Ask Culinary Cory: Unsalted Butter
November 20, 2008 by Culinary Cory
Filed under Tips
Why do you prefer to use unsalted butter?
For years, I never really cared about the type of butter I used in recipes. The decision was almost always influenced by what was on sale. It could have been the bottom-of-the-barrel margarine, and I wouldn’t have flinched for a second. Now I that my focus has shifted to using more herbs and spices, my awareness of sodium content have increased.
I have found that unsalted butter allows me to be in control of the amount of salt that goes into my recipes. A decision to use unsalted butter is nothing like choosing Diet Coke over regular Coke. The flavor still offers the same rich creaminess you would expect from butter. Don’t get me wrong, I still like a good sale. But sometimes you can’t go cheap when it comes to great flavor.
Authors Note: This blog post is part of a series that answers a few basic cooking questions I have received in the past. Feel free to learn more about the series by checking out Ask Culinary Cory: The Series. You can also check out the other posts about Brown Sugar, Food Photos and Zesting.
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great advice, cory… another thing i have heard is that the companies who make the butter add salt mainly as a preservative, so the salted butter is often months older than its unsalted counterpart. i always choose unsalted! =))
I’ve always heard that it’s best to use unsalted butter when making anything, especially if there’s salt added in the dish (prior to serving). Was salt originally added to butter only for preservation purposes?
You’re right…you can’t go cheap! I always go for unsalted – you can totally dictate the amount of salt you have in your dish.
-DTW
I only buy unsalted butter just because one can always add salt but can’t really remove it. This was noted when a batch of butterfinger brownies were “ruined” by using salted butter. Ruined is in quotes because we still ate every brownie – can’t let food go to waste.
Thanks so much, love your site!
I think you can substitute unsalted for regular butter. Depending on what you are making, you will want to check for seasonings to make sure it’s not too salty.
So, it doesn’t really matter in a recipe if salted butter or regular is used? I was thinking about this very thing earlier this week…..I didn’t have any unsalted butter, so just reduced the regular salt in the recipe. What are your thoughts on substitution?