My youngest daughter and I set out to do a butter tournament in which we would pick the best tasting butter among all of those available in our local supermarkets. I believe we bought about $60 or $70 worth of butter and tried them on toast, in soup, and then just eating a little pat of it neat.

Kerrygold took the gold. I keep one of the doublewide bars in this [1] butter dish on the counter. Every now and then I’ll grab a cracker and scoop off a bit. It’s so good.

1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WNV847W

Why not?

It’s not something we do regularly lol. But eating just the butter lets you find all the subtle flavor elements, some of which are off putting.

Also you should definitely try drinking strait vinegar, it’s interesting.

I've been to vinegar tasting rooms. (Usually, a shot of olive oil and some bread is standing nearby). The variety of wine vinegars is really amazing.

What’s your style? Call it the art of tasting butter without tasting butter?

I mean come on, if your goal is to taste test something, why wouldn’t you taste just it?

You should be doing this with every ingredient you cook with. how do you expect to know how to make good food if you don’t know how your ingredients taste?

Kerrygold is great for strong savory foods, but I am too American to enjoy itin some cases. Frying eggs, grilled cheese, some cookies all suffer from the grassy taste overriding weaker flavors. American butter doesn't really taste like anything but cream/fat to me.

Whenever I hear takes like these I wonder how many people I've disgusted with my cooking. I have _literally no idea_ what you're talking about, much like it was a shock the first time someone said cilantro tasted like soap.

Really makes you respect people who manage to make everyone happy through cooking for a living!

It isn’t disgusting but just noticeably grassy to me. Try melting some in a pan vs cheap American butter it smells almost like tallow to me.

People have totally different perceptions of taste sometime. I don't think most people get really disgusted. If you have cliantro soap taste genes you know about it and are clear to people about your ability to accept cilantro.

Many other things are just what you're used to. I spent a while trying chicken fried steak recipes with different oils and found out I liked sunflower oil the best, in terms of flavor. Many people can't stand it. It's just what you like.

Right.

De gustibus ...

Kerrygold is amazing for the price and availability. I always set some out for dinner parties.

Kerrygold’s ability to contain such an amazing amount of carotene — the source of the rich orange color — is so admirable in a mass produced product. Consistency in such a basic, natural foodstuff is no joke.

Most commercial butter doesn't even bother anymore, but there was a time they were adding annatto to butter to give it the yellow color.

The carotene, for anyone who doesn't know, comes from grass. There is none in corn.

I also use (silver) Kerrygold for direct consumption and random organic brands for cooking. Kerrygold is somewhat decent product but far from the best. Availability (and price at Costco) are probably the main reason.

One of the best butters I had lately is Vermont Creamery. Hands down, the flavor was just amazing. If you enjoy good butter and haven’t had this one then consider giving it a try.

Vital Farms gained lot of popularity because of their pasture raised eggs and now butter. I tried it and it is good. What scares me is that they are in the Houston area. There’s a reason why the cancer rates are high there. Unfortunately “organic” doesn’t mean product is free of crap. It only means crap was not used to make it grow. (Reason why organic psyllium from India can legally contain lead and still be organic).

Definitely availability. Almost every grocer here has it, though in a couple it's hidden away. Most of the other options require you to plan your trips a bit more judiciously.

Vermont Creamery definitely makes the best US butter I’ve tried. And their cheeses are amazing, too!

(For international, I might still give the win to Échiré.)

Vital Farms is the best American butter I've ever tasted. And I'm from Houston, lol. But they're not. The company is based in Austin and shows on their website that farms are not in Houston.

What farms are in Houston at all lol?

Maybe not in Houston, but last time I was down that way I saw signs on ranch gates advertising calves for sale on the road between Houston and Port Arthur. I'm sure someone's making butter down there.

My associates at MIT have switched their families to the carnivore diet. Apparently sugar molecules are like little daggers which stab into and get stuck to the arteries and the fat gets clogged in the arteries because of sugar. No sugar no problems.