BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge

Subject: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Mr Red
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 06:47 AM

I recently tried this and it has several benefits: Use a cheese slice.

You get a thin layer that is easier to spread further. Especially on toast.

Or even tear into smaller pieces.

it lubricates the slice which makes slicing the cheese less dangerous (I have the scars).

The only problem comes near the end of the butter, to which I plonk under the next block and when the three or four block stack is ready you can slice it at 90 degrees to the grain (as it were).

Should I patent the idea?

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 07:21 AM

Cut rock-hard butter into smallish pieces and microwave uncovered for ten seconds. Voila, spreadable butter!

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Mr Red
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 07:36 AM

First define your smallish then the ten seconds has more meaning. And throw in the max power of the microwave for more confusion.

I prefer my method, the toast softens the butter too, and the spreading is nearly done before you squish the butter.

Just a though, but I have images of people thinking you should use the cheese slice like a knife, not so. It slices the butter into thin mats like you would with cheese.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 07:44 AM

Ahhhh - Got it! Cheese slicer not Cheese slices!

Had me puzzled for a few minutes :-)

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 07:47 AM

I keep a small covered bowl with about a 1/2 stick of butter on the kitchen counter. It doesn't melt, it doesn't go bad because it isn't out there more than a few days at a time. And at room temperature it doesn't tear bread or force odd divots onto the surface of the toast.

Easy peasey.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 07:48 AM

I don't have a cheese slice but I do have a microwave oven. No need to go to any expense buying anything I have never felt the need for.

I don't bother cutting the butter up. I just put in the block and microwave for 10 seconds. The outside is then soft enough to scrape off sufficient for a piece of toast. After that, I leave it out of the fridge to warm up naturally.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Mo the caller
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 07:53 AM

Yes I keep a small slice of butter in the butter dish. But room temp in my kitchen is not always warm enough for easy spread butter in winter.
So I combine the first 2 methods thin slices of butter laid on bread. Warm bread in microwave 5-10 secs. Turn the butter over - it will be warm where it was touching the bread. Spreads easily.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: akenaton
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 08:09 AM

There's this new fangled stuff called spreadable butter that someone just brought into the village.

Its terrific for bicycle chains!

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 08:41 AM

I tend to hack off thinnish slices/bits of my frozen butter (I keep mine in the freezer cos I love it so much I could easily eat a slab of butter on a piece of toast) & put them on the second side of the bread that I'm toasting - of course, this won't work for those of you who have toasters, my toast is made under the grill.

I've also used spreadable butter (= butter & oil) & recently bought a new type - butter with avocado oil, & as much as I love butter & avocados, they do not mix. Might be OK under some kind of spread, but as butter on toast it is yukky.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 09:01 AM

Kerrygold spreadable butter £1.90 for 250 grams, Enlish butter from my local Tesco, Morrisons or Sainsbury's 0.85 pence for 250 grams.

No contest.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 09:07 AM

Take a kilogram or so and put it in the microwave (full power) for ten minutes.

Spreadable butter!

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 09:17 AM

Mrs G has started making her own. Very nice it is too.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: MikeL2
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 09:27 AM

Hi

I hate using hard butter. Just let the wife do it....she is expert at it.

If I know I am going to have sandwiches or toast I just take the better out of the fridge an hour or so before I need it.

Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: GUEST,#
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 09:55 AM

I do the same as Acme. Key to that is using glass or ceramic to keep the butter in and key also is to keep it covered. Butter picks up odors very easily and quickly. Just the way it is. In fact most dairy products attract odors from other foods such as onions and garlic.

Decades ago I called a respected dairy company that was selling their milk in plastic 'bottles' because the milk tasted funny (funny peculiar, not ha-ha). I guess more than a few people had. Turns out the trucking company was also hauling 50-pound bags of onions for various stores and supermarkets. The milk was picking up odor from the onions, even through the plastic. They changed that practice and I ceased buying milk sold in plastic containers. It's good to note that even in your fridge the same thing will happen. So unless you like buttered toast with a subtle hint of garlic in your jam or marmalade . . .

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 09:57 AM

We don't keep the current butter in the fridge. Like Mo's, ours is too cold to spread during the winter. Yeah, max microwave power for ten seconds, depending on how cold the butter is. By smallish pieces, think of lumps sufficient to butter one slice of bread each. The more butter you're softening, the longer it needs. Let common sense and experimentation prevail.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 10:03 AM

May be sacrilege to some but we keep our out of fridge butter in one of those Tupperware containers with a clip on lid. Doesn't seem to taint the butter and keeps it untouched by anything around it. There is one that takes a standard pad of butter perfectly.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 10:06 AM

BTW - Would a butter curler not be better than a cheese slicer? I always thought they were a a bit on the fussy side or posh but, on reflection, they may be good with butter that is too hard to spread.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Bill D
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 10:26 AM

We have a couple of nice glass butter dishes.... works fine, except in Summer, as we can't keep kitchen cool enough to keep butter from sagging into goo.

So... I have a cheese slicer like that linked above, but never thought of using it for butter. Duh! Next Summer...

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: GUEST,John J
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 11:45 AM

I like Mr Red's cheese slicer idea - I'll try it tomorrow!

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: GUEST,Musket
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 12:04 PM

We keep the butter in the fridge but a small amount in a Tupperware jobby in the cupboard with the mashing tackle.

Mrs Musket only likes butter but I took a taste for Benecol with olive oil when I was trying to get my cholesterol down. a) it worked. b) I like the taste on toasted tea cakes but not bread and jam.

I reckon we have a butter curler somewhere in a drawer.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 01:15 PM

For reasons that are unknown, even to me, I don't like butter when I put another spread on. Be it jam or potted beef it just doesn't seem right to me. I suspect it was a childhood trauma :-)

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 01:29 PM

I don't keep the current butter pack in the fridge, but if the room is too cold for it to be spread I put the butter dish near the table lamp and the warmth from the bulb softens the butter just enough to make it spreadable.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 01:39 PM

Best method of softening butter by far was amply demonstrated in 'Last Tango in Paris'
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 01:58 PM

Seriously, consider used a vegetable peeler.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 02:20 PM

We don't keep butter in the fridge at all, same with some cheese , such as Gouda and cheddar, we don't chill those either. But we do eat cheese at a rapid rate...my favourite vice...er, well, maybe my third favourite.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 03:45 PM

Spreadable butter is butter that has been messed with. You can bet your life that what's been added won't exactly be single estate extra virgin oil. You will not find spreadable butter anywhere near my house. Just find a way of warming your butter. And, as long as it isn't a heatwave, butter in a butter dish will keep perfectly well for many days out of the fridge. Other spreads that come in tubs that express surprise that the contents are not butter are never found in my house. They are absolutely nothing like butter and are artificially-concocted, artificially-coloured and bleached concoctions. They are, frankly, not food.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 03:46 PM

There is nothing as concocted as a concoction. :-(

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Raedwulf
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 03:52 PM

1) Buy a butter dish. Then you wouldn't have to keep the butter in the fridge.

2) If you really have to spread it straight from the fridge, take it out, use an ordinary knife to slice off what you think is about the right amount, pop it in your mouth & chew it around for a few seconds. Then spit it back onto your bread / toast & spread.

Microwave, WTF? What is wrong with you people?! ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 04:02 PM

Toast the bread OR heat the knife.

Did you know ?

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 04:32 PM

Mrzzy - your link does not work - you left off the http bit so the blickifier thought you were referring to a page in mudcat.org

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Mr Red
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 05:12 PM

Would a butter curler not be better than a cheese slicer?

Not as I see it. A thin mat of butter is already thin enough, it just needs attaching to the toast, which might have a curl of it's own.

I gave up on Spreadables etc because of the processed nature.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 05:27 PM

Well, Raedwulf, if it's December and your butter's a little hard and you urgently need to butter a couple of soft, floury baps, the microwave is the ideal ten-second solution. Either that, or you leave great, thick, unspread dollops of butter on your baps, or you tear your baps to smithereens in a vain attempt to spread the butter. And, for the benefit of the dirty-minded, I said a couple of soft, floury baps, not a couple of soft, flowery baps. Though why not, but only with the best butter...

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Jack Campin
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 07:14 PM

Was it straight from the fridge in "Last Tango in Paris"?

Might have been more soothing that way.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 07:39 PM

I'm buggered if I know what you blokes are on about...

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Dec 15 - 10:59 PM

Years ago my mother had a refrigerator with a butter compartment inside the top of the door that had a little warming tray so you opened it and took out the butter dish with perfect consistency butter. Odd, when you think about it. And alas, at the time, she was using margarine. If we only knew then what we know now . . .

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 18 Dec 15 - 02:16 AM

There's this new fangled stuff called spreadable butter ......


...... I took a taste for Benecol ......


I don't do pretend.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Kampervan
Date: 18 Dec 15 - 03:54 AM

The original spreadable butter was 100% natural butter, but it only comes from summer milk from grass-fed cows.

Unfortunately there's not enough of it to satisfy demand, so they've started to add in vegetable oil.

But if you look you can find spreadable which is 100% butter.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 Dec 15 - 03:59 AM

You could always use a blowlamp...

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: GUEST,Spleen Cringe
Date: 18 Dec 15 - 08:18 AM

Simple. Bite off a chunk off butter, chew it for a few seconds and spit it onto your toast. Spreads just fine.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 Dec 15 - 08:35 AM

If you have the odd 40 quid to spare you could get one of these.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Dec 15 - 08:53 AM

Cor, that's overkill is that. If you can do some forward thinking, by a couple of hours maybe, you could just put the butter dish in a warm room for a bit. I hasten to add that I myself am congenitally unable to do this kind of planning.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 Dec 15 - 09:17 AM

Well, there you have a conundrum, Steve. On the basis that time is money, how much will you save by spending that £40? :-)

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: EBarnacle
Date: 18 Dec 15 - 12:07 PM

My previous post disappeared. Just use a sharp knife to skive the butter and it will spread on the most fragile bread with no trouble.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Dec 15 - 12:23 PM

Not on a soft floury bap if it's still just as cold it won't.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 Dec 15 - 12:29 PM

What about a balm cake, an oven bottom or a stottie? :-)

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: GUEST,Musket
Date: 18 Dec 15 - 12:35 PM

Spooky. As I have a quick read through the thread, Mrs Musket brings the Kenwood beater through for me to lick. She has just been making the brandy butter ready for Chrimbo.

Can someone start a thread on Collings guitars? I need to ride my luck.

Subject: RE: BS: spreading butter straight from 'fridge
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 Dec 15 - 01:04 PM

I wouldn't stick my tongue in a Kenwood mixer. Not after last time...