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McGee (in On Food and Cooking) talks about a third variety: British butter. It has the dehydrated qualities of French butter but without the cultured flavor.

McGee (in On Food and Cooking) talks about a third variety: British butter. It has the dehydrated qualities of French butter but without the cultured flavor. It’s not better or worse, just different, and another excellent addition to the toolkit. As an aside it’s always perplexed me why we talk about the fat content of butter when it’s the water that’s playing the role of modifying taste, texture, and steam generating potential. It’s like talking about the water content of wine being 88% when you’re really interested in the other half of the equation — the alcohol content!

laurencerowe 3y ago
Growing up in Britain standard butter was uncultured and salted. British/Irish/New Zealand/Danish butter brands were all in the supermarket and all tasted pretty similar to me. US butter doesn't seem to taste of anything at all but I can usually get Kerrygold. I assume it's just because the rainy climate in northwestern Europe / New Zealand means the cows are mostly fed on grass.
- tim333 3y ago
  I was thinking most British butter tastes ok pretty much regardless of brand. I guess it's the rain/grass thing as you say. I prefer it to French butter myself.
- ksec 3y ago
  I am thinking what are the British Butter Brands? KerryGold is Irish. Lurpak is Danish. And Arla ( which owns Lurpak ) is also Danish. Apart from let say Tesco Butter, which brand is actually British?
  - laurencerowe 3y ago
    Country Life Butter is the only one I remember. It's the British equivalent to Ireland's Kerrygold and New Zealand's Anchor as the brand was started by a consortium of the Milk Marketing Board and the large dairies. Though apparently Anchor is now produced in the UK for the UK market. > In the United Kingdom, Anchor block butter was imported from New Zealand until August 2012 when Arla Foods UK, the British licensee, transferred production to a local factory at Westbury, Wiltshire, using British cream.[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_(brand) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_(brand)
    - ksec 3y ago
      >Country Life Butter OH Yes. But if I remember correctly it wasn't as good as Lurpak or KerryGold. Sometimes I just wish British Product work a little harder on Export.
      - laurencerowe 3y ago
        It was fine as far as I recall, probably the same stuff as in the supermarket brands. Guess it never made sense to focus on exports since as a highly industrial economy Britain imports almost half of its food. Agriculture is only 0.7% of Britain's economy compared to 5.7% in New Zealand, 4.5% in Denmark, and 1.2% in Ireland (though Irish GDP in reality maybe 40% lower since multinationals tend to report income there for tax benefits, so 2% may be a better estimate.)
        ksec 3y ago
        I think UK is not that much difference in that a lot of the GDP actually goes to finance. Although probably not as dramatic as 40%. But still, yes Arg is a rather week sector in UK.
        laurencerowe 3y ago
        Financial services are a big part of the UK economy but the lawyers and bankers get paid and then spend money in the UK. Ireland’s very low corporate tax rate makes it attractive for multinational companies to structure their operations so that earnings are booked in the country even though little in the way of work is done there (perhaps through intellectual property charges.) This is only viable for a small country like Ireland because it can attract a proportionately larger amount of earnings with its low tax rate.
InCityDreams 3y ago
>It’s like talking about the water content of wine being 88% when you’re really interested in the other half of the equation So, 88% + 50% = 'the equation'. Would this be where we get those fascinating units of measure such as 'the tipple', etc?

laurencerowe 3y ago

Growing up in Britain standard butter was uncultured and salted. British/Irish/New Zealand/Danish butter brands were all in the supermarket and all tasted pretty similar to me. US butter doesn't seem to taste of anything at all but I can usually get Kerrygold. I assume it's just because the rainy climate in northwestern Europe / New Zealand means the cows are mostly fed on grass.

tim333 3y ago
I was thinking most British butter tastes ok pretty much regardless of brand. I guess it's the rain/grass thing as you say. I prefer it to French butter myself.
ksec 3y ago
I am thinking what are the British Butter Brands? KerryGold is Irish. Lurpak is Danish. And Arla ( which owns Lurpak ) is also Danish. Apart from let say Tesco Butter, which brand is actually British?
- laurencerowe 3y ago
  Country Life Butter is the only one I remember. It's the British equivalent to Ireland's Kerrygold and New Zealand's Anchor as the brand was started by a consortium of the Milk Marketing Board and the large dairies. Though apparently Anchor is now produced in the UK for the UK market. > In the United Kingdom, Anchor block butter was imported from New Zealand until August 2012 when Arla Foods UK, the British licensee, transferred production to a local factory at Westbury, Wiltshire, using British cream.[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_(brand) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_(brand)
  - ksec 3y ago
    >Country Life Butter OH Yes. But if I remember correctly it wasn't as good as Lurpak or KerryGold. Sometimes I just wish British Product work a little harder on Export.
    - laurencerowe 3y ago
      It was fine as far as I recall, probably the same stuff as in the supermarket brands. Guess it never made sense to focus on exports since as a highly industrial economy Britain imports almost half of its food. Agriculture is only 0.7% of Britain's economy compared to 5.7% in New Zealand, 4.5% in Denmark, and 1.2% in Ireland (though Irish GDP in reality maybe 40% lower since multinationals tend to report income there for tax benefits, so 2% may be a better estimate.)
      - ksec 3y ago
        I think UK is not that much difference in that a lot of the GDP actually goes to finance. Although probably not as dramatic as 40%. But still, yes Arg is a rather week sector in UK.
        laurencerowe 3y ago
        Financial services are a big part of the UK economy but the lawyers and bankers get paid and then spend money in the UK. Ireland’s very low corporate tax rate makes it attractive for multinational companies to structure their operations so that earnings are booked in the country even though little in the way of work is done there (perhaps through intellectual property charges.) This is only viable for a small country like Ireland because it can attract a proportionately larger amount of earnings with its low tax rate.

InCityDreams 3y ago

>It’s like talking about the water content of wine being 88% when you’re really interested in the other half of the equation So, 88% + 50% = 'the equation'. Would this be where we get those fascinating units of measure such as 'the tipple', etc?