days if left out of the fridge. Margarine will last longer, it is oil and takes longer to spoil.

If you live in a warm climate or don’t eat an entire stick in a day - then, you might have some whipped spreadable butter in the fridge.

Kage - I live in the Southwest - it gets pretty warm here and we leave the butter on the counter and have never had a stick go rancid. Now, if you don’t go through a stick in 2-3 days then only put out half a stick. If you don’t use that much in 2-3 days then you probably don’t need any butter in your fridge either .

Now if you live in an even more temperate climate than I do, maybe you need to get this special butter dish, I believe it is called a butter bell, the butter goes in this well in the top that then sits down on top of a cool water, it is a crock to boot that keeps the butter cool but still soft. Look here pleasanthillgrain.com/butter-keeper-butter-bell-french-butter-crock-porcelain-ceramic-marble-dish.aspx There are a bunch of these, it even explains how it works!

Brenda V.

 

[grandiosa]

I may have to look into the butter bell and butter crock-type things. It would be easier to have it spreadable right away, and if those things help keep it covered and a little cooler… hmmmm, y’all might be converting me.

As for the health concerns:

“I trust cows more than chemists.”

and hasn’t trans fat (hydrogenated vegetable fats in margarine) been proven to be more dangerous to the heart than cholesterol? Eat some egg whites… the lecithin helps you metabolize the cholesterol… and then you’re all good. And of course, right in the middle of the whites, you have those yummy yolks, into which to dip your buttered toast.

 

[Catholic90]

Of course, we hardy ever eat the stuff now, so I guess it doesn’t matter. We don’t have any in the house at the moment.

I buy it in the 4 pound pack from Sam’s once a month. In between my local grocery store may also have it on sale, so I will also buy a pound or 2 then. We usually have no less than 3-4 pounds of butter ‘on reserve’ in the fridge or freezer, plus the stick in the butter dish on the counter.

We eat it on bagels, toast, pancakes, waffles, cooked vegetables, and of course bake with real butter, too.

My favorite story about baking was my first married Christmas. My DH had these favorite cookies his mom always made, so I requested the recipe from her. It called for “oleo”, and me, being the good farm girl, used real butter instead. On Christmas Day, I put out plates of bakes treats, including these favorites. Both my DH, MIL and FIL kept exclaiming how GOOD they were - what did I do?!?

 

[whatevergirl]

Wait, butter doesn’t go bad if it’s left out on the counter?

 

[lifeisbeautiful]

Lol, you guys do use a lot of butter hehe. We put it in the fridge, though we are ok with it sitting out for a while. I don’t leave it out overnight, but am ok with it sitting out for the morning. I don’t like butter melting and then getting cold again though hehe.

 

[TraderTif]

I buy it in the 4 pound pack from Sam’s once a month. In between my local grocery store may also have it on sale, so I will also buy a pound or 2 then. We usually have no less than 3-4 pounds of butter ‘on reserve’ in the fridge or freezer, plus the stick in the butter dish on the counter.

We eat it on bagels, toast, pancakes, waffles, cooked vegetables, and of course bake with real butter, too.

lol, well, I did buy some for…um…I think it was last Thanksgiving, for some recipe or other. (It took me forever to find a place that sells it by the stick!!)

I never ate many bread-products anyway, and once I cut wheat out of my diet it seemed easier to stop eating them entirely. And I don’t like butter on many other things.

I’m still learning how to cook, and I haven’t tackled much baking yet. Perhaps I will use more of it then?

 

[Beachcomber]

The things one learns around here.

We keep everything in the fridge: the margarine, the real butter, ect; and take it out to soften at room temperature before we use it. That’s how I was raised; but I do know lots of people who keep it out on the table top or counter all the time.

 

[yellowbird]

It called for “oleo”, and me, being the good farm girl, used real butter instead.

What is Oleo? Is it a lard of some sort? Or maybe it’s Crisco? I’m not real sure although it sounds like something my grandmother would’ve said. “The oleo is next to my pocketbook on the Davenport.”

 

[chewchoo]

butter will last a long time on the counter as well, before it goes bad. i’m talking weeks.

 

[Catholic90]

Wait, butter doesn’t go bad if it’s left out on the counter?

Nope! At least not at the rate we go through it! It is nice and soft for easily spreading on things then.

Lol, you guys do use a lot of butter hehe. We put it in the fridge, though we are ok with it sitting out for a while. I don’t leave it out overnight, but am ok with it sitting out for the morning. I don’t like butter melting and then getting cold again though hehe.

I just don’t like cold butter. It can’t be spread, tears the bread, and is yucky. Soft butter is sooo good!

lol, well, I did buy some for…um…I think it was last Thanksgiving, for some recipe or other. (It took me forever to find a place that sells it by the stick!!)

I never ate many bread-products anyway, and once I cut wheat out of my diet it seemed easier to stop eating them entirely. And I don’t like butter on many other things.

I’m still learning how to cook, and I haven’t tackled much baking yet. Perhaps I will use more of it then?

Well, when you DO bake, do yourself and your taste buds a favor and use real butter! There is nothing like it! The flavor difference is very noticeable, and the final product is oh so good!

My kids are home this week. Between breakfast and lunch just today, one whole stick of butter disappeared!

 

[baylee]

Oh My Gosh…one of the best things my husband has taught me (yes, really…lol) is that butter is just fine in the cabinet. I will never put butter in the fridge again. What is better than not having to struggle with the butter when you are trying to spread it on your toast!?

 

[Catholic90]

What is Oleo? Is it a lard of some sort? Or maybe it’s Crisco? I’m not real sure although it sounds like something my grandmother would’ve said. “The oleo is next to my pocketbook on the Davenport.”

According to my MIL, Oleo was what they called all margarines. She always baked with margarine.

Crisco was vegetable shortening.
Lard was rendered animal fat.

 

[grandiosa]

.
Lard was rendered animal fat.

Specifically, pork fat. Rendered beef fat is called tallow, and it was used to make candles for a long time. Still might be. I remember reading about Almanzo helping his mother make tallow candles in Farmer Boy, and wondering if their house smelled like sizzling beef all the time.

 

[lizaanne]

The salt inhibits bacteria growth.

I grew up on a diary farm and we always kept the butter out.

I never buy salted butter - I hate the taste of it. I prefer unsalted butter, it is so much better, on breads especially. Mmmmmmmm!!! Oh - and I’ve NEVER had unsalted butter go rancid sitting in the cupboard, even when I was single.

We usually have no less than 3-4 pounds of butter ‘on reserve’ in the fridge or freezer, plus the stick in the butter dish on the counter.

We eat it on bagels, toast, pancakes, waffles, cooked vegetables, and of course bake with real butter, too.

Yep! That’s us too!! I start to panic if I don’t have at least two pounds on reserve in the freezer, one if the fridge at the ready, and a stick in the dish!

Wait, butter doesn’t go bad if it’s left out on the counter?

No way sistah - and it is sooooo yummy that way!!!

Lard was rendered animal fat.

Was and still is! My dear Brit husband cooks with lard. He makes the most amazing fried breakfast potatoes. And he uses it to make Yorkshire pudding.

~Liza

 

[Catholic90]

Specifically, pork fat. Rendered beef fat is called tallow, and it was used to make candles for a long time. Still might be. I remember reading about Almanzo helping his mother make tallow candles in Farmer Boy, and wondering if their house smelled like sizzling beef all the time.

:thumbsup:Yes, exactly.

I remember my grandma rendering both pork and beef fat. We had big tubs of lard that we shared with neighbors. I also vaguely remember her adding lye to tallow to make homemade soap.

 

[Marsha_Adams]

French chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriés invented a substance he called oleomargarine, the name of which became shortened to the trade name “Margarine”.

Keep the butter out from before you start breakfast to after you finish supper, then put it in the frig. And yes, y’all use waaayyyyy tooooo much butter, but butter is still better for you than margarine is.

 

[Stella76]

When I lived in Ireland my Irish flatemates kept the butter out on the counter, and the opened mayo in the cabinet .

*Stella

 

[Island_Oak]

Only REAL butter, always on the counter, never lasts more than a day, always soft, never rancid. We clearly eat too much of it, but it was how I was raised and no one in the family is overweight/battling cholesterol yet…