Butter or Margarine?

[leehljp]

About 2 months ago I changed from using margarine to butter about half the time. For toast and even for light frying, I can tell a world of difference.

First, the background. My dad always liked butter. Mom started buying and using margarine back in the early ‘60s. I could taste little difference between margarine and butter back then and continued to use margarine through the years. LOML and family went off to Japan in January of 1986. We came back to the States several time between then and the winter of ’91.

In ’91-92 I noticed something different. Either the bread changed in the USA or the margarine changed, or both. Most loaf bread (sliced) just didn’t taste quite right. And toast with margarine was just not as crisp. IF not eaten immediately, the bread seemed slightly soggy. I never had this problem in Japan.

This kept nagging at me to find out the difference, and I basically gave up eating buttered (margarine) toast on this side of the ocean because of this. This past winter, I started to cook (fry) a couple of eggs using a few pats of margarine. The margarine melted, then it boiled, steam was released and it took a couple of minutes before only oil was there. Whoa! That margarine had to be 20% water.

This past week, I made two pieces of toast and buttered one and added margarine to the other.

Results:
Margarine toast was soggy almost immediately;
Buttered toast remained crispy.

I'm giving up the watered down margarine!

By the way, I have lost 10 pounds since I started using butter daily about three weeks ago. I am not quite sure how this equates to healthy living. I don’t overdo it but use about a pat of butter daily, or maybe two if cooking eggs.


One tip for buttering toast: Butter doesn’t spread like whipped margarine, so I cut butter into pats, place a pat on the toast and use a Harbor Freight heat gun on the butter. In about 10 seconds, it is fully melted. Toast is crisp too. Finally, I can eat and enjoy toast like I used to!

[marc82much]

About 2 months ago I changed from using margarine to butter about half the time. For toast and even for light frying, I can tell a world of difference.

First, the background. My dad always liked butter. Mom started buying and using margarine back in the early ‘60s. I could taste little difference between margarine and butter back then and continued to use margarine through the years. LOML and family went off to Japan in January of 1986. We came back to the States several time between then and the winter of ’91.

In ’91-92 I noticed something different. Either the bread changed in the USA or the margarine changed, or both. Most loaf bread (sliced) just didn’t taste quite right. And toast with margarine was just not as crisp. IF not eaten immediately, the bread seemed slightly soggy. I never had this problem in Japan.

This kept nagging at me to find out the difference, and I basically gave up eating buttered (margarine) toast on this side of the ocean because of this. This past winter, I started to cook (fry) a couple of eggs using a few pats of margarine. The margarine melted, then it boiled, steam was released and it took a couple of minutes before only oil was there. Whoa! That margarine had to be 20% water.

This past week, I made two pieces of toast and buttered one and added margarine to the other.

Results:
Margarine toast was soggy almost immediately;
Buttered toast remained crispy.

I'm giving up the watered down margarine!

By the way, I have lost 10 pounds since I started using butter daily about three weeks ago. I am not quite sure how this equates to healthy living. I don’t overdo it but use about a pat of butter daily, or maybe two if cooking eggs.


One tip for buttering toast: Butter doesn’t spread like whipped margarine, so I cut butter into pats, place a pat on the toast and use a Harbor Freight heat gun on the butter. In about 10 seconds, it is fully melted. Toast is crisp too. Finally, I can eat and enjoy toast like I used to!

Glad to see you are now living the good, margarine free, life. Make sure you go all the way...unsalted butter is what you want.

[marc82much]

Butter

In your conversion, go all the way...unsalted butter is what you want. Maybe Land O' Lakes...

[Black wallnut]

I don't agree marc. I trust nothing that the so called health experts have preached in the last 30 years. Salt is not that bad of a deal either IMHO. I made the switch to butter a couple of months ago myself. I was using smart balance spread.

[Knottscott]

I much prefer butter when I can get it. Both exist in our house, but margerine is most widely used.

[marc82much]

I don't agree marc. I trust nothing that the so called health experts have preached in the last 30 years. Salt is not that bad of a deal either IMHO. I made the switch to butter a couple of months ago myself. I was using smart balance spread.

I don't choose unsalted butter because it has no salt. I choose unsalted butter for the taste. Salt was originally added as a preservative, which is not needed. If I want salt, I add salt. And I have about 15 different salts to choose from. From simple NON-IODIZED Morton "table salt", to kosher salt, all the way to Maldon Sea Salt Flakes (my go to favorite "finishing salt".

For special occasions, I even have some Italian Truffled Sea Salt.

I am a serious cook and if you look at virtually ANY recipe that calls for butter, if it is from a serious cooking source (not your local PTA annual recipe book), it will specify unsalted butter. I don't use salted butter, salted vanilla, salted flour, salted bourbon, salted beer, salted wine...you get the idea.

[LinuxRandal]

I understand the taste thing, one reason I have different bbq sauces (find I like some on things better then others). Besides, the salt thing is like so many things, it comes down to moderation! Used to talk to a 100 year old neighbor, about all the "bad" things they ate, growing up on a farm. (lard cooked chicken, etc) Portions, exercise (farm living is exercise) is a big part of why they could do "bad" things.


Hank, do you use pot warmers, or keep gloves in the kitchen for the heat gun? Have you tried the propane torch you use to carmelize ham? (toast the bread and melt the butter at the same time)

Try homemade bread, or the predone cook it yourself loaves. There is a world of difference to me, between those and the preservative to keep it soft and from spoiling, bread you buy in the store.

[leehljp]

I am mildly shocked to see so many "butter" consumers here. As to the salt issue. I have to take potassium tablets daily to keep away muscle cramps; My blood pressure has always been on the low side so a tad of extra salt doesn't hurt, IMO.

LR - Breads: I still have not come to like sliced breads that much since returning. Butter makes them more tolerable. Mrs. Bairds sliced breads in Texas was the last sliced breads that tasted good enough to the point that I would get more. I haven't had that is a while now. Even the expensive specialty breads in higher quality supermarkets still do not match the quality that we used to have in sliced bread 30 years ago.

For the most part, I get either sour dough bread or french bread - REAL french or sour dough. Many companies take the same or similar dough and make different shapes and then sell them as french or other specialty breads. I can tell the difference in taste and texture. Believe it or not, I find many people that can't!

LOML is from New Orleans and real french bread is great. Sams Club makes a reasonably good small baugette that I get weekly, and it is really this bread that I use for most toast and sandwiches. I have an aunt and sister in the Saramento area and get real sour dough bread when I visit them, or if they come here they bring me some.

I did make my own for a while but my work and time just doesn't allow it currently. I had a great bread maker in Japan and left it there (sold it) . I haven't found a good machine here that does like that the Japanese one did. It made great pizza dough and many other kinds of bread. I think it was the flour that I had over there. I looked for, and purchased different kinds of flour back here but over the course of a year, but still did not get the texture and flavor that I had over there. I forgot what bread maker I have here (it is in storage), but it would not allow me to stop the sequence or change it once it started - unless I unplugged it and let it sit unplugged for about 30 minutes or more. The Japanese bread machine allowed me to control many different aspects. Even its overnight cooking was great, but the US machine made bricks. I couldn't do anything wrong on the Japanese machine, but nothing quite right on the US machine. Maybe if the instructions had been in Japanese . . .

Thanks fellows for the input on "butter".

[jking]

We use butter for baking & cooking. For toast, we have a tub of country crock we use. I think perhaps my taste buds aren't as fine tuned as some. I don't mind the flavor of margarine (or oleo as my grandmother used to call it). I also don't notice flavor in store bread unless it is really off, most of it tastes the same to me. Not bad, not good, just the same.

For homemade bread, the flour does make a difference. If you are using all-purpose, you should try bread flour. It makes a difference in the texture. The choices depends alot on what it available locally. I usually use the King Arthur Bread Flour we can get at the grocery store, but, if you have specialty stores around you will probably find more choices. If you're not already doing it, I would also recommend trying whole grains. There are a lot more choices in whole grain flours than in the past. Whole grain breads can don't have to be the dense loafs that have been made in the past. I have a few recipes that I use & I've learned what kind of flour substitutions I can make & still end up with a nice loaf.

[atgcpaul]

I don't choose unsalted butter because it has no salt. I choose unsalted butter for the taste. Salt was originally added as a preservative, which is not needed. If I want salt, I add salt. And I have about 15 different salts to choose from. From simple NON-IODIZED Morton "table salt", to kosher salt, all the way to Maldon Sea Salt Flakes (my go to favorite "finishing salt".

For special occasions, I even have some Italian Truffled Sea Salt.

I am a serious cook and if you look at virtually ANY recipe that calls for butter, if it is from a serious cooking source (not your local PTA annual recipe book), it will specify unsalted butter. I don't use salted butter, salted vanilla, salted flour, salted bourbon, salted beer, salted wine...you get the idea.

+1

We buy unsalted butter because it's predominantly called for in all recipes. We also use SmartBalance spread for toast. We really only eat toast (and therefore butter/spread) on the weekends. That's usually accompanied by something salty already (bacon, ham, meat product) so we don't need extra.

[Black wallnut]

Thanks marc82much for the explanation. I've tried both and salted tastes fine to me. I don't use butter much at all in cooking.

[leehljp]

For those of you that DO use Country Crock or Smart Balance or other non-butter/margarines, does it not make the toast slightly soggy or at least soft? That is what caused me to have a distaste for margarines.

I noticed that toast was not as crispy from the early '90s (in the US) when using margarines. That was about that time that water with immulsifiers were probably incorported into the margarines. It is this "water" as the margarine melts, that makes the toast soft. I can eat cold toast if it is crispy and butter leaves it crispy. Margarines don't. Hense, one of my pet peeves.

[JeffG78]

Yes, Country Crock does make toast soggy. It works well for pre-buttering buns on the grille, but I agree about the toast.

[atgcpaul]

I don't typically eat the "buttered" toast by itself. It's layered with a fried egg/bacon accompanied by salsa so it doesn't bother me it's not crisp.

[gerti]

My father was an umpteenth generation master baker in Germany. I miss good bread, and rarely eat any here in the US.