cooking with butter

There is one main reason why people cook with butter, and that is to infuse a lot of flavor into the dish. Of course, this is not the only reason. Butter is a great ingredient to work with when it comes to cooking. It helps to brown meats perfectly, it adds a depth of color to the food, and it can even add a subtle nutty aroma to whatever it is you are cooking.

In short, butter is one great ingredient to always have on hand in your home or in your commercial kitchen. When you decide to cook with butter, you are in the company of some of the best chefs in the world who swear by this marvelous dairy product. To help you understand what we mean, here are some tips for cooking with butter that you should try:

  • When sautéing with butter, always make sure that the heat is not too high or your butter will burn. Also, when sautéing in butter, add in the rest of the ingredients only when the bubbling stops. Since butter has a lower heating point than oil, it helps to add a bit of oil to the pan before adding the butter to ensure that you have a higher heating point where the butter won’t burn easily.
  • When making sauces, use cold butter to help enrich your sauce. Recipes always tell you to add a pat of butter at the end to make your sauces richer and better tasting. Don’t use melted butter for this. Instead, use butter that is cold to ensure that your sauce does not break.
  • For crispy chicken skin when roasting, slip a few pats of butter between the skin and the flesh. You can easily slip off the skin of the chicken and insert a few pats of butter underneath it to make for a crispier and more golden skin after the chicken is roasted or baked. This is the same method you use when you want to add more flavor to your chicken by inserting sprigs of rosemary or thyme and cloves of garlic under the skin.
  • For creamier mashed potatoes, add butter first before milk or cream – when you want your mashed potatoes to have the perfect consistency, what you need to do is to add the butter in while the potatoes are still hot. This means you should add it in immediately after mashing and before adding other liquids to the mix.
  • For fluffier omelets, add a pat of butter or two when you are beating the eggs. This will help create pockets of air inside the omelet as it cooks. This will also add more flavor to your omelet when it is done. If you are adding more ingredients to your omelets, like cheese and other salty additions, use unsalted butter for this.
  • If you want butter to soften quickly, don’t use the microwave since it breaks the butter down. Instead, cut it into small pieces and leave it out on your kitchen countertop to soften. Better yet, follow our tip on softening butter with a warm bowl in a previous article.