I Can't Believe IT'S Butter!

Ever wonder why the butter served in restaurants (with price ratings of $$$ or more) tastes so good? It could simply be the atmosphere cultivated by the (not your own) dining room & polished waitstaff, a special occasion that makes you swoon, or your expectations as a diner. A person who shies away from butter at home will naturally be delighted by the “real thing“ due to the heightened sensitivity of the senses that deprivation generates. For cooks & foodies who embrace the flavor of butter and appreciate its utility in baking, the type of butter served in upscale restaurants may explain the mystery. Professional chefs, bakers and gastronomes favor “European-style” butters over the “Sweet Cream” kind.

The USDA mandates that anything claiming to be ‘Real Butter’ must contain at least 80% fat (butter is just one of the many foods whose integrity is protected from imposter processed products by the government). Most “European-style” butters contain at least 82% and as much as 86% butterfat. In addition, the cream used is “cultured” (actually, soured) by the addition of lactic acid bacteria to enhance the flavor. One of the most popular brands of butter used in restaurants is Plugra. I personally prefer Organic Valley ‘Pasture Butter’ which is made with milk from cows that have actually grazed on grass. Animals raised on their natural herbivorous diet (not corn or other grains) are happier, healthier and actually pass on the nutrients found in grass (yup, grass contains vitamins A, E and beta-carotene) as well as healthy fats like conjugated linoleum acid (CLA) to the humans beings who drink their milk or eat their flesh.

I didn’t grow up eating butter, my mom bought Fleishman’s margarine because my father had high cholesterol (we didn’t know about transfats back then). Like many health-conscious Americans, I accepted the “Lipid Hypothesis” that saturated fat and cholesterol in the blood contibute to cardiovascular disease. Thankfully, I was introduced to the Weston A. Price Foundation which promotes the consumption of nutrient-dense foods through education, research and activism. They are not afraid to challenge politically-correct nutrition advice and protect farmers & consumers who prefer to produce and eat wholesome natural foods like raw milk, grass-fed beef and lacto-fermented vegetables.

I think I was actually most sold on the benefits of real butter by my interest in Ayurveda. The Weston A. Price Foundation introduced me to the facts about fat - that the human body NEEDS saturated fat (Mom, I am sorry that I never believed you when I was a teenager) and certain types of saturated fat offer amazing health benefits. And I could never quite swallow all the butter - no matter how good it tasted - that I was instructed to use in culinary school. However, the Ayurvedic concept that ghee aids digestion and pacifies Vata struck a cord (ghee is also used in Ayurvedic pharmacology as a vehicle for herbal medicines and in spiritual rituals). What a revelation: the clarified butter (butter in which the water and milk solids have been removed - the same thing as ghee) used in classic French cooking is good for you. Maybe this is the TRUE explaination behind the “French Paradox“?

While high quality, organic ghee is available in most grocery stores and on-line (such as Purity Farms brand), it is relatively easy to create the “pure essence of milk” out of butter in your own kitchen.

Ghee
1 pound unsalted butter, preferably organic

Heat butter in heavy-bottomed stainless saucepan over medium heat. Allow butter to melt and simmer gently. Reduce heat to as low as possible to allow butter to simmer gently without risk of burning. Butter will foam and sputter as moisture evaporates and milk solids sink to bottom of pan. DO NOT STIR. Remove pan from heat as soon as ghee is done to prevent it from burning. The ghee is finished cooking when the color of the butter becomes a beautiful golden hue, it emits a pleasant popcorn-like smell and sputtering noises drop in tone and frequency (this is due to the complete evaporation of the butter's moisture content). Depending on the size of your pan and type of stove used, cooking time should be about 15 - 20 minutes. The milk curds on the bottom of the pan will take on a light tan color (the ghee has burned if the curds are allowed to brown). Allow ghee to cool until just warm. Pour ghee through a strainer lined with cheesecloth into a DRY & STERILIZED glass container. Allow ghee to cool completely before placing lid on top. Ghee may be stored at room temperature for several weeks or in the refrigerator for several months. This recipe yields about 1 3/4 cups.

Survival of the Fittest

Ever wonder how the human race managed to survive without today’s nutritional know-how? Contrary to popular confusion, healthy eating is not rocket science. As evidenced by the survival of the cave man (no offense to the caveman, I have more respect for him than Geiko‘s ad agency), generations of “uncivilized” homo sapiens were able to meet their basic nutritional needs. Sure, there were nutrient-deficiency diseases like beriberi, scurvy and rickets in certain isolated populations before the chemical constituents of food were identified in the 20th century. But generations of human beings ate well enough to fuel their active lifestyles, such as hunter-gatherers, nomads, farmers and other types of manual laborers.

Before the age of trains, planes and automobiles, dinner consisted of whatever was readily available within a small radius from home. A meal might consist of only one or two items - perhaps deer meat and berries from the forest. Communities living in the higher lattitudes would go most of the year without fresh vegetables (they did store and preserve some produce for the barren winter months). Their diet was definitely limited in scope and would not have satisfied the dietary mantra of “moderation, balance and variety.”

The “Basic Four” food guide, based just as much on politics as it is on science, wasn’t issued by the USDA until 1958. By then, most households had refrigerators, freezers and a pantry to conveniently store a broad spectrum of foods. Clever chemists and industrious agricultural scientists have succeeded in boosting the American food supply and offering consumers a tremendous variety of choices. With so many options, you’d think that we’d be better off today. Yet, we are not. Our ancestors had the distinct advantage of living in era before the modern supermarket full of processed foods and sly marketing claims. With so many “things” (not all edible products are foods) to select from, today’s consumer NEEDS some guidance.

So here‘s my suggestion: “Eat real food.” A friend of mine once told me about the advice she received from her grandmother: “Don’t eat anything you can’t make in your own kitchen.” As a chef who likes to experiement, I really like that advice.

I’d also add that you should strive to cook with local ingredients - using whatever definition of local feels right to you (and is practical). Environmental concerns aside, local ingredients contribute to good health by virtue of their seasonality. Ayurveda, the health system which originated in India over 5000 years ago, recognizes the existence of three principal seasons that correlate to the three main harvests of the year - spring, summer and fall. The food that is gathered at the beginning of each season serves as an “antidote” to the conditions of that phase of the year. For instance, fruit is abundant in summer when the body needs it to cool down under the intense heat of th sun. Whereas, root vegetables are harvested in the fall and stored for the winter time when their warmth and grounding effect is most needed.

So take the advice of Mother Nature, the original nutrition expert, because she has the compassion to provide us with the resources we need to withstand her sometimes nasty and unpredictable ways.