This is the first in a test series of curated recommendations for how to bring joy to your kitchen, starting with my favorite food — buttered toast. These recommendations typically fall in the cute and functional quadrant, but not always.
Butter is back. After decades of vilification and poor imitations (I still can’t believe I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter! is an actual product), it’s back and hitting the runway. There are many explanations for why the cheery, sunny color is everywhere this spring — we all need pick-me-up and mocha wouldn’t cut it, the return of conservative values (butter is good old American fun), the lactose intolerant wanted in on the lactose-privilegeds’ fun, Big Dairy is behind it. My take is: we all love, and want to look like, a snack.
Butter in its perfect form — not in a cardigan, not on a board, never in a cup of coffee — is on a slice of bread.
The Equipment
cut the bread1
a really sharp bread knife (Zyliss ($20) for the toast curious; Misen ($89) for the bread addict)
if you are committed to baking (or purchasing) crusty sourdough regularly, consider dedicating a bread corner of your countertop with a hand crank bread slicer. Some might say it is excessive, I say it is a worthwhile investment for those who can’t be trusted to cut even slices
keep your butter at a spreadable temp
a classic, modern lewk by an Asheville glassblower
a butter dish that says “butter” by a San Diego ceramicist
a vintage Limoges option for your mother-in-law
the one for your Art Deco-obsessed friend who has everything
spread it with
a regular knife, your finger if you haven’t done dishes
a mismatched cutlery vibe (a la every restaurant in Brooklyn in 2018)
skip the dedicated butter knife. It’s unremarkable (and not cute)
be extra, and
churn it (the homestead pick)
culture it
commission Soeun Lee to make you a stained glass masterpiece of toast
The butter
I tend to keep 2-3 types of butter on-hand at all times. One with a high (~82%) fat content for complicated bakes (Kerrygold or Plugra), one utility generic brand butter for cooks where butter is not the star of the show, and one specifically for toast. The ideal toast butter, to me, is: assertively yellow (closer to chamomile than cream), a little bit sweet, and supremely salty. A few of my favorites:
Kriemhild Salted Sweet Cream Butter: I wish that more dairy producers would use the log format! I love this subtlety sweet and lightly grassy pick from Hamilton, NY. You can get it from Farm to People, and some of their other recipes online (including the 5lb bakers butter for summer projects — this Salted Butter Semifreddo has caught me eye).
Les Pres Sales Butter with Camargue Sea Salt: my husband and I spent two lazy weeks in Gordes during which I discovered this magical form of churned sweet cream and the chunkiest sea salt. He says it’s too salty; he is wrong. It is too expensive on Amazon, so if you see it irl, buy it. Isigny Ste Mère Beurre D'Isigny is a suitable sub and easier to find.
Rodolphe Salted Butter: I pick this up at La Bicyclette during my biweekly pilgrimage to pick up their Jambon Beurre (another excellent use of butter). The foil is festive, it spreads like a dream, and it makes me feel French af. Bonus: it’s Ina’s pick. You can grab it at Murray’s and most French bakeries.
ISO:
Cabot Small Batch Butter — the most luscious, umami-forward butter I’ve ever had. Over ten years ago, I made my then friend (now husband) buy me dinner at a now-closed creamery in DC. That butter changed my life.
The Lazy Bear team to actually deliver on their April Fool’s joke and start selling their cultured butter.
The Recipe
Two of my best friends moved away from New York last summer (bad), but another friend had the brilliant idea to crowdsource a cookbook as a going away present (good). Because I finished my own recipe early, I submitted one of my finest pieces of writing to-date under a pseudonym. I’m finally coming out of the woodwork and claiming credit.
Ingredients
10mg THC (per person)
~1/2 loaf of sourdough bread
French ass butter
Maldon salt
Instructions
Pregame your toast. Take that gummy or hit that blunt. Put on stretchy pants and settle onto the couch.
Set the vibe. Turn down the lights. Cue up something that you have to pay attention to, but won't make sense anyway (e.g., Christopher Nolan's filmography)
Once the time is right (you'll know it), send a trusted delegate to the kitchen.
Cut bread into 3/4 in thick slices and place in the toaster or toaster oven. You're aiming for light-medium golden toasty.
Remove the bread and lather it up with some thick slabs of butter.
Assess if toast is toasty enough and butter is melty enough. Return to toaster oven for another minute if necessary.
Add more butter. The end product should have some melty butter as well as some icebergs of butter on top.
Liberally sprinkle with salt.
Serve and munch as silently as possible (don't distract from the movie).
Check vitals. Repeat.
Note:
Toast can also be enjoyed solo in the bath (as pictured).
For more butter
Savor, a food startup launched in 2022, announced the first animal-and-plant free butter this week. Unlike animal-free meat (which grosses me out), I want to try it.
- of Strata Bites put together the best round-up of wearable butter that has me reaching for my credit card. Thankfully butter yellow is in my color season (more on that soon).
You’ll see many headlines about the health impact of butter and seed oils over the next few months, some based on a recent study, and others based on Instagram. The tl;dr: as with anything good, please enjoy in moderation.
While not about butter yellow exclusively, this history of Pantone is a fascinating tale of how to copyright and monetize a ubiquitous system.
Sophia
Bread recommendations would need to be an entirely separate post. For now, just use your favorite. As long as it isn’t pumpernickel.
This is why we are friends! Butter, always, for me. I recently spied a phone case on Etsy that looks like a stick of butter and am seriously considering it.
butter yellow forever! 🧈 ♡