Published Saturday, November 01, 2008. From Cook's Illustrated.
Do boutique butters deserve their rave reviews?
PRODUCT NAME | DESCRIPTION | PRICE |
Highly Recommended | ||
Lurpak Unsalted Butter
This Danish cultured butter tasted "creamy" and "nutty" on its own and baked up into cookies with a "near-perfect," "tight crumb." |
$4.99 for 8 oz. | |
Recommended | ||
Vermont Butter and Cheese Company Unsalted Butter
A favorite for those who liked a subtle “cheesy tang” to their butter, this small-batch New England log earned second place for being “rich” and “creamy” without tasting greasy. |
$4.50 for 8 oz. | |
Recommended | ||
Isigny Ste. Mère Beurre de Baratte
Multiple tasters compared this slightly sour French butter to “cream cheese,” “yogurt” and “mascarpone.” It also turned out “rich, buttery” cookies. |
$8.25 for 8.8 oz. | |
Recommended | ||
Beurre de Chimay
One taster noted that this “luscious,” “melt-in-your-mouth” Belgian butter tasted “just a few steps short of crème fraîche.” This plus a little sea salt, several tasters noted, would be perfection on bread. |
$4.99 for 250 g. | |
Recommended | ||
Land O'Lakes Unsalted Butter
Most tasters had no trouble picking this “plain,” “bland” supermarket staple from the lineup—“average table butter,” one taster noted—but it baked up surprisingly well in cookies. |
$4.69 for 1 pound | |
Recommended with Reservations | ||
Kate’s Unsalted Homemade Butter
Tasters appreciated this Maine-made butter’s “clean” flavor, though most felt its “sweeter,” “blander” profile paled in comparison to cultured butters. |
$4.99 for 1 pound | |
Recommended with Reservations | ||
PastureLand Unsalted Organic Butter
Most tasters noted this Minnesota butter’s striking yellow color. A few praised its “sweet cream” flavor and “rich” texture, but many found it “oily” and even “rancid” in flavor—perhaps due to its thinner wax paper wrapping. |
$6.50 for 1 pound | |
Not Recommended | ||
Beurre Échiré
Too much culture in this case, tasters thought. Only tasters who craved particularly “cheesy,” “sour” flavor in their butter liked this coveted French butter. |
$8.99 for 250 g. |