Butter nostalgia?

@hawkeye10,

Quote:

(USDA): AA, the highest, A and B. The more flavor and aroma butter contains

(flavor and aroma come from the cow`s feed), the lower the grade. AA butter has only a slight flavor; A butter has a more definite flavor, and B butter

(virtually unavailable in supermarkets or foodshops) has a pronounced flavor. Most Americans prefer grade AA butter.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-12-05/entertainment/8503240187_1_unsalted-butter-restaurants

If no flavor butter is "better" wouldn't manufacturers remove more flavor as tech advances allowed?

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@hawkeye10,

Quote:

Wisconsin Grade AA butter has a smooth, creamy texture and is easy to spread. It contains a light, fresh flavor and a small amount of salt. Grade AA butter is made from sweet cream and is available at most grocery stores and supermarkets.

Wisconsin Grade A butter is made from fresh cream, has a slightly stronger flavor and possesses a fairly smooth texture. Grade A butter is also widely available.

Wisconsin Grade B butter can be used by consumers for table use. It is usually made from sour cream and is coarse in texture.

http://datcp.wi.gov/Food/Cheese_Butter_and_Egg_Grading/Butter_Grading_and_Labeling/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

Again we see that the butter made from cultured cream is given a lower grade. I dont know why the assumption is made that cultured cream gives off only a course texture possibility.

I think it is clear that the government has decided that you want your butter to have as little flavor as possible.

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@hawkeye10,

I lived for a bunch of years near Ferndale, CA - where one of our gallery artists used to pull up her truck and do plein air cow paintings..
anyway, my bias is toward this, but I can also see there are other elements to the question.

http://static.squarespace.com/static/51da37e5e4b097d8da5f55cd/t/51db0f59e4b0bbf106b85e46/1373310814647/grassfed_dairy_cow_crop.jpg

Dairy cows in Ferndale, California, home to three dairy operations that have gone completely grain-free.
link - http://twilightgreenaway.com/blog/

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from Allan Sherman's version of the "Mexican Hat Dance"

"In Wisconsin the dance on fresh butter
Which they squeeze from one cow or an udder"

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@djjd62,

Quote:

"We are what we eat," she said, "and that goes for our livestock too."

Source: Natural Foods Retailer to Farmers: Let Cows Graze

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@Walter Hinteler,

we must be careful how we introduce any type of food regimen to cattle. If they stay on pasture for long times, any sudden changes in their diets could kill them.

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Interesting thought on taste buds. They seem to have become more sensitive over time so maybe that's why butter tastes dull. Butter seems to just add moisture now, not flavor -- well, not real flavor.

I was browsing through the new upscale, local goods only store the other day and they had small farm whole milk -- at $7.50 a half gallon! Still, I might have to give it a try.... They had butter too but I hadn't checked my bank account lately so I didn't know if I could afford it. Maybe for a special occasion. I think it said it was "cultured butter" and now I know what that means! Thanks hawkeye!

Off to google "butter bell".....

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@Walter Hinteler,

Quote:

Butter nowadays tastes the same all the year. When I was young, in winter butter usually had a "silage-taste", but in May you got the "May butter" from the fresh grass.

Ohhhhh! That's cool!

Walter -- those other butters are imported. The one difference I've notice with them (as well as with the local Jacob's butter) is that they will sour if left out while the American butters don't. I've learned to be more careful with them.

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I've never heard of Cabot's or Kate's. Are they regional butter?

If so they'd be our equivalent to Tillimook or Darigold or Alpenrose (I only buy Alpenrose milk since it has the best taste) but their butter is as ho-hum as the others.

I like unsalted butter to cook with but want salted butter for my table butter so I usually have a stash of both. Maybe I just need to switch to olive oil for my bread....

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I'm sure what the cows eat makes a difference. My neighbors raise chickens and I always (try to) buy my eggs from them. The shells will be different colors and thickness and they said it is all determined by what they feed the chickens. True?

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@boomerang,

Me too on butters, use them the way you do.
On olive oils, I use the pure, not evoo, for oil that goes with most of my cooking, and use the best evoo I can afford (not primo) for putting on bread or salads, and use canola for cooking at higher heats, since it has a higher burn point. I'm not much of a high heat cook, but do it once in a while.

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We had a great butcher shop, and he only sold meat from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia farms. I was skeptical if there was a noticeable difference in taste, and the first time I purchased meat from him it was because I couldn't find a particular cut in the big grocery stores and it was a holiday, I really wanted a whole beef tenderloin. I expected to to taste good, but it blew all of us away. After that, I bought most of my meats, eggs, butter and milk from his shop. Unfortunately, a Whole Foods arrived in Annapolis, then a Wegmans opened in Gambrills/Crofton areas, his business shrunk until he had to close. I'm not knocking Whole Foods or Wegmans but small butcher shops can't compete will the big chains. But the locally gathered fresh eggs taste much better than those from the large factory farms.

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@glitterbag,

Yes to that. I always worry that our local small and very good butcher shop (with other good items) will run into such financial problems. Luckily, our side of town has no TJ's or WF's as competition. I usually whine at length about that, but it may help the small place stay in business.

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@ossobuco,

Do you mean a real butcher? Where they cut the meat in front of you to your specs? I have not seen one of them for 20 years, and I miss them. We have two what I will call meat shops, which is kinda cool because you can pick the pieces you want, but everything is brought in pre cut from the factory. The meat is also generally not particularly good, Costco is usually better.

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@hawkeye10,

We still have quite a few butchers who slaughter themselves.

But even at the butcher in the supermarkets you can get that beef/meat what you want. (And thanks to the declaration, you know where it grew up, where it was slaughtered ... )

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@Walter Hinteler,

Quote:

But even at the butcher in the supermarkets you can get that beef/meat what you want

Great, another reason to miss Germany Crying or Very sad

I think some supermarkets still do a little cutting, but not much, and in my town I dont know of a one that will do anything special for a customer. It is cheaper to have the mexicans cut everything down in Iowa right after slaughter , a lot cheaper, so that is what happens.

EDIT: it is getting difficult to find American chefs who know anything about butchering meat, as the restaurant industry has moved just as the supermarkets, bringing all the meat in cut all the way down to specs. This takes advantage of the cheap mexican labor in Iowa, and also eliminates all guess work on costs and also all waste.

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@edgarblythe,

Yikes! I remember that stuff
The brand was "I can't believe it's not Crisco"
Now any real butter tastes great by comparison

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@Walter Hinteler,

I go to this place.
http://www.owtons.com/

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@hawkeye10,

Yes, a relatively real butcher. They will spatchcock a very fresh turkey for me, grind sirloin to order, make their own many kinds of sausage, and so on. They get their meat from excellent sources, which I have read about but not memorized. Not in the sense of doing the slaughtering, but close.

Back in California, in Venice, our neighbor when we got our house (poor to low mediocre neighborhood, we loved it, now impossibly expensive 35 years later) was a butcher of the olden sort at a place some miles up the road..
so we tended to hear about it.

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@hawkeye10,

There are a number of Whole Animal restaurants around. I read about those in my food reading re NYC, LA, SF; haven't read about Chicago lately, but there's a history there, re the stockyards. Dunno what those restaurant sources are, but they might be interesting. I don't know if that is a trend around the country.

1 Reply

Butter nostalgia?

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