Taste Europe Offers Expert Tips for Delicious Bites with Advice from the Culinary Pros.
Spring is finally here, and it’s the peak season for fresh delicate strawberries, juicy asparagus, ramps, carrots, and rhubarb. Keeping it light and fresh is the best way to celebrate the season. According to Charles Duque, Managing Director, Americas for the French Dairy Board, “Nothing marks spring like asparagus or strawberry tarts, made with homemade puff pastry,” adding, “making perfectly flaky puff pastry is easier than you might think, it’s also much tastier, and the secret is French butter.”
Puff pastry, also known as pâte feuilletée, is made from a laminated dough composed of flour, butter and a pinch of salt that quickly and easily bakes into a flaky, light crust. Pastry chef and culinary instructor Jenni Field of Fearless in the Kitchen Pastry Chef Online shares, “I love using imported butter from France in my laminated dough. French butter is generally made with cultured cream, using milk from grass-fed cows, and as such, it provides a rich flavor. It is also higher in butterfat than American butter.”
Jenni adds “While water does provide steam for rising, I much prefer using French butter for my laminated puff pastry. The slightly drier texture stays workable longer during all the rolling and folding necessary to make thin and lovely layers in laminated dough.” Best of all, you don’t need to be a pro to make puff pastry. Field shares her online tutorials and recipes for both a “blitz puff” or rough puff pastry as well as regular classic puff pastry.
Cookbook author Dorie Greenspan also shares a “not so rough-to-make quick puff pastry” recipe in her xoxoDorie newsletter and says it’s fun to make and takes only twenty minutes. Even faster? Justin Chapple of Food and Wine magazine offers his trademark “Mad Genius” tips to making puff pastry in just fifteen minutes. He slices frozen butter in the food processor, uses bread flour as a base and layers in the slices of butter before rolling it out with a final secret rolling pin tip that he learned from Jacques Pepin.
Once you’ve made puff pastry you can use it to create a wide variety of dishes. For speedy and impressive appetizers and desserts, bake sheets of puff pastry dough and top with Hollandaise and asparagus or pastry cream and strawberries. Says Field, “Puff pastry is a lovely dough to use as a base for many springtime ingredients. The buttery flavor and flakey layers really let the delicate flavors of springtime shine. Consider filling a vol au vent with a tarragon-flecked chicken salad or serving a simple asparagus, ramp, or fiddlehead tart in a puff pastry shell.”
Head to Recipes for more delicious recipes, tips, and tricks using French butter.
Sometimes the best things in life are the simplest. Pain Perdu, often called French toast in America, is one example of that. In Europe, when a humble slice of stale bread is dipped in a wet mixture and fried in French butter, it becomes something that has impressed kings and endured for centuries.
The dish is so versatile that it can be served any time of day. One thing that shouldn’t vary is the use of European butter from France to cook and crown it. Higher-fat butter adds richness and lingering flavor that is impossible to duplicate with substitutes.
The origins on Pain Perdu can be traced to Roman times, when cooks would take their dense bread, dip it in a mixture of milk and honey, and fry it to make it more palatable. Taillevent, who wrote the influential early French cookbook “Le Viandier,” included a recipe for a similar fried bread dish. Louis XVI is among Pain Perdu’s many fans.
There are several nuances to maximizing the dish’s appeal. Just like using French butter as a flavor booster, it’s also critical to use bread that is at least one day old, said Chicago-based baker Romain Dufour. Dry bread soaks up more liquid and makes for a tastier, most custardy dish. In addition, Pain Perdu means “lost bread” in French. The whole concept is to keep the bread from being wasted, a lifesaving proposition in the Middle Ages and one that jives with current efforts to reduce food waste. “Please, let’s keep the origin of the recipe and be more sustainable,” he said. Dufour likes to use thick slices of sourdough French baguette, however it’s common to use brioche or challah for Pain Perdu. Chef Joris Barbaray of Bergerac in Portland, Oregon, will sometimes use a Pullman loaf because the semolina flour gives it some bite.
For the milk, many chefs use whole milk, cream or a mixture of the two. For the eggs, use the yolks only when possible; it will give the dish a quiche-like texture, Barbaray said. Both sugar and honey are traditional sweeteners for the soaking liquid. A little vanilla or rum can add additional flavor.
Once the bread has been soaked, it should be fried in French butter until crispy and golden. This is a dish where the higher fat content of French butter really makes a difference, said Barbaray. French butter has at least 82% butterfat and is made with real cream, while other butters are around 80% milkfat and sometimes contain powdered milk. “You want the protein from the cream to cook down because when it cooks down, that’s where you get this nutty flavor,” he said. Only higher fat content butter provides this rich, round, savory flavor and a gourmand experience.
Dufour agrees. He recently cooked the same dish with French and American butter. “The flavor of both was really good, but with the French butter, the flavor stayed in your mouth longer, so you could appreciate it longer,” he said.
French butter also provides Pain Perdu with its signature golden color. However, it’s critical not to overheat it or you’ll end up with an unappealing blackened mess. Carefully monitor the temperature while cooking to ensure you get the proper color and delicious caramelized crust that higher-fat French butter provides.
Patrick Quillec, owner of Café Provence and Verbena in Kansas City, grew up in Brittany, France, where they put butter on everything. He remembers his mother putting a little pat of the region’s salted butter on top of the warm bread and letting it slowly melt. Although he’s tried other butters, they don’t hold a candle to the ones from France. “They’re not as rich. They don’t have that smooth taste on your tongue.”
Pain Perdu for breakfast is traditionally topped with honey, fresh jam or a few raisins soaked in rum in addition to salted butter. Quillec has served it with plum jam and crème fraîche to rave reviews. Dufour likes the dish with whipped cream and fresh fruit.
Though Pain Perdu is often served as a breakfast or brunch item, it can double as an afternoon snack. If you want leftover slices, Barbaray recommends baking slices on a tray rather than frying them to keep them from getting too soggy. At another restaurant, Pain Perdu was turned into a dessert with the addition of Cognac-soaked cherries and ice cream. Salted European butter from France is the natural choice in these dishes as well. “Like with chocolate mousse, a little salt brings out the flavor of the other ingredients,” Quillec said.
this article originally appeared in the april 2023 issue of pastry arts
magazine.
on Groceries & Avoid Waste with One Simple European Ingredient
French Butters make inflation busting positively delicious.
With food prices continuing to rise, it’s more important than ever to avoid throwing out leftovers and wasting food. At home consumers can save money and still enjoy delicious meals, by looking no further than the humble tartine. By using European Butter from France, they can transform leftovers into the most delicious and money-saving snack or meal. According to Charles Duque, Managing Director, Americas for the French Dairy Board, “The richness of French butter is what elevates the beloved sandwich, the tartine.”
A tartine is a French-style open-faced sandwich made with bread, slathered with butter, and loaded with various toppings. It’s a great way to use up whatever is in the fridge or turn leftovers into a gourmet meal and is incredibly easy to make. With a little creativity, budget conscious shoppers can create a variety of delicious tartines that are both pocketbook-friendly and delicious. Traditionally served as a snack, they can be topped with smoked salmon, sliced hardboiled, or scrambled eggs for breakfast, with meats or vegetables for lunch or dinner. Another way to make a tartine is by creating this French breakfast radish butter terrine, and savor it on slices of a baguette.
French breakfast radish butter terrine
Experts offer the following tips:
1. start with good bread – The key to a great tartine is good bread. In a New York Times story on tartines, cookbook author Dorie Greenspan shares, “Since it is the bread that gives the tartine its structure, it is best to choose one that can stand up to the weight of the topping. The two most commonly used breads are a baguette cut from stem to stern (the firmer bottom half makes a better tartine than the curved top) and a tight-grained country bread, preferably the larger center slices.” Toast it, to create a perfectly crisp canvas for creamy French butter and the toppings of your choice.
2. Get creative with spreads – Good butter is what takes your tartine to the next level. Use butter from France, salted or unsalted, or made into a flavored compound butter (you’ll find recipes at Taste Europe). Sheana Davis, explains in her upcoming book Buttermonger, “Because they’re fed a diet pure in grass and other ground plantings, the milk of the cows is a different, richer in color, which then results in gorgeous yellow hues in butter. That’s another reason why chefs love working with French butters.”
3. Experiment with toppings – Anything goes when it comes to tartine toppings. Leftover roasted vegetables, grilled meats, cheese, and even fruit can all be used to create a delicious tartine. Traditional French tartines include butter and shaved chocolate, ham, and butter or even just butter and jam. Let your imagination be your guide!
A traditional French tartine made with butter and jam
Using leftovers to make tartines not only saves money on groceries but yields delicious, gourmet snacks and meals. Head to TasteEurope.com for an exclusive 3-step recipe for Tartine with French Herb Butter & Fresh Radishes and more recipe inspiration including a delightful selection of compound butters.
Butter’s behavior has a lot to do with its plasticity, also known as its ability to be shaped and manipulated. Butter is a saturated fat, also called a solid or plastic fat, which means that it remains solid at room temperature. However, there are some qualities that set butter apart from other saturated fats such as vegetable shortening and lard. Keeping these qualities in mind can make it easier to select and successfully work with butters with different fat concentrations.
Human, mammal and vegetable fats are made up mostly of triglycerides, which themselves contain three fatty acids (thus the name). “A unique characteristic of milk fat is that these triglycerides are composed of a wide variety of fatty acids that melt at different temperatures,” says Grace Lewis, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Dairy Innovation Hub at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. The fatty acids vary in length and saturation level, which allows butter to exist in different states.
“In the fridge, most of these fatty acids are compact and organized, creating a solid,” Lewis says. “As you move to room temperature, some are going to be liquid or less organized — what we call room-temperature or softened butter. When you heat them, they become more and more disorganized, creating a liquid.”
Butter’s plasticity also affects what happens when it is melted. “If it is cooled super quickly, the fatty acids will not be as organized in their realignment, whereas if a butter is cooled down slowly, the fatty acids have more time to realign,” says Lewis. “In other words, after melting, the storage temperature does alter the structure of butter, thereby altering the butter plasticity.”
Butter has the narrowest plastic range, so this change in structure is more pronounced in butter than other solid fasts, says Colette Christian, a chef instructor at the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts. “Even if the butter is melted, chilled and resolidifies, it will not behave in the same way as before it has been melted.” Think of butter as similar to chocolate, she says. Temperature consistency is extremely important.
Butter’s plasticity can also be affected by the level of butter fat in a dish. “By definition, butter is at least 80 percent milk fat, meaning that it is approximately 20 percent moisture and other components,” says Lewis. “If you zoom in on butter, it’s this continuous fat phase with little spheres of moisture. As you remove that moisture, you’re going to get a denser structure.” The denser it is, the less malleable it will be.
This information has practical implications for chefs making laminated and other types of dough. When making a laminated dough, try to keep the butter between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the entire process. “Plastic fats, if they are at the right temperature, will move with the layers of dough during the laminating process,” says Christian. “This creates even layers of dough and fat and makes for laminated doughs that are flaky.” Chilling the dough between turns helps to keep the butter within this range.
On the other hand, once butter get below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, it becomes brittle and can shatter under the layers of dough. When that happens, “the dough can have more of a bread-like surface instead of the desired blistered and flaky,” says Christian. She recommends using a laser thermometer to check the butter’s temperatures.
Butter’s touchy melting point is also why it’s critical to chill pastry dough before baking. “If, for example, biscuits go into the oven at room temperature, it is likely that the layers will be compromised and the biscuits will lack volume,” says Christian. The fat needs to melt at just the right point to coagulate with the proteins in the dough and deliver the expected volume and flake.
For pastries where volume and lift are important, this water can actually be a good thing. Evaporating steam helps to lift the dough and provide volume. For baked goods where a bread-like texture is not desirable and a strong butter flavor is, European-style butter is a better option. “Many pastry chefs who specialize in Viennoiserie love European butter and swear by it,” says Christian. “It can really glide underneath the dough layers.”
European butters, which have a butter fat content of 82 percent or higher, will also perform differently in recipes. If a recipe calls for European-style butter, it’s best not to switch it out for a lower-fat product.
this article originally appeared in the October 2022 issue of pastry arts magazine.
This year transform your holiday cookie plate into a more decadent treat with European butter and a coffee cocktail pairing, inspired by the espresso martini which is trending on TikTok and was reported by Nielsen to be one of the top 10 cocktails on premise in the US.
According to Charles Duque, Managing Director, Americas for the French Dairy Board, “Butter cookies are a holiday tradition in many countries and pastry chefs the world over, rely on European butter for this classic. During the holidays it becomes a star ingredient because it makes home baked holiday cookies even more delicious.” Duque also added that ending a meal with simple but sophisticated butter cookies and a coffee cocktail makes the meal feel even more special.
No cookie plate is complete without Vanillekipferl or Mexican Wedding cookies, the nutty butter cookies dusted with powdered sugar. Eat the Love blogger and cookbook author, Irvin Lin shares his recipe on Simply Recipes and uses French butter. According to Lin, “rich French butter complements the other key ingredient, toasted nuts. Adds Lin, “I love using European butter for recipes like butter cookies because it has so few ingredients in it that every ingredient needs to be top notch. French butter is awesome because it has more butterfat and is often cultured, so it has more flavor, which gives the cookies a richness that American butter doesn’t have.”
To pair with the nutty cookie try a Mexican Coffee made by combining 3 ounces of freshly brewed coffee with 1 ½ ounces of Amaras Mezcal Espadin and sugar to taste.
In this year’s French cookbook Gateau, author Aleksanda Crapanzano shares why she uses French butter in cake-like Madeleines and financiers. Says Crapanzano, “Of the very, very many fabulous things I have to say about French butter, perhaps the most important is not what it has more of (fat) but what it has less of (water.) For example, when one browns butter to make a deliciously nutty beurre noisette for a batch of financiers, water evaporates in the process. Less water means less evaporation which means more butter. Water is in fact rarely a friend in baking, as the combination of water and flour leads to the formation of gluten, which can yield a tough crumb.” She offers classic, spice and chocolate Madeleines. Perfect for a holiday cookie plate, the recommended pairing is Cognac & Coffee made with 3 ounces of coffee, 1 1/5 ounces of cognac and a dollop of sweetened whipped cream on top.
For an even fancier cookie that relies on European butter, try the Austrian jam cookie, inspired by the Linzer torte, another classic dessert made with European butter. Rick Rodgers shares in his classic Austrian cookbook Kaffeehaus that printed recipes for the torte started to appear in the early 1700s. Today the sandwich cookie with jam is a popular holiday favorite in the US. To pair with it try the Chocolate Espresso Highball—simply shake 1 ounce of Mozart Dark Chocolate liqueur with a shot of espresso and ice in a cocktail shaker, then serve over ice with a splash of tonic water. Cookies and coffee never tasted so good.
If you are making your grocery list for entertaining or looking for recipe inspiration, look no further than our recipes, where you’ll find tips and techniques using French butter that will make your meals even more delicious. View the store locator to see if your favorite retailer has French butter in stock.
this article originally appeared in the October 2022 issue of pastry arts magazine.
Butter from Europe (and specifically from France) has a reputation for quality that drives many chefs to purchase it. But what does science tell us about making pastry with European butter versus American? Are there reasons or specific circumstances when U.S. chefs should look across the pond for their dairy?
Chef Jamie Simpson, Executive Chef Liaison at The Culinary Vegetable Institute, says “Butter has a few leading roles for thanksgiving, but it’s really on stage throughout the entire performance. From the dinner rolls at the opening scene to the pie crust at the finale, butter is there to enhance the show every step of the way. Generally speaking, commercially available butter is better when it’s from Europe. It’s more buttery, it’s denser, and it’s more memorable than the commodity butter made here in the U.S. When you’re checking off your shopping list this season, don’t cut corners – go European with your butter. The mashed potatoes will thank you!”
To answer these questions, it’s helpful to understand how butter is made and what happens when it is cooked in pastry. “Butter is made from cream, which is an emulsion of small droplets of fat suspended in water,” says Kierin Baldwin, chef-instructor of Pastry & Baking Arts at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. The process of churning causes the dispersed fat droplets in the cream to glom onto each other and form a mass of fat with a small amount of liquid still trapped in it. This mass is what we know as butter.
Not all butters are the same. In America, butter must be made with at least 80 percent butter fat, according to Joanna Shawn Brigid O’Leary, PhD, a culinary consultant and food critic. (It will also contain 16 to 18 percent water and 2 to 4 percent other ingredients, such as salt.) European butters must have a minimum of 82 percent butter fat. These numbers are minimums, so it’s possible to find American-made produpxcts with a higher percentage of butter fat. However, many chefs reach for French or other European butters when they need that higher fat content because they know the product will deliver.
There are a few other differences. “Most European butters are usually cultured as well, which gives them a pleasant tang,” says Baldwin. Farmers in Europe are more likely to raise their cows on pastures (not in feedlots with a diet of corn) and less likely to use additives. These variables can have a major impact on the terroir or sense of place that contributes to the taste of the butter, O’Leary says.
So, is it better to use European or American butter in pastry? The answer depends on the baker’s goal. If you want a rich, buttery flavor, a higher fat content butter is best, which means a French or European product may be the right choice. The fat is where the flavor resides, so more fat means more flavor. In addition, when butter is blended with other ingredients, it creates small pockets in the pastry. “The butter has a tendency to stay in those pockets, not distribute throughout the food,” says O’Leary. “The taste becomes more magnified because when you have higher butter fat, you have more pockets.”
Things like butter cookies or kouign-amann, which take most of their flavor characteristics from butter, are ideal candidates for European butter, Baldwin says. She adds, “Any type of recipe that depends on the fat in butter for either leavening or shortness will do best with a high fat butter. Things that fall into these categories are laminated doughs, such as puff pastry, croissant and Danish; pie doughs and other flaky cut-in butter preparations; and creamed butter cakes and cookies.”
Butter’s molecular structure means it lends a smoother mouthfeel to baked goods. Butter is a saturated fat, which means there are single bonds between the carbons in its chemical structure rather than double bonds, says O’Leary. Whereas the double bonds found in unsaturated fats like oils cause them to be liquid at room temperature, the single bonds mean butter is solid. That’s also what gives butter its rich, robust flavor.
In O’Leary’s experience, lower-fat butter works well in baked goods that need to be lighter and fluffier. The added water creates more steam to leaven items and there is less fat to weigh down the ingredients. Lower-fat butter is also ideal for baked goods where the flavor of sugar or other ingredients—not butter—should be the standout.
Beyond considerations related to butter fat, O’Leary recommend that chefs make sure they store butter correctly and use it soon after buying. “Fat absorbs liquids easily. Even if you store butter near a liquid that’s pungent, it can absorb that flavor quite easily. I would also pay really close attention to how long it’s been on the shelf and how it’s been stored, because exposure to light can alter the quality.” If possible, visit the brand’s website and read their suggestions on exactly how to store their butter for the best results.
“The most important thing to concentrate on when you are using butter in a recipe is being consistent,” says Baldwin. If a recipe has been tested with a higher-fat butter and a lower-fat product is substituted, the ratio of liquids to other ingredients is likely to be off and the recipe will not work as well. Stick to European butter for recipe that call for it to be results that will wow every time.
this article originally appeared in the October 2022 issue of pastry arts magazine.
Ways To Enhance Your Thanksgiving with a European Touch
Make your Thanksgiving dinner a showstopper with European butter
Thanksgiving, a holiday inspired by traditional fall harvest festivals in Europe, is one of the top two food holidays in the US. According to a YouGov poll in 2020, the most popular Thanksgiving dishes in the United States included turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, dressing, bread, and rolls. This year home cooks can make their traditional Thanksgiving feast even more delicious by upgrading staple ingredients such as butter.
Chef Jamie Simpson, Executive Chef Liaison at The Culinary Vegetable Institute, says “Butter has a few leading roles for thanksgiving, but it’s really on stage throughout the entire performance. From the dinner rolls at the opening scene to the pie crust at the finale, butter is there to enhance the show every step of the way. Generally speaking, commercially available butter is better when it’s from Europe. It’s more buttery, it’s denser, and it’s more memorable than the commodity butter made here in the U.S. When you’re checking off your shopping list this season, don’t cut corners – go European with your butter. The mashed potatoes will thank you!”
According to Charles Duque, Managing Director, Americas for the French Dairy Board, “Using French butter is one way to make a Thanksgiving meal better than ever.” He adds, “French butter has a higher fat than American butter or locally produced butter because it is churned longer to reach at least 82% fat content– and those two percentage points make a big difference.”
We turned to a couple of our top sources, Jolene Kesler of Simple Cooking with Pep and Chef Rick Rodgers, to learn a few simple ways French butter can improve your favorite Thanksgiving dishes. Jolene regularly shares delicious recipe content and inspiration with an audience of over 18,000 on her blog and social media. Chef Rodgers is the author of many books on holiday cooking, including Thanksgiving 101 and Christmas 101. He currently teaches baking classes at Coffee and Cake with Rick Rodgers.
ROLLS AND BREAD
What’s Thanksgiving without fresh, homemade bread? And what’s bread without butter? “Nothing elevates fresh bread like French butter made with cream from cows who graze on grass and herbs to give it a distinctive flavor.”, says Rodgers. “Since I buy unsalted French butter for my baking, I will sprinkle a bit of flaky sea salt over the butter in the butter dish.” French butter is available in salted, unsalted and flavored varieties so you can dial up the flavor of those green beans, corn or spuds.An alternative to the trendy butter board is to create butter spreads for your rolls or bread. Jolene says, “If you have a sweet tooth like me, adding brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon to softened French butter is an excellent combination. However, if you’re more into savory notes, try mixing softened French butter with fresh herbs like sage and thyme, or add some cranberry relish. Regardless of which combination you choose the richness French butter provides will wow your guests!”
BASTING THE BIRD
Turkey is the de rigueur main dish, and Rodgers recommends basting it with butter. Rodgers advises, “Mash 4 to 8 ounces of softened French butter with 2 to 4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs (such as sage, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, and parsley) seasoned well with salt and freshly ground pepper. Roll into a log with waxed paper and freeze an hour or so until firm. Slip your fingers under the turkey skin to loosen it from the breast and thighs. Cut the firm herb butter into thin disks and slip them under the loosened skin.”
According to Rodgers, “As the turkey roasts, it will take on a wonderful flavor, aroma, and color from the melting butter, and the drippings will be beautifully seasoned, too.” The amount of butter you need depends on the size of your bird.
SPECTACULAR SIDES
Green bean casserole may be a traditional side of choice, but it’s heavy. Rodgers suggests balancing your menu with a simpler side dish that features clean, fresh flavors. The key? French butter.
Says Rodgers, “French butter has such a rich taste that heightens the easiest side dish.” He shares his recipe for green beans with toasted hazelnuts for an elegant but fresh take on traditional green beans. “Blanch green beans (preferably thin French-style haricots verts) until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes; drain, rinse, and pat dry. Melt two tablespoons of French butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the green beans and cook until heated through, about 3 minutes. Add another tablespoon of French butter and two tablespoons of water and shake the skillet until the additional butter melts with the water and forms a light sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with toasted, skinned, and sliced almonds and serve.”
Sometimes a side dish can take center stage, especially for vegetarians. Says Jolene, “My favorite thing to make is mac-and-cheese featuring a Bechamel sauce. Bechamel sauce includes flour, milk, and butter. This dish depends entirely on the sauce, so the creamy notes in the French butter truly elevate the flavor. It’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser for adults and children.”
Regardless of the main dish, stuffing or dressing is a must. According to Jolene, if you buy pre-made sides, like stuffing, you can personalize them and make them unique with French butter. “Melt French butter with a mixture of salt, pepper, and various fresh herbs, like rosemary, thyme, and sage. Drizzle over the stuffing before serving for an elevated experience, ” advises Jolene.
Looking for ways to use French butter in your recipes? Head to TasteEurope | ButterofFrance on both Facebook and Instagram. These are filled with recipes, tips and more information than you could possibly need, all about the butters of Europe.
Grilling is heating up, and that means it’s time to grab the butter, and don’t cut costs by avoiding the good stuff. According to Data Bridge Market Research, grilling is currently growing due to the rise in the barbecuing on weekends and holidays, especially among young people. And there are no signs of slowing down! The report also predicts that the BBQ Grill Market will grow at a rate of 5.10% during the forecast period between 2021 and 2028.
Meanwhile, according to Future Market Insights, the global butter market is estimated to reach a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 4.9% during the forecast period of 2022 to 2032 and the United States remains the EU’s largest importer of butter.
So how does the growth of grilling and the consumption of European butter – and particularly French butter – go together? Americans are discovering the joys and benefits of grilling with European butter. In fact, many top chefs around the country notice the perks and flavor nuances of French butter.
For example, Chef Sheana Davis, butter monger for Bread & Butter Winery in Napa and author of the upcoming book Buttermongers, says that in addition to the classic addition of butter to grilled steak, there’s no limit to what you can grill with French butter. From sauteed vegetables on the grill, to grilled cheese, and even scallops and shrimp, Davis enjoys utilizing the high-quality butter in all of her summer grilling. A longtime fan of compound butters, Davis recently even perfected a recipe for asparagus with a chive lemon butter, featuring none other than French butter.
Davis explains that appeal, “With the 82% butter fat and the cultured flavor of the butter, French butter can really add a new level to the dish.” She adds, “When I was in Paris three years ago, I attended a butter tasting and they paired butters with wines from the same region. It was an eye-opener. The slight and yet pleasant sourness is what I really enjoy about the butters of Europe.”
Another chef and grill master who religiously uses European butter is Paul Jimenez, a.k.a. @bigpaulonthegrill, and Founder of The PaulieStrong Foundation, which uses cooking to create awareness for Childhood Cancer Research. Jimenez says “it’s all about flavor and French butter provides a unique nuttiness due to the quality of the cultured cream and what the cows consume. It gives it a nutty, mellow tang, and reacts differently when baked and grilled. French butter is extremely versatile in its uses. Spread it on toast and you will experience a subtle, yet delicious difference from traditional American butters, or poach raw lobster meat and prepare a game-changing lobster roll this summer.” He adds, “I like to use French butter to top a seared or grilled steak, and to poach seafood such as lobster or crab legs.” He adds that shrimp poached in French butter is “absolutely incredible.”
Charles Duque, Managing Director of the Americas for the French Dairy Board, explains where the pleasant sour tang of French butters comes from. “Cultured butter is treated with cultures like yogurt and is then fermented and churned. This results in a fuller, deeper flavor and is much creamier. There’s a slight tang from the cultures, just like with yogurt.” To make sure your butter is truly the best, look for the AOP or AOC label. Adds Duque, “Butter with an AOP or AOC is a protected butter from a specific region. If a butter has this symbol, it means it is produced following certain guidelines and uses milk specifically from a certain region.”
And it’s not just the flavor that makes European butter the pick of American chefs. Adds Davis, “the texture is so elegant based on the cream content. French Butter spreads so well and adapts to many dishes.” She shares her pro tips:
Purchase only what you need and keep it fresh
Store in an airtight container so that the butter does not absorb refrigerator flavors
Keep a portion on your counter in a butter dish so you have immediate access to spreadable butter (perfect with your afternoon baguette)
Jimenez also offers this top tip, this time for poaching with French butter on the grill. The key is to prevent the butter from boiling or it will separate. “Try to keep the butter between 160 and 175 degrees F. Use an instant read thermometer to keep it under 180 F,” he notes.
If you want to elevate your cooking, visit the website www.TasteEurope.com
@TasteEuropeButterofFrance is where you’ll find many recipes using European butter, along with a store locator, and more tips and techniques for adding more flavor to your favorite recipes.
Julia Child famously said, “With enough butter, anything is good.” And given that she learned to cook in France, we know that she was talking about French butter.
Julia Child introduced Americans to French cuisine and to French butter. In fact, she once said, “With enough butter, anything is good.” Even though she was born over 100 years ago, American’s fascination with her and French food are still popular. In fact, both the Food Network and HBO premiered shows based on Julia Child this spring!
Fortunately, you don’t have to go to France to enjoy French butter; it’s more available than ever in the US, and American chefs are eager to teach you how to use it. TasteEurope.com and @TasteEuropeButterofFrance are filled with recipes, tips and more information than you could possibly need, all about the European butter.
Pastry chef and recipe developer Alex Roberts of Alexander Bakes over medium heat. Add coated cutlets and cook until golden brown on both sides. Cook in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan. Place the chicken aside on a plate., based in Los Angeles, says, “I choose French butter because it’s higher in quality and flavor than American butter, which is often made with more water, giving it a pale-yellow color.
French butter is cultured by way of fermented cream, which gives it a slightly tangy flavor and smell.” But it’s not just the superior quality and flavor, he explains. “The lower water content helps it stay colder longer, which means the butter is a bit dryer, making it perfect for laminating croissants or puff pastry (this is a technique often used in pastries where you fold and roll butter into dough repeatedly to create super thin layers).
Also, the tanginess from cultured cream adds a bit of nuance to something like a classic chocolate chip cookie.”
French butter is the natural choice for baking French pastries. “French butter makes laminating croissants way, way, way easier. American butter melts quicker (more water!) and cracks easily when cold, making it hard to laminate with. There’s a reason that French croissants are always better!” explains Roberts.
Kristin “Baker Bettie” Hoffman, chef, baking instructor and author of Baker Bettie’s Better Baking Book agrees, adding “If I am baking something that is specifically French, like croissants, then I will most definitely turn to French butter. In these instances, I will make a point to state in the ingredient list that French butter should be used for best results.”
Charles Duque of the French Dairy Board explains that French butter is superior to alternatives due to several factors. “French butter, by law, must have a higher fat content, so it is naturally richer and has a creamier taste than American butter. French butter comes from milk from grass-fed cows, which produce a more savory, nutty-tasting butter than non-grass-fed cows.”
When shopping for butter he says, “Butter with the PDO label is a protected butter that signifies a production guideline regulating milk, production process, terroir and savoir-faire. If a butter has this symbol, it means they are produced following certain guidelines and using the milk from a specific region.”
Looking for ways to use French butter in your recipes? Head to www.TasteEurope.com, or @TasteEuropeButterofFrance on both Facebook and Instagram. Here you will find recipes, tips, a retail locator and more to bring the European butter experience to your table.
Whether he’s behind the stove in one of his Parisian restaurants (Semilla and Freddy’s) or with his students at the prestigious École Supérieure Ferrandi, whether he’s working on culinary styling for one of his many book collaborations or passing on his skills to others around the world, creativity and learning are the heart and soul of Éric Trochon’s cuisine. As a “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” in 2011, his talents have been exported all over the world. Like him, his art is in motion, his intellectual curiosity is insatiable and he cooks in inventive, correct and generous ways.
What is your first buttery memory?
My first sole meunière at the Ferrandi school of cooking. I was 15 years old. It was very successful … beginner’s luck! We tasted it; I remember the contrast between the pearly flesh, firm and fragrant, and the cooking butter, just nutty, slightly lemony … wow!
What place does butter hold in your kitchen?
An essential place. I’m crazy about butter! For me, butter is an indispensable marker of French gourmet cuisine, but using it wisely and in the right way requires a lot of expertise. I often assess the talent of cooks around by the way they cook with butter: do not burn it, do not add too much, their movements as they baste a roast with a spoon and, most importantly, the results obtained, which must never leave an impression of fattiness or heaviness.
How do you use butter?
Raw, cooked, salted, sweet … blended in, for cooking (meunière), to finish sauces, biscuits, creams … the list is a long one. Without butter, I would be a little lost. I travel around the world a lot, and sometimes I can’t find butter locally (or only poor-quality butter); I then feel something is missing … I must then correct and readjust my recipes, and the result is never as flavorful!
What qualities do you see in it?
Butter is a pure delicacy … It is an incredible holder of aromas. The buttery note prolongs the taste of food in the mouth. Butter ennobles the simplest products and provides the little “French twist” which is essential to all other preparations.
