Dairy
Butter
Also called unsalted butter
An emulsion of fat, water and milk solids made by churning cream. It is not interchangeable with oil when you need those browning solids.
Origin
Churning surplus cream is an old dairy habit across Europe, South Asia and the Middle East. Ghee is the same idea with the solids removed.
Flavour
Sweet cream when fresh; toasted hazelnut when the solids brown. Old butter tastes of the fridge or of cardboard.
How it is made
Cream is sometimes cultured, then churned until fat clumps and buttermilk separates. Salt, if used, is worked in at the end.
How to use it
Cold and firm for croissant lamination — warm butter melts into the dough and you lose the layers. Foaming butter means water is cooking off; brown butter is a few moments later, when the solids toast — pull it before they blacken. In butter chicken and Japanese curry, pair it with oil so the solids do not burn while spices bloom. Margarine will laminate in a pinch and taste of nothing.
Storage
Fridge, wrapped, away from onion. Freeze extra in portions.
Recipes using it
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