Butter - Gourmet Guide

The popularity of Butter, especially Gourmet Butter, continues to rise even in the face of low-fat dieting trends. The success of Butter could be attributed to the fact that upscale Americans love the exceptional flavor of farm-fresh, cultured Butter and find it irreplaceable. Featuring Butters from both cows and goats, igourmet.com offers imported Butters from the top European and domestic producers. Bring out the toast and discover this dairy staple's true potential!

Cooking and Serving Suggestions for Butter: Butter is a vital ingredient, base, and flavoring in a wide range of dishes. Butter adds moisture to baked goods, silkiness to sauces, and enriches a wide range of steamed vegetables. Many professional bakers swear by the Danish Lurpak Butter we offer, for the richness it adds to pastries. We've found that home consumers prefer to savor Gourmet Butter on its own with toast, vegetables, and on potatoes.

To enrich a simple pan sauce, add a few tablespoons of Gourmet Butter at the end, then gently swirl the Butter in. Allow the Butter to slowly melt and incorporate into the sauce; don't rapidly whisk it in.

When baking, make sure to allow the Butter to come to room temperature so it can be easily incorporated with the other ingredients in a recipe. The main exception to this guideline is for pie crusts, which rely on the Butter staying relatively cold and solid to product a flaky texture.

Butter can be readily frozen for approximately six months.

If you want the flavor of Butter, but need to cook something at a high temperature, you can raise its smoke point by replacing half of the Butter with a neutral cooking oil like canola or grapeseed oil.

Looking to add a simple, finishing touch to your dinner? Consider making a few varieties of Compound Butter. Simply allow your favorite Gourmet Butter to warm enough to be workable (but not so warm that it begins to separate and become goopy). You can make a wide range of Compound Butters, including thyme and lemon zest, basil and sun dried tomato, garlic and rosemary, blackberry and pepper, and jalapeno and shallot. Then you can simply freeze your creations, and later chop off a medallion to top off chicken breasts, steaks, fish, or mashed potatoes.

What is Cultured Butter?
On the igourmet.com website, you'll see some Gourmet Butters are listed as "cultured." Similar to the live cultures in yogurt, Cultured Butter has a higher amount of beneficial bacterial cultures that convert sugar into lactic acid. Before the milk is churned, the milk is warmed and the cultures are introduced to produce the lactic acid. This is the same way milk is made into crème fraîché. This gives the milk a distinctive tang, the strength of which varies on how long the milk was allowed to ferment. Then, like uncultured butter, the milk is churned until it produces Butter.

Health Benefits of Butter: Butter is a great source of Vitamin A, D, E, and K, as well as a great source of selenium. Many types of Gourmet Butter also contain iodine in a form that is easily absorbed by the body. Arachidonic Acid, which is found in Butter, is crucial to the health of cell membranes and brain functioning. Compared to Butter, margarine can have a high amount of trans fats. These trans fats raise the body's risk of conorary heart disease, where they raise the amount of LDL cholesterol in the bloodstream and lower the beneficial HDL cholesterol.

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