Cooking & Baking With Butter: {Kitchen Q&A}

Butter is a key ingredient for both cooking and baking and you’ll find it well stocked in nearly every homemaker’s kitchen. This week’s Kitchen Questions and Answers is all about butter: Did you know you can stock up on sales and freeze butter? Or how much a stick of butter is and what its measurement equivalents are? Or that salted butter has a longer shelf life than unsalted? These questions and more are answered below…

Butter: Kitchen Q&A

Block Of Fresh Butter

How should butter be stored? Keep butter from spoiling by refrigerating it and make sure it’s wrapped well to prevent it from absorbing odors from other foods. It can also be kept covered at room temperature, but only keep small amounts at a time since the butter will go rancid quicker without being refrigerated.
Can you freeze butter? Yes, butter can be successfully frozen for around 6 to 9 months. Freezing butter is recommended if you buy butter in large quantities that you don’t expect to use within the marked expiry or “use by” date.
How much is a stick of butter? One stick of butter is 1/2 cup. For a quick measurement guide: 1 stick of butter = 1/2 cup = 8 tablespoons = 1/4 pound. For a pound of butter: 1 pound butter = 2 cups = 4 sticks.
How do I cream butter? Butter is creamed before adding to other ingredients in baking to help incorporate air into the batter. To cream butter, have it between 65° and 68° then beat the butter until it is smooth and creamy. You can use a mixer or beat by hand to do this. It’s common to find recipes that require creaming butter with sugar, same process applies.
How can I tell when butter is warm enough to cream? For best results, butter should be soft and between 65° and 68° when creamed. Here’s a quick tip: Press your finger in the butter and if it indents easily and holds the indentation, the butter temperature is about right. You can also use a food thermometer to test the temperature–stick it in the middle of the block to get an accurate reading.
How can I tell if butter is still good and has not gone bad or rancid? Rancid butter will smell and taste “off” or sour.
Did You Know: Unsalted butter goes rancid quicker than salted butter?
How do I clarify butter and what is it? How is it different than drawn butter? Clarified butter is melted butter fat with the milk solids and water removed. It’s easy to prepare and you can make this ahead of time, just store in refrigerator to use when needed. Drawn butter is the same thing as clarified butter. See this page for more details: How to Clarify Butter. One benefit of clarified butter is that it has a higher smoke point than regular butter so it’s great to use in frying and sauteing.
What is ghee? It’s similar to clarified butter but it’s cooked longer–The clear yellow liquid obtained by melting unsalted butter and discarding the sediment settled on the bottom. Source. It also has a higher smoke point than regular butter.
What is the difference between margarine and butter? Butter is a dairy product that is made by churning cream. Margarine is a butter substitute made from vegetable oils.
What does it mean when a recipe says: Dot with butter? This is a common cookery term with no exact measurement behind it. How to do this: Take little pieces of butter (about the size of a pencil tip eraser) and sprinkle them around the top of the dish. Another technique is to grate cold butter over the surface.
How much is a knob of butter? This is an old-fashioned cooking term you’ll find in vintage recipes. This isn’t an exact measurement but it’s about two tablespoons. Source.
When a recipe states an amount of melted butter to use, do I measure before or after melting? Unless otherwise specified, take care to measure the butter after melting, not before.
How can I soften frozen butter quickly? Grate the butter into a bowl, it will come down to room temperature quicker than being left in block form. See more tips for softening butter here.
Should I melt butter first when a recipe states to grease a pan with butter? No, just slather the pan with softened butter rather than melted butter. Butter cold from the fridge will work fine too.
How can I measure butter accurately? If your recipe calls for 1/2 cup butter, fill a one cup measure 1/2 full of cold water. Put butter in until water is at the one cup mark on the measuring cup. Pour off water and you will have an accurate measure of 1/2 cup butter. Follow the same procedure in measuring 1/4 cup, fill cup 3/4 full of water. If you want 1/3 or 2/3 cup, fill the cup 2/3 or 1/3 full of water respectively. Source: How To Measure Accurately.
Is it really necessary to have butter at room temperature when baking? For best results the butter should be at room temperature, this is necessary so that more air can get into the batter while being mixed. Source.
How much salt do I add when using unsalted butter in a recipe that calls for salted? Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt per 1/2 cup of butter.
Any tips for frying with butter? Foods come out delicious when fried with butter, but don’t cook with high heat since butter has a low smoking/burning point–frying with burnt butter will ruin the flavor of the cooked dish. Try frying or sauteing with clarified butter or ghee if you need to cook at high temperature (since they have a higher smoke point), your dish will still benefit from the rich butter flavor.
What is extended butter? This is adding other ingredients to butter so you have a larger amount and is a common frugal method to enjoy butter (mostly as a spread). See How To Turn One Stick Of Butter Into Two for a list of recipes.
What are compound butters? These are flavored butters that can be used on all kinds of things, try them on steaks, vegetables such as corn on the cob, fish, thick slices of bread, bagels and whatever else you want to slather it on. See How To Make Flavored Compound Butters for a list of recipes.