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What's your favorite butter?

post #1 of 15
4/12/07 at 6:59am
Thread Starter 
Hi Gang,

Recently I've been exploring different brands/types of butter, and for the moment at least have settled on a lovely Irish butter (Kerrygold unsalted - Welcome to the World of Kerrygold) as my preference. I'd been using a locally produced butter made in the "European style" from a local, organic dairy, and it was quite good. Trader Joe's butter didn't push any buttons for me, nor did Pulgra, Land O'Lakes, and the local generic butter which is found most everywhere in the San Francisco Bay Area, Challenge.

So, what butter do you use or prefer?

Shel
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post #2 of 15
4/12/07 at 7:20am
have you tried the organic butter from your farmstead dairies...there's one that sells butter and cheese at Ferry Plaza FM a couple of years ago it was first row out the back and to the right..don't remember their name.

Also there is a farmstead dairy that sells nationally located north of SF that used to sell in the STL market but I've only found it in Santa Fe grocery stores. Now what was that name....they are organic and family owned, they were part of a big land legislation several years ago.....sorry to be so vague.
Woooo hooo.... the mind is not totally lost....Strauss Family....their yogurt is killer, butter's good too.
A few years ago the SLOWfood convivium did a butter tasting with about 20 varieties....Vermont won, Grasslands was right up there.
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #3 of 15
4/12/07 at 7:48am
Thread Starter 
Yes, Strauss Dairy. That was the local organic butter to which I was referring. Quite good, indeed, as are all of the Strauss products. Plus they're a great company - they really take care of their land and their cows. Their yogurt is, indeed, excellent, as is their ice cream. I do like their butter, although, for the moment, the Kerrygold has me in it's clutches.

Right now - as I type - I'm finishing up the last of the Strauss butter on a piece of matzoh, and have just started a cube of Kerrygold on another piece of matzoh, so I'm doing a taste comparison. They're both quite good,

Humboldt Creamery, located a little further North than Strauss, also produces some killer dairy products, Both Strauss and Humboldt adhere to very high and strict standards. Another great local dairy in these parts is Clover. Between the three, the area is covered with some of what I think is the best dairy products around - Humboldt also makes a great ice cream, Clover has some exceptionally fresh milk (Although Strauss is equal in that regard, and offers a nice cream-top milk in glass bottles - for those old-tyme traditionalists amongst us.

Shel
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post #4 of 15
4/12/07 at 10:07am
humboldt fog.....ummmmm
The chef at Niebaum-Coppola....think think thinkk.....really exceptional chef...sent Clover butter in with his Perigord black truffles, salsify, veal sweetbread mise en place for the 2006 food and wine show.....figure he knows his ingredients.

Generally I use Land o Lakes or Pulugra.....my supplier doesn't carry Grasslands. Strauss butter was one of the food items I brought back from Santa Fe, that tells you how much I value it.
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #5 of 15
4/12/07 at 10:26am
For the generic store brand butters up here, I like the Lactancia cultured unsalted butter, which I use to spread on bread.
"If it's chicken, chicken a la king. If it's fish, fish a la king. If it's turkey, fish a la king." -Bender
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post #6 of 15
4/12/07 at 2:06pm
I like locally made Scottish butter, from Ayrshire cows - very creamy. Or I use Bridel, a French butter with salt crystals - really great on crumpets. I use President french unsalted butter for baking/cooking and failing those, I use Lurpak, the Danish butter.
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post #7 of 15
4/12/07 at 3:07pm
ooooo....I've had those French ones and Lupac too....

Kelly McCowen, I knew that guy's name would come to me. Super guy. Raises his snails under wine barrels, forages on the Coppola estate for wild foods. Just a real talent. He used Clover.

One of the Jersey cow farms has a grass fed butter that is wonderfully rich.
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #8 of 15
4/12/07 at 5:22pm
Lupac takes me right back to France in one mouthful. When I use butter I use Land O'Lakes and have both salted and unsalted in my fridge.

On my morning English muffin, and to cook my breakfast egg whites, I use SmartBalance margarine. As I do this I give a mental salute to Cape Chef. (He is in a SmartBalance commercial. :))
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post #9 of 15
4/12/07 at 5:57pm
Vermont cultured butter makes me swoon. I only get for special occasions or recipes that depend on butter for flavor (shortbread and caramel). My small town used to have a local dairy and their butter was sold at a small grocery store, but the dairy closed after 40 years. The good news is a small cheese factory started up using milk from 30 miles away. Alas, no butter.
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post #10 of 15
4/16/07 at 7:19am
The Icelandic stuff that WholeFoods has. I could eat it with a spoon. Much like the Scottish stuff... :D
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post #11 of 15
4/16/07 at 7:26am
making your own butter isnt difficult but does require patients, try it you will have loads of fun, but i am talking about real butter not the stuff you buy in a supermarket and i am irish and love irish butter but its not real
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post #12 of 15
4/16/07 at 5:54pm
I use Land o Lakes. Kerrygold is good stuff too. I love Clover milk, but haven't tried their butter...
Bon Vive' !
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post #13 of 15
4/16/07 at 6:30pm
Thread Starter 
In what way is Irish butter "not real." In fact, how is supermarket butter not real? And what, exactly, is supermarket butter?

Shel
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post #14 of 15
7/4/07 at 7:07am

Raw Butter is BEST!!!

I use raw butter, from Organic Pastures (online...they won't let me post links yet..hhmmm?)

1-877-RAW-Milk

It is awesome, sweet as can be!!!

Also Organic Goat Butter from my local health food store will do me in a pinch...but raw butter is awesome and WAY Healthier!!!
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post #15 of 15
7/4/07 at 7:43am
Thread Starter 
Organic Pastures make some very good products, and they are a highly rated company.

The Cornucopia Institute

I had some goat milk buuter once - itwas WONDERFUL!

Shel
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