Butter...

[mattl]

I was reading though one of the other threads and noticed many like the old heated butter compartment in vintage fridges.  I've seen comments over the years about how folks miss this option.  I guess I have to ask why?

 

I never refrigerate my butter I use daily, I have a butter dish on the counter and it stays there.  I keep the rest of my butter in the fridge.  I buy it when it's on sale, 10-12 lbs. and it keeps fine for months, never freeze it btw.  I keep the house cool in the winter so the butter is often too hard on the counter - that might be the only reason for a heated butter keeper in my situation.  I've thought about designing a small butter warmer you plug into a USB port to keep the butter spreadable in the winter months, but I just pop in in the micro for a few seconds.

 

What is the attraction of the vintage heated butter compartments?

 

[maytagbear]

Easy to explain the attraction

Two words: torn toast!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[lordkenmore]

The attraction is that one can never have too many neat features that haven't been used on new appliances for decades!

 

[washman]

parkay

 

[turquoisedude]

It's part love of gadgets and part 'I want the butter to spread easily' in my case...  I also remember my father's dismay when he moved back to Montreal and his brand-new 2010 refrigerator didn't have one - hmmm, I guess that's where I got it from!  LOL 

 

[customline]

Believe me.............

Once you have one, you don't want to go back.

 

[mattl]

Don't people just leave butter out?  Been doing that for ever, as has my entire extended family.  Several have butter dishes that sit in a water bath to keep it cool in the warmer months.

 

[customline]

Keeping it on the counter exposes the butter to varying temperatures. If it's kept in the controlled butter dish inside the refrigerator, the temp is more constant. It's really just a preference.

 

[gyrafoam]

If it's not salted it needs refrigeration. Not so many Americans churn their own butter anymore, so with salted butter nobody cares and would rather put the door space to better use. I stuff cheese in the butter compartment. The unsalted butter I keep in the freezer and thaw it as I need it for baking. The salted stuff is on the dairy counter.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I'm a victim of torn toast, myself...

My NEW, IMPROVED Whirlpool, does not have that neatest, greatest feature, since the ice maker!

Gyrafoam: I had no idea your kitchen had a separate meat & dairy preparation area in it...</p>

And I love the...-- --(Parkaaayyyy!) tag, too...</p>
 

 

-- Dave

[this post was last edited: 3/16/2017-17:17]

 

[earthling177]

I use a butter keeper like the one in the link.

The only difference is that they usually tell you to change the water every 2-3 days, but I find that if I use salted water instead the butter keeps for at least a full week, which is how long the butter inside lasts in our home. Then I run it thru the dishwasher and refill it.

I find that if I just leave the butter in a regular butter dish on the counter the oxygen makes it taste stale very quickly. YMMV.

Cheers,
   -- Paulo.

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[petek]

I keep a day or two's worth of butter out on the counter covered, the remainder in the fridge.. If it's on sale and I buy extra I'll freeze those. My gosh everything doesn't need to be in the fridge all the time.. you can leave a few eggs out for a couple of days in a dish no harm done. I never put peanut butter in the fridge , and mustard never needs refrigerating. 

 

[ea56]

I've always kept a butter dish out on the counter in a covered pyrex butter dish, and my Mom always did too. There has never been a problem of any illness doing this. I can't stand hard butter! And I agree with Petek above, peanut butter, mustard, ketchup don't need to be refrigerated. Now mayonnaise, thats a diferrent story, but I have heard of some people keeping it unrefrigerated, that is a hell to the no for me!
Eddie

 

[davey7]

Do... people actually refrigerate peanut butter?

 

[earthling177]

Some do, in South America -- but that's a much warmer place than here, and when you leave it out at temperatures over 90F consistently, it can get rancid.

 

[brisnat81]

It must be nice to be in a cool enough climate to leave butter out. In the sub tropics here you end up with a pool of oil with a rancid lump of solids in the middle.

With the demise of the butter keeper, we just use Butter blends for eating and pure butter for cooking. I grew up with a mum who insisted on margarine so the concept of trying to spread hard butter is beyond me. Michael can do it, but I just end up with bread full of holes.

Our last fridge from the mid 90's still had a butter keeper in the door, but its been gone almost 10 years now.

 

[ea56]

If you have to keep your butter in the fridge because of a hot climate, you can soften it for spreading by putting in the Microwave at 10% power for 1 min. for a cube (stick), check it after the first min. if you want it softer, rotate the cube and give it another 30 secs., or so. I do this all the time to soften butter for baking, works like a charm and lets me be able bake at a moments notice.
Eddie[this post was last edited: 3/16/2017-17:51]

 

[rp2813]

Eddie, when I use the microwave to soften butter, the thing I notice if I let it go too long is that a soft spot develops in the center of the stick/cube while the ends and sides retain their shape.  What's puzzling is that the microwave cooking method is known for leaving the edges more done than the center of whatever it is that you're cooking.  I wonder why the opposite is true with a stick of butter.

 

[ea56]

Ralph, what power are you using? I've had that same thing as you describe happen too when I used any higher power than 10%. I also keep a real close eye on it if I go beyond 1 min. But I know what you mean about the soft center. I think the reason it works for me at 10% power is that there is a long time between each zap, for lack of a better term. This gives the cube/stick of butter a chance to absorb the heat before the next zap. Microwaves heat from the inside out. Highly untechnical, I know, but it makes sense to me, LOL.
Eddie