Poll of the Day > Hey, why do recipes call for unsalted butter... but then immediately add salt?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Topic

Because you never know how much salt is in salted butter. If you start with unsalted, then you know exactly how much you are adding.

In reality, most recipes aren't that sensitive and I use salted butter for almost everything instead.

Because people when following recipes don't taste their food to figure out if they like it or not, and instead follow things to a an exact amount, then complain that there isn't enough salt/pepper after.

so that you can control the amount of salt. if you separate them, then their quantities become independent. if you use salted butter then the proportion is fixed, or even arbitrary.

Sahuagin posted...

so that you can control the amount of salt. if you separate them, then their quantities become independent. if you use salted butter then the proportion is fixed, or even arbitrary.

That's irrelevant to homecooks, we can just... taste it. We're not producing 500 steaks a day and trying to optimize salt usage for our sous chef to get a consistent result.

shadowsword87 posted...

That's irrelevant to homecooks, we can just... taste it. We're not producing 500 steaks a day and trying to optimize salt usage for our sous chef to get a consistent result.

I don't know what you mean. if you use salted butter, then you are stuck with a minimum amount of either salt or butter. (if you use 2 cups of salted butter, then you have X amount of salt, minimum). as soon as you separate them, you are free to use as much or as little of either as you want. this doesn't mean you can't use salted butter, but things are immediately more flexible once you do.

it's basically modularity. separation of components is generally a better design; coupled components leads to problems.

Sahuagin posted...

I don't know what you mean. if you use salted butter, then you are stuck with a minimum amount of either salt or butter. (if you use 2 cups of salted butter, then you have X amount of salt, minimum). as soon as you separate them, you are free to use as much or as little of either as you want. this doesn't mean you can't use salted butter, but things are immediately more flexible once you do.

What the hell are you doing with 2 cups of salted butter.

yeah its just easier for mesuring purposes
if you ate following a recipe that asks for unsalted butter and salt and you use salted butter it may turn out saltier than intended, but its usually not a big deal

shadowsword87 posted...

What the hell are you doing with 2 cups of salted butter.

ignoring your asinine trolling, a large amount of chocolate chip cookies would take about that much (unsalted) butter.

Sahuagin posted...

ignoring your asinine trolling, a large amount of chocolate chip cookies would take about that much (unsalted) butter.

ya, as a kid we'd make cookies all the time and since we had a big extended family nearby we'd always make double-batches so having that much butter on hand was common

shadowsword87 posted...

What the hell are you doing with 2 cups of salted butter.

Deep frying it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-fried_butter

Sahuagin posted...

ignoring your asinine trolling, a large amount of chocolate chip cookies would take about that much (unsalted) butter.

How is that trolling? He asked a genuine question.

captpackrat posted...

Because you never know how much salt is in salted butter. If you start with unsalted, then you know exactly how much you are adding.

In reality, most recipes aren't that sensitive and I use salted butter for almost everything instead.

This. Using unsalted is technically best practice, especially for baking (where you don't have the option of salting it to taste because you don't know what it will taste like until long after you could add more salt), but you're rarely going to run into any major issues for it.

Sahuagin posted...

ignoring your asinine trolling, a large amount of chocolate chip cookies would take about that much (unsalted) butter.

I accept baking needing unsalted butter, because baking you *really* don't want a lot of salt in it.

In general cooking though, if I'm saute'ing some veggies, it doesn't matter if I'm using salted or unsalted butter.

Butter has a low smoke point, 302F (150C), so you have to be very careful with your heat. If you're sauteing or frying, you're better off using clarified butter or ghee, which has a smoke point of 482F (250C).

EvilMegas posted...

How is that trolling? He asked a genuine question.

Because Sahuagin took the time to explain why non-salted butter is preferable, but then he just focused on an unimportant part of the explanation while ignoring the overall point.

Or you just accept the fact that the water boils off and enjoy everything else that comes with it?
Ghee has a very specific taste that I don't always want, it's more intense of a flavor than just regular butter.

If I really needed high heat with butter, I would just add butter and olive oil, but, generally it's fine.

Let's see what adjl has to say about this.

EvilMegas posted...

How is that trolling? He asked a genuine question.

How was it genuine?

all of you relax, have a hug :3

Lokarin posted...

all of you relax, have a hug :3

No >:(

Lokarin posted...

all of you relax, have a hug :3

Stop you'll just make me feel lonely.

Lokarin posted...

all of you relax, have a hug :3

Lok, how dare you, I'm here as a one person army trying to remove countless celebrity chefs years of prescribing restaurant techniques for home cooks.

shadowsword87 posted...

Lok, how dare you, I'm here as a one person army trying to remove countless celebrity chefs years of prescribing restaurant techniques for home cooks.

unsalted butter is hardly a "resturaunt technique"
its just grabbing a different stick of butter at the store if you care enough
what a weird crusade

shadowsword87 posted...

Lok, how dare you, I'm here as a one person army trying to remove countless celebrity chefs years of prescribing restaurant techniques for home cooks.

I'll trust a celebrity chef over you any day

shadowsword87 posted...

I accept baking needing unsalted butter, because baking you *really* don't want a lot of salt in it.

Even then, salted butter usually has somewhere on the order of 1/2 tsp of salt per cup, which isn't exactly a huge amount. In some recipes, that means doubling the amount of salt you've got (or more), which makes a difference, but it's rarely enough to ruin it. In general, you can pretty comfortably get away with just omitting added salt from any recipe that calls for unsalted butter if you're using salted butter, but you can also just ignore it.

Mostly, if you have unsalted butter handy, it's best practice to use it, and stocking it isn't a bad idea if you do a lot of baking, but if you don't have it, you don't need to go out of your way for it. Just pay attention to how your baking turns out, and if it seems to be a bit on the salty side, cut back on the added salt next time you use the recipe.