On countertop butter
Do I have to refrigerate butter? I prefer it soft and spreadable, but after a few days on the counter it gets a greasy rancid tinge. Is there a middle ground between rock-hard-refrigerator-brick and partly-decomposed mush?
God I love butter. That fleeting window of effortless spreadability and unspoilt, fresh taste—! With the right carb partner it can ignite disturbing behavior in yours truly. I once sat down in front of a live-streamed surf contest, unsheathed a baguette and began dipping it like a paintbrush into a dish of perfectly softened and salted butter. By the end of the contest I had polished off a second loaf of bread (I returned to the same bakery without shame ) and more than a stick of the good yellow stuff.
Marry me
But as your question points out — we aren’t always lucky enough to encounter butter in its ideal state.
Butter falls into the “refrigerate for quality” category of foods. Unrefrigerated butter will not make you sick, no matter how long you leave it out. But after too long on the countertop it will develop a foul, rancid taste.
How long is too long? This is mostly a matter of temperature. In winter, a stick of countertop butter may maintain its fresh flavor for a week or more. In summer, unrefrigerated butter might begin to sour in just a few days.
So how do you get perfect spreadable butter every time?
It’s a question of equipment. You need the right butter dish. At first glance, you may be tempted by the “butter crock”, an Etsy-chic, two-piece contraption. It suspends your butter inverted above a temperature-stabilizing water bath. The water insulates the butter and maintains an ideal temperature — always spreadable, slow to spoil. And magically, somehow, the butter never gets wet.
Yet there is a catch with this countertop conversation piece: every time you want to refill the butter crock you have to mash the new stick (which is presumably fresh out of the refrigerator and rock hard) into the exact shape of the receptacle. If you do a half-assed job then your butter will get wet. What a crock of shit.
Instead, buy a “butter boat”. Same functionality with fewer headaches. It’s basically a double-hulled butter dish — pour water into the outer hull, drop your butter stick into the inner hull and return the lid. In this climate-controlled porcelain kayak your butter will remain spreadable and unspoiled for up to three weeks! But I suspect you won’t need that kind of shelf-life for a single stick — I mean your question is literally asking for advice on how to consume butter with less effort. I like you.
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