Butter

How Do You Like Your Butter? A “Heated” Debate

This little toast tool had us all up in arms.

October  8, 2018

“I love ice-cold butter. If you can’t see teeth marks in it, then it’s too warm.”

So says our Senior Editor, Eric Kim.

It might have had something to do with this tweet:

Now’s about the time I expect to feel some honest outrage from the crowd: Butter shouldn’t even be called butter unless it’s soft! We want to scoop it out from its waxy jacket, slightly molten from an hour too long in a windowsill. It seems as though the world is divided into two temperature-regulated camps. Well, more like four or five, counting all you melted butter purists and those who like it even frostier than a penguin’s pinky toe.

Golden curls. Photo by Rocky Luten

Oh, and possibly another camp for those like Katie Macdonald, our Assistant Editor, who said:

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“I don't really use butter...but if I had to, I think room temperature?”

Join The Conversation

Top Comment:
“My husband ate butter with his toast. He would spread a little on, it would melt, he spread on more. Why? I asked. Well, the first butter disappeared so I need more. His hyperbole. I made a little butter dish (I make pottery). It's a bowl with a lid which holds a quarter pound stick, softened to make filling the bowl easy. Spreadable, the way I like it. Unsalted, BTW.”
— ELLE
Comment

So how did we start quarreling over a condiment? Well, it all began with this Japanese butter spreader. Small and unassuming, it was only a matter of minutes before it had the office running for battle stations. See, Ella Quittner, Food Writer & Recipe Developer, didn’t skip a beat when she told me she prefers hers at room temperature. “And I spread it on...everything," she tells me. "I love to put a big glob on hot rice with parmesan (and salt of course)."

That answer (and the concept of going sans butter) we’ll address in another article entirely.

Hana Asbrink, our Senior Lifestyle Editor, chimed in with, “I like butter slightly cooler than room temp.” And then added, “I like to spread it on bread.” Same here, Hana.

Suffice it to say, everyone had a lot of feelings on the subject.

But back to the thing that started it all: the butter knife. On one side of the spreader, tiny perforations allow you to glide right over the creamy landscape of that Kerrygold. Like a harvester on a wheat field, a rake across a zen garden, a knife across...soft butter. Then it flips to spread the fine threads over every square centimeter of your bagel, your wrist unstressed, your breakfast—still hot out of the toaster—puddling with buttery goodness.

Though it be but small, it is fierce. Photo by Rocky Luten

But maybe you’re still not convinced. Maybe you, like Max McDonough, our Office Coordinator, would say:

“I like my butter at room temperature so I can watch it melt (as I melt, watching) into the folds of a flaky English muffin.”

Or like Danielle Curtis-Williams, Marketing Coordinator, who emphatically stated: “I like my butter to be ‘soft’ enough to cut, yet hard so that it doesn't melt right away when putting in a pan...unless I'm making toast, then it needs to be soft and ready to spread.”

Then there’s Casey Simring, our Assistant Buyer, who I feel speaks for the majority: “I like my butter to be a little cool but still spreadable, so it can melt into my freshly baked cornbread or banana bread as I spread it on.”

Me? I suppose I’m somewhere outside the ring because I’ll eat butter any way it comes. But for those days when I’ve forgotten to dig out that lone stick I keep in the freezer for emergencies and my waffles are just out of the toaster, it’s this Japanese butter wonder I’ll be turning to for instant, golden gratification.

We want you to weigh in too! Warm butter, cold butter (somewhere-in-between-butter)—what are you spreading on your crumpets these days?

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • Anne Cohen
    Anne Cohen
  • TC
    TC
  • Maureen
    Maureen
  • RitaMcC
    RitaMcC
  • henandchicks
    henandchicks
Maggie Slover

Written by: Maggie Slover

16 Comments

Anne C. August 14, 2019
Salted butter doesn’t go rancid. They started salting it during the Second World War so it won’t go rancid and soldiers could get butter. That’s why you needn’t worry, just keep it covered against odours.
 
TC May 13, 2019
!! Whipped buterrr !!
* mic drop
 
Maureen October 9, 2018
This may make some of you gag but...I always have a stick of salted butter sitting out in the kitchen for quick desperate butter moments. Never gone rancid so far but then I adore butter and eat with most everything---it disappears fast. I don't leave my homemade butter out though---it lives in the freezer. (Don't worry, when company comes I get a fresh cold stick out to put on table with dinner.)
 
Maggie S. October 10, 2018
You churn your own butter! That's incredible. What is your method? (Oh and no judgment here!)
 
Oui, C. October 14, 2018
Ah, i capito
 
Maureen October 14, 2018
The Kitchen Aid makes it easily and simply...and compared to commercial butter it tastes fantastic!
 
RitaMcC October 8, 2018
I'll take butter any way it comes!
 
Maggie S. October 10, 2018
We are kindred spirits!
 
henandchicks October 8, 2018
Perhaps someone should check on the assistant editor, Katie. Doesn't use butter? Is she okay? Maybe there's a hotline or something....
 
Smaug October 8, 2018
As most of the editors seem to need to butter their elbows before putting on a shirt, I find the contrast refreshing.
 
Maggie S. October 10, 2018
This is hilarious. She was was perfectly well when I last checked.
 
ELLE October 8, 2018
My husband ate butter with his toast. He would spread a little on, it would melt, he spread on more. Why? I asked. Well, the first butter disappeared so I need more. His hyperbole.
I made a little butter dish (I make pottery). It's a bowl with a lid which holds a quarter pound stick, softened to make filling the bowl easy. Spreadable, the way I like it. Unsalted, BTW.
 
Maggie S. October 9, 2018
Haha I support his logic! Your dish sounds lovely. Do you prefer to add a sprinkle of extra salt?
 
Smaug October 8, 2018
Frankly, just don't give a …. I am, however, somewhat baffled by the mention of a "flaky" English muffin.
 
Maggie S. October 9, 2018
Hmmm, fair point. How would you describe the texture?
 
Smaug October 10, 2018
I haven't seen the muffin in question, but it's a yeast dough (or batter)- how about "bready"?