hallii Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Butter and marg that is. I am hoping you Francophiles might be able to give me a clue as to why "beurre doux" purchased from different supermarkets always tastes like marg to me. What is "beurre doux gastronomique"? Is it cooking butter or the other way round? I am due to go again in September and this small matter is spoiling my boiled egg and baguette in the mornings. H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowie Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Sorry, can't answer the question,; but if it's going to spoil your holiday, and I know how important a good poached egg on buttered toast can be........ so, as we've got a fridge, we take a slab of good old Anchor Butter. Sorted, enjoy your trip and eggs, alan b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 snowie - 2013-08-10 6:47 PM Sorry, can't answer the question,; but if it's going to spoil your holiday, and I know how important a good poached egg on buttered toast can be........ so, as we've got a fridge, we take a slab of good old Anchor Butter. Sorted, enjoy your trip and eggs, alan b Exactly right - you beat me to it Alan - none of this foreign stuff for us either - we take our own of all things we like that we can't easily get abroad! That is not to say we eat only English - far from it - we enjoy a variety of local food - but some things are sacred and butter and coffee whitener are two of 'em!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesFrance Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Buerre doux is unsalted so has no flavour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallii Posted August 10, 2013 Author Share Posted August 10, 2013 OK Both, i will just have to take some British butter I think, my little fridge is usually packed to the gunnels but I will have to make room. I do take cheddar cheese, so a couple of blocks of butter should be OK. Strange that the French stuff tastes so different, I did a bit of research and we apparently make it diffrently, we use fresh cream and they use fermenting cream. It makes a diffrence to the taste it seems. Maybe that's it. It still tastes like marg to me though. Anchor it is then. H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesFrance Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 There is nothing wrong with French butter, just avoid the unsalted type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheer lunar-see Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 you could try buerre de bretagne demi sel, in a red and white foil wrapper, tastes the same as english butter. And yes you can get it all over France, costs around 2.30 euros for 500 grams., anything else english just look for the anglo section in the bigger supermarkets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowie Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Tracker - 2013-08-10 6:53 PM snowie - 2013-08-10 6:47 PM Sorry, can't answer the question,; but if it's going to spoil your holiday, and I know how important a good poached egg on buttered toast can be........ so, as we've got a fridge, we take a slab of good old Anchor Butter. Sorted, enjoy your trip and eggs, alan b Exactly right - you beat me to it Alan - none of this foreign stuff for us either - Hang on a minute!! I confess! I fibbed; I don't eat much butter, but I do take Marmite with us, and maybe in future I'll take some Australian Shiraz! We buy local, eat local, but some things can't be substituted, and 6 weeks or so is too long to go without some "staples". We have a small fridge in any case, but we have enough storage space to take several weeks worth of baked beans and so on......... but we don't . That's not the point is it? regards alan b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retread24800 Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 There are two main types of butter sold here in France Beurre Doux is a lactic or cultured, unsalted butter and can most nearly be compared with 'Lurpak' The other type is Beurre demi-sel butter you would more normally recognise in the U.K. As for Beurre-doux tasting like Margarine, I wouldn't know but a friend of mine is a food scientist and claims he can replicate any flavour known to man to disguise the true taste of Margarine. MMMmmm Utterly buttery I think not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 JamesFrance - 2013-08-10 7:52 PM There is nothing wrong with French butter, just avoid the unsalted type. Sorry don't agree I love French unsalted butter can't stand salted butter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harvey Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 JamesFrance - 2013-08-10 7:30 PM Buerre doux is unsalted so has no flavour. If something has *no* flavour and you add salt to it, it will just taste of salt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 JamesFrance - 2013-08-10 7:30 PM Buerre doux is unsalted so has no flavour. you soon get used to no salt and proper flavours..anyone eating margerine needs head examined http://tinyurl.com/qfjrmbc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Can't stand margarine. We use Lurpak unsalted, always I take three tubs with me, which nearly always lasts for the 10/12 weeks we are away. The unsalted/ demi -sel is Ok if we run out.Also of coarse Cheddar cheese, mainly for the ex-pats friends we visit on route, and PG tips! Also not mentioned , Cereals, Most of the ones you can get in France/Spain are more the "Kids" type yes we buy local, but I guess most of us prefer the food we are used to at home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Harvey - 2013-11-23 9:43 AM JamesFrance - 2013-08-10 7:30 PM Buerre doux is unsalted so has no flavour. If something has *no* flavour and you add salt to it, it will just taste of salt! No... I think you'll find that's not right. Sodium suppresses bitterness and that bitterness in turn suppresses other flavors, like sweetness and sourness. When you add salt to a dish that includes all these elements, the salt suppresses the bitter, which in turn allows greater perception of sweet and sour & other flavours. So a small amount of salt does enhance flavour. Of course, if you empty the salt pot on your food then it will simply taste of......salt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 "Of course, if you empty the salt pot on your food then it will simply taste of......salt!" but that is more or less what people do *-) I go with harvey & PJay..lurpak unsalted for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Unsalted butter is only really meant for cooking as you can then add salt as required for the type of food you are preparing. Salted butter (sel, demi-sel etc) varies depending on the producer, some can be 0.5%, others can be as high as 3% so they are not all the same, we like between 1.5% an 2%. As for margarine, the stuff that you buy in tubs or blocks is NOT margarine it is a SPREAD or a BLEND, it is not legally permitted to call it margarine now due to the reduced fat content - margarine HAS to have a fat content of 80% min to 90% max to qualify for the name. As far as I'm aware even Stork margarine is no longer called that (it doesn't say margarine on the packet any more) as it only has 75% fat content now so doesn't meet the criteria, it is still good for baking though! http://www.imace.org/issues/eu-legislation/ http://www.milk.co.uk/page.aspx?intPageID=382 I'm not aware of anywhere in the UK that you can actually buy a product legally called margarine now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 JudgeMental - 2013-11-23 10:14 AM "Of course, if you empty the salt pot on your food then it will simply taste of......salt!" but that is more or less what people do *-) I go with harvey & PJay..lurpak unsalted for us. If your sense of taste has become educated to food without salt, any added salt merely makes food taste salty. The funny thing is, once you have adjusted, all food tastes just as good without salt, as it used to taste with. It is what you have become accustomed to tasting, not that unsalted food of any kind lacks flavour. It just takes a bit of time. The same is true of sugar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Mel B - 2013-11-23 11:45 AM Unsalted butter is only really meant for cooking as you can then add salt as required for the type of food you are preparing. Maybe for you I personally find salted butter horrible, unsalted is nice and creamy to me salt masks the nice creamy flavour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Brian Kirby - 2013-11-23 11:53 AM JudgeMental - 2013-11-23 10:14 AM "Of course, if you empty the salt pot on your food then it will simply taste of......salt!" but that is more or less what people do *-) I go with harvey & PJay..lurpak unsalted for us. If your sense of taste has become educated to food without salt, any added salt merely makes food taste salty. The funny thing is, once you have adjusted, all food tastes just as good without salt, as it used to taste with. It is what you have become accustomed to tasting, not that unsalted food of any kind lacks flavour. It just takes a bit of time. The same is true of sugar. I find it causes a bit of a problem when you go to some of the eastern European countries like Poland, Hungary etc., where they appear to put a bucket of salt in everything they cook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 lennyhb - 2013-11-23 11:56 AM Mel B - 2013-11-23 11:45 AM Unsalted butter is only really meant for cooking as you can then add salt as required for the type of food you are preparing. Maybe for you I personally find salted butter horrible, unsalted is nice and creamy to me salt masks the nice creamy flavour. I'll rephrase as what I meant to say hasn't really translated that well once typed! *-) Ahem ... Unsalted butter is BETTER for cooking than salted ... if you use SALTED butter for cooking you can't lower the salt content already in it, but if you use unsalted butter you can adjust it as you wish ... is that better??? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 lennyhb - 2013-11-23 11:58 AM...................I find it causes a bit of a problem when you go to some of the eastern European countries like Poland, Hungary etc., where they appear to put a bucket of salt in everything they cook. But, just look at the amount of salt the "TV chefs" add to their food - before they taste it! Don't remember excess salt in the gulash, but the paprika was blooming hot, so maybe the taste buds were a bit confused! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Brian Kirby - 2013-11-23 11:53 AM JudgeMental - 2013-11-23 10:14 AM "Of course, if you empty the salt pot on your food then it will simply taste of......salt!" but that is more or less what people do *-) I go with harvey & PJay..lurpak unsalted for us. If your sense of taste has become educated to food without salt, any added salt merely makes food taste salty. The funny thing is, once you have adjusted, all food tastes just as good without salt, as it used to taste with. It is what you have become accustomed to tasting, not that unsalted food of any kind lacks flavour. It just takes a bit of time. The same is true of sugar. Sorry Brian, as a retired Biochemist, I have to say that the science does not support your assertion. There are 5 tastes Salt Sour Bitter Sweet Umami (Savory) (Most tastes are actually detected by smell receptors, but that's a different kettle of fish! - see the last paragraph) The addition of a small amount of salt to some dishes suppresses the bitter receptors & so enhances some of the other flavours detected by the other receptor sites. It's all very subtle, but the science is well documented. Of course everyone has a different salt tolerance, so "acceptable" levels of salt for individuals will vary. What is agreed though - too much salt is bad for you, especially true of many processed foods. (Taste is mainly smell. Hold your nose, close your eyes, and try to tell the difference between coffee or tea, red or white wine, brandy or whisky. In fact, with blocked nose (clothes peg or similar) you can't tell the difference between grated apple and grated onion - try it! Of course, this is because what we often call taste is in fact flavour. Flavour is a combination of taste, smell, texture and other things eg. temperature.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Well indeed, that is the science, but I can only speak for myself. I have not willingly taken added salt, or sugar, for years. At first, I found that food and drinks did taste rather "flat". However, as time passed, I also found that the flavours returned, and I now find that food with added sugar or salt tastes initially just unpleasantly sweet, or salty. The sense of taste is fed by the receptors, but it is analysed by the brain. To that extent, one's experience is subjective. I think one's brain simply learns to respond to lower level stimulae from the receptors. After all, there are many variations in how we react to differing flavours, some responding violently to things others love. In my case, the violent reaction is to andouilletes - those french tripe sausages that are regarded as a great delicacy in some regions. Just the smell gets me heaving, so some restaurants, salted or not, are a greater pleasure than others. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Brian Kirby - 2013-11-23 1:16 PM In my case, the violent reaction is to andouilletes - those french tripe sausages that are regarded as a great delicacy in some regions. Just the smell gets me heaving, so some restaurants, salted or not, are a greater pleasure than others. :-) Yes indeed! I'm totally with you there! Andouillete or Chitterlings ..... absolutely disgusting 8-) 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Sounds to me that this butter malarkey is just horses for course's ;-)....................but of course horse is only suitable for a main course :D............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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