I leave it in the fridge, as we don’t use enough butter to make it worthwhile to leave out. If I know I’m going to have a dinner where it’ll be needed, I take it out of the fridge early and let it warm up. For impromptu spreadings, I keep a container of soft margarine in the fridge. At my house, cope with that or nuke your butter. We have too many ant problems in warm weather for me to risk leaving any possible food sources out.
Don’t give me hassle about real butter vs. margarine; I’m an expatriate Cheesehead (Wisconsinite) and probably ate more real dairy products in my first 20 years than most people consume in their lifetime.
geobabe–I guess it has to do with my alarm at the butter-consumption levels more than anything.
It’s as if I heard that my fellow-dopers so needed to have whiskey available the instant they needed it that they kept an emergency supply chilled in the fridge, in a drinking glass, with a napkin underneath because they couldn’t bear to spend a few seconds pouring a glass of whiskey. I would wonder if, perhaps, they had a little drinking problem there.
I use butter so rarely (for baking, or to scramble eggs in) that it belongs on my countertop about as much as, say, a bathing suit belongs there.
in the icebox until meal time, then I set it out and while I fix (whatever) it will soften enough for use, then back in the box.
wfq1513 yes, it’s a dairy product and will spoil…BTW what does your username mean? I posted my guess on the thread YOU started and then left us all hanging.
I keep my butter with my guns. It’s just good economic policy.
OK, I keep it in the fridge. I get butter in the plastic tub, and I like to just roll up a slice of bread and dip it in. Out of the fridge and into the microwave for 2-5 seconds, rotate and another 2-5 seconds, depending on how fill the container is. I never have problems with uneven softening. I’ll often leave it on the counter all day though.
My mom leaves the butter sitting out on the counter. I find this a bit distasteful, as we rarely use real butter and margarine looks particularly nasty when left out, so I put the butter back in the refrigerator after I use it.
My efforts do tend to be in vain…it usually just turns into a passive war of the butter location…but I am nothing if not patient concerning such endeavors.
Sheesh, people are acting like it would sprout maggots or something. The worst that will happen is that the flavour will be a bit off, and that takes a few days, and even then it only affects the surface of the butter - the interior is still fresh. And anyway, if that happens to you, just put out a bit less butter next time.
I really wouldn’t equate the frequent use of butter with alcoholism. Using enough so that a stick can be kept out of the refrigerator without going rancid hardly means it’s being consumed in terrifyingly harmful amounts. My husband and I go through a stick in about a couple of weeks.
Well, I’ve never lived compeltly on my own, but my parents always leave a stick out. It’s gone in about two days, between cooking and spreading. In my current living arangment, about 20 people share a house and kitchen, so we leave about two pounds out at a time and it never has time to spoil.
Hard butter is the devil incarnarte, only the natural warmth of the air (and NOT the warmth of a microwave) can drive him out.
unless you are using the butter as a weapon, it is only reasonable to store the product in a way that will allow it to be conveniently consumed.
therefore, OUT of the refrigerator is naturally the best place to store butter in the short term.
but individual consumers opting to keep their butter in a dish on the counter, in their freezer, or buried behind their shed really is very little matter to me.
HOWEVER when restaurants keep their butter refrigerated right up to the very last second, and then present the knife-bending, bread-shredding bricks to my table, i have only disdain and pity for the establishment. They should know better, and sadly, even “good” restaurants commit this culinary crime every day.
In cooler months it sits in its tub on the bench. In summer I spend the extra and buy a product from New Zealand called Butter Soft that is spreadable from the fridge without being blended with any oils or chemicals. It is more expensive but worth it to be able to have a spontaneous crumpet.
I have a butter bell. Bed Bath & Boys sells cheapo versions for about ten bucks and they’re great - they hold 1 stick (125 grams for you furriners) and they keep it at a spreading consistency. The water seals it pretty nicely.
Even in summer, the butter lasts almost two weeks - changing the water about every three-four days.
Recognize that at that rate, I’m using about two teaspoons a day, which is hardly coronary city. And even when I use more, I don’t worry about it: I exercise enough to counterbalance.
