Specialty Butter & Ice-Cream Makers
Feb 22, 2008
Specialty Butter
Butter is truly a chef's best friend and the ultimate flavor
enhancer. It adds smoothness and creaminess to a sauce, enhances
the natural flavor of vegetables, and adds flavor to cakes and
cookies. It's used in frying, braising, sautéing and broiling. Its
usages are positively endless.
Butter is a culinary treasure as old as King Tut's tomb and is
produced today essentially as it was in Egyptian time — by churning
cream until the fats separate from the liquid (buttermilk) and the
butter is in a semi-solid state. Most butter sold today is from
cow's milk, but butter can also be produced from the milk of
buffalo, camel, goat, ewe, and mares.
Butter is essentially the fat of milk. It is usually made from
sweet cream (as opposed to sour cream) and is salted. To be called
butter, it must contain not less than 80 percent milk fat. Butter
is classified primarily on flavor characteristics and is then rated
according to body, color and salt. A final grade is assigned based
on the combination of all four attributes. Grades include AA, A and
B. AA butter is the "very best," with a total score of 93 points.
Grade A butter is classified as "very good" with a total score of
92. Grade B butter is "standard" with a total score of 90 points.
AA and A grades are those most commonly found at the retail
level.
There are two main types of butter produced in the U.S. ııı sweet
cream butter and cultured cream butter. The United States primarily
produces sweet cream butter, which includes lightly salted,
unsalted and whipped butter.
Lightly salted butter is the perfect ingredient for general
cooking and has a longer shelf life (up to five months), because
salt acts as a preservative. Unsalted butter is great for baking,
creating flaky crusts and sweet treats with great taste and
texture. Both lightly salted and unsalted butter are available in
sticks for easy measuring when cooking or baking.
Cultured butter, a rich butter made from cultured cream, is
popular in Europe and is now being produced in the U.S. It has a
distinctive, delicate, tangy taste that some refer to as having
"old-country flavor." As with lightly salted and unsalted butter,
it's available in both sticks and tubs.
Whipped butter has air beaten into it, which makes it easier to
spread when cold. It does not have the same density as regular
butter; therefore, it should not be used in recipes calling for
plain butter.
Types of Specialty Butter
European Butter is made from cream that is churned more
slowly and for a longer time. It has slightly higher amount of
butterfat (up to 84% compared to the 80% in American butter) which
gives it a richer taste. Since European-style butter has lower
moisture content, using it results in better pastries, icings and
sauces. It can be used at higher temperatures without burning to
produce a lighter, flakier pastry.
Clarified Butter is a purified, thicker form of butter
that's been melted and has had the water and milk solids separated
from the clarified or clear part. Because the water has been
extracted, clarified butter will not burn at high temperatures and,
therefore, is most commonly used as a fat for cooking, or as a base
for sauces like Hollandaise and Béarnaise.
Ghee is a type of clarified butter that originated in
India, where the climate required a butter that could be kept at
room temperature for extended periods (ghee will keep for several
weeks at room temperature and up to a year if refrigerated). It is
taken a step further than traditional clarified butter by simmering
until all of the moisture evaporates and the milk solids begin to
brown, giving the butter a nutty, caramel-like flavor and aroma.
While ghee was originally made only with unsalted butter made from
water buffalo milk, today it can be made with any unsalted butter.
Flavored ghees are created by adding ginger, peppercorns, cumin et
al at the beginning of the clarifying process.
Made with a touch of canola oil, Spreadable Butter is
easier to spread on baked goods, waffles, potatoes and other
holiday favorites. There is no need to soften spreadable butter; it
can be used directly from the refrigerator. However, spreadable
butter should not be used for baking or cooking — the canola oil
can alter the final result of baked goods.
Compound Butter incorporates herbs, garlic, wine or other
seasonings, most often made by mixing them into softened butter.
Herb butter and anchovy butter can be forms of compound butter. The
butter is then rolled into a log shape and refrigerated until
needed; slices are cut from the roll and placed directly on hot
meat, fish or vegetable where it melts immediately, creating a
sauce. They are also sometimes simply called "herb butter," though
they can be sweet or savory.
Garlic Butter is softened butter blended with crushed or
minced garlic. The intensity of the garlic flavor is governed by
the amount of garlic used and the length of time the mixture is
allowed to stand. Garlic butter is used on a broad range of foods
including garlic bread, escargots, meats, poultry, fish and
vegetables.
Truffle Butter is sweet butter mixed with black or white
truffle peelings. The truffles provide rich truffle flavor and
aroma, and the butter can be used with eggs, pasta, vegetables,
rice, or simply enjoyed on bread.
Clotted Cream is a very rich, thick yellowish cream with a
buttery consistency. It has a texture that falls somewhere between
thick whipped butter and soft cream cheese. Clotted cream is
traditionally produced in England and is made by scalding milk
until a thick skin forms, and then allowing the cream to rise and
clump underneath. Clotted cream can be spread on bread or spooned
atop fresh fruit or desserts. The traditional English "cream tea"
consists of clotted cream and jam served with scones and tea. Also
called Devonshire cream.
Merchandising Tips
• Try putting the specialty butters in the cheese case to
distinguish them from the rest.
• Set up a display that describes how specialty butter is made,
and why it is superior.
• Promote specialty butters in baking classes and demos, as well
as in your regular cooking classes. In each class, display samples
of your specialty butters, with tastes available for each
student.
• Whenever possible, use specialty butters in your prepared foods
selection, noting their presence on signage.
Ice-Cream Makers
Few things can bring back sweet memories like the cold, creamy
taste of old-fashioned hand-cranked ice cream. While this same type
of ice-cream maker is still used today and makes excellent ice
cream, nowadays ice-cream lovers can use one of several advanced
models on the market to make their favorite dessert at home — in
around half an hour and with only a handful of ingredients like
cream, milk, eggs, sugar and flavorings.
Generally speaking, there are two basic styles of ice-cream makers
— manual and electric. They can be simple or fancy, and can cost
from $25 to almost $1,000. In addition to ice cream, they can be
used to make ice milk, frozen yogurt, fruity sorbet and even your
favorite ice summer drinks.
All of them work on the same principle. A canister with a central,
vertical paddle (called a dasher) is placed inside a container that
holds the freezing agent — ice and salt, a chemical coolant or an
electric refrigeration unit. The inner canister is filled with an
ice-cream mixture that the dasher stirs (gently scraping the sides
of the canister) when rotated. This stirring action aerates the
mixture and keeps it smooth by preventing ice crystals from forming
while it freezes.
There are several different kinds of ice-cream freezers. Among the
manual-style ice-cream makers are the old-fashioned wooden buckets
with a metal inner container for the ice-cream mixture. They
require ice, rock salt (which lowers the temperature of the ice)
and plenty of physical stamina to turn the crank that rotates the
dasher. They usually take 30 to 40 minutes to make 4 to 6 quarts of
ice cream. Some of these wooden bucket-style makers have an
electric motor that sits on top of the unit, saving manpower.
A newer form of manual ice-cream maker is the prechilled chamber
freezer, which ranges in size from 1 pint to 1½ quarts. The
container is placed in the freezer for 24 to 48 hours to freeze the
coolant sealed between the walls lining this unit. The ice-cream
mixture is poured into the center cavity; a crank-and-dasher
assembly and lid covers the entire unit. The hand-rotated crank is
turned once every two to three minutes over a 15- to 30-minute time
frame, depending on the amount of ice cream being made. Electric
ice-cream machines are all equipped with electric motors that
rotate either the ice-cream canister or the dasher.
There are several different styles and sizes of electric ice-cream
machines. The most common is the self-contained countertop unit
that uses refrigerator ice cubes and table salt, and in which the
motor turns the canister. This type can make up to 2 quarts of ice
cream. There is also a small freezer unit (averaging 1 quart) that
doesn't require salt or ice, but instead is placed in the freezer
compartment of the refrigerator with the electric cord exiting
between the freezer's seal and the closed door. In this type, the
dasher is motor-turned, while the canister is stationary.
The Rolls-Royce of electric ice-cream freezers is the consumer
equivalent of commercial ice-cream makers on the market. These
self-contained countertop units have a built-in compressor-freezer,
so there's no bowl to prefreeze. That means frozen desserts are
ready to enjoy sooner. All that's required for this expensive
version is to pour the ice-cream mixture into the canister and
flick a switch. They are extremely convenient, up and ready to go
whenever a craving for chocolate chip or fresh strawberry ice cream
takes hold, and produce an excellent product that is denser than
the ice cream made in a frozen canister.
Merchandising Tips
• In 1984, President Ronald Reagan officially designated July as
National Ice Cream Month. You can honor the cool and creamy treat
and promote all of your gourmet ice-cream accessories by hosting a
fun Build-Your-Own-Sundae Celebration.
• Promote ice-cream makers year-round by cross-merchandising them
with ice-cream bowls and scoopers, stainless steel cream whippers,
cookbooks, milkshake makers, waffle makers, and cookbooks.
• Designate one weekend as "I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream
For Ice Cream," and on those two days, offer free scoops of
homemade ice cream to children.
Specialty Butter & Ice-Cream Makers
Feb 22, 2008
Specialty Butter
Butter is truly a chef's best friend and the ultimate flavor enhancer. It adds smoothness and creaminess to a sauce, enhances the natural flavor of vegetables, and adds flavor to cakes and cookies. It's used in frying, braising, sautéing and broiling. Its usages are positively endless.
Butter is a culinary treasure as old as King Tut's tomb and is produced today essentially as it was in Egyptian time — by churning cream until the fats separate from the liquid (buttermilk) and the butter is in a semi-solid state. Most butter sold today is from cow's milk, but butter can also be produced from the milk of buffalo, camel, goat, ewe, and mares.
Butter is essentially the fat of milk. It is usually made from sweet cream (as opposed to sour cream) and is salted. To be called butter, it must contain not less than 80 percent milk fat. Butter is classified primarily on flavor characteristics and is then rated according to body, color and salt. A final grade is assigned based on the combination of all four attributes. Grades include AA, A and B. AA butter is the "very best," with a total score of 93 points. Grade A butter is classified as "very good" with a total score of 92. Grade B butter is "standard" with a total score of 90 points. AA and A grades are those most commonly found at the retail level.
There are two main types of butter produced in the U.S. ııı sweet cream butter and cultured cream butter. The United States primarily produces sweet cream butter, which includes lightly salted, unsalted and whipped butter.
Lightly salted butter is the perfect ingredient for general cooking and has a longer shelf life (up to five months), because salt acts as a preservative. Unsalted butter is great for baking, creating flaky crusts and sweet treats with great taste and texture. Both lightly salted and unsalted butter are available in sticks for easy measuring when cooking or baking.
Cultured butter, a rich butter made from cultured cream, is popular in Europe and is now being produced in the U.S. It has a distinctive, delicate, tangy taste that some refer to as having "old-country flavor." As with lightly salted and unsalted butter, it's available in both sticks and tubs.
Whipped butter has air beaten into it, which makes it easier to spread when cold. It does not have the same density as regular butter; therefore, it should not be used in recipes calling for plain butter.
Types of Specialty Butter
European Butter is made from cream that is churned more slowly and for a longer time. It has slightly higher amount of butterfat (up to 84% compared to the 80% in American butter) which gives it a richer taste. Since European-style butter has lower moisture content, using it results in better pastries, icings and sauces. It can be used at higher temperatures without burning to produce a lighter, flakier pastry.
Clarified Butter is a purified, thicker form of butter that's been melted and has had the water and milk solids separated from the clarified or clear part. Because the water has been extracted, clarified butter will not burn at high temperatures and, therefore, is most commonly used as a fat for cooking, or as a base for sauces like Hollandaise and Béarnaise.
Ghee is a type of clarified butter that originated in India, where the climate required a butter that could be kept at room temperature for extended periods (ghee will keep for several weeks at room temperature and up to a year if refrigerated). It is taken a step further than traditional clarified butter by simmering until all of the moisture evaporates and the milk solids begin to brown, giving the butter a nutty, caramel-like flavor and aroma. While ghee was originally made only with unsalted butter made from water buffalo milk, today it can be made with any unsalted butter. Flavored ghees are created by adding ginger, peppercorns, cumin et al at the beginning of the clarifying process.
Made with a touch of canola oil, Spreadable Butter is easier to spread on baked goods, waffles, potatoes and other holiday favorites. There is no need to soften spreadable butter; it can be used directly from the refrigerator. However, spreadable butter should not be used for baking or cooking — the canola oil can alter the final result of baked goods.
Compound Butter incorporates herbs, garlic, wine or other seasonings, most often made by mixing them into softened butter. Herb butter and anchovy butter can be forms of compound butter. The butter is then rolled into a log shape and refrigerated until needed; slices are cut from the roll and placed directly on hot meat, fish or vegetable where it melts immediately, creating a sauce. They are also sometimes simply called "herb butter," though they can be sweet or savory.
Garlic Butter is softened butter blended with crushed or minced garlic. The intensity of the garlic flavor is governed by the amount of garlic used and the length of time the mixture is allowed to stand. Garlic butter is used on a broad range of foods including garlic bread, escargots, meats, poultry, fish and vegetables.
Truffle Butter is sweet butter mixed with black or white truffle peelings. The truffles provide rich truffle flavor and aroma, and the butter can be used with eggs, pasta, vegetables, rice, or simply enjoyed on bread.
Clotted Cream is a very rich, thick yellowish cream with a buttery consistency. It has a texture that falls somewhere between thick whipped butter and soft cream cheese. Clotted cream is traditionally produced in England and is made by scalding milk until a thick skin forms, and then allowing the cream to rise and clump underneath. Clotted cream can be spread on bread or spooned atop fresh fruit or desserts. The traditional English "cream tea" consists of clotted cream and jam served with scones and tea. Also called Devonshire cream.
Merchandising Tips
• Try putting the specialty butters in the cheese case to distinguish them from the rest.
• Set up a display that describes how specialty butter is made, and why it is superior.
• Promote specialty butters in baking classes and demos, as well as in your regular cooking classes. In each class, display samples of your specialty butters, with tastes available for each student.
• Whenever possible, use specialty butters in your prepared foods selection, noting their presence on signage.
Ice-Cream Makers
Few things can bring back sweet memories like the cold, creamy taste of old-fashioned hand-cranked ice cream. While this same type of ice-cream maker is still used today and makes excellent ice cream, nowadays ice-cream lovers can use one of several advanced models on the market to make their favorite dessert at home — in around half an hour and with only a handful of ingredients like cream, milk, eggs, sugar and flavorings.
Generally speaking, there are two basic styles of ice-cream makers — manual and electric. They can be simple or fancy, and can cost from $25 to almost $1,000. In addition to ice cream, they can be used to make ice milk, frozen yogurt, fruity sorbet and even your favorite ice summer drinks.
All of them work on the same principle. A canister with a central, vertical paddle (called a dasher) is placed inside a container that holds the freezing agent — ice and salt, a chemical coolant or an electric refrigeration unit. The inner canister is filled with an ice-cream mixture that the dasher stirs (gently scraping the sides of the canister) when rotated. This stirring action aerates the mixture and keeps it smooth by preventing ice crystals from forming while it freezes.
There are several different kinds of ice-cream freezers. Among the manual-style ice-cream makers are the old-fashioned wooden buckets with a metal inner container for the ice-cream mixture. They require ice, rock salt (which lowers the temperature of the ice) and plenty of physical stamina to turn the crank that rotates the dasher. They usually take 30 to 40 minutes to make 4 to 6 quarts of ice cream. Some of these wooden bucket-style makers have an electric motor that sits on top of the unit, saving manpower.
A newer form of manual ice-cream maker is the prechilled chamber freezer, which ranges in size from 1 pint to 1½ quarts. The container is placed in the freezer for 24 to 48 hours to freeze the coolant sealed between the walls lining this unit. The ice-cream mixture is poured into the center cavity; a crank-and-dasher assembly and lid covers the entire unit. The hand-rotated crank is turned once every two to three minutes over a 15- to 30-minute time frame, depending on the amount of ice cream being made. Electric ice-cream machines are all equipped with electric motors that rotate either the ice-cream canister or the dasher.
There are several different styles and sizes of electric ice-cream machines. The most common is the self-contained countertop unit that uses refrigerator ice cubes and table salt, and in which the motor turns the canister. This type can make up to 2 quarts of ice cream. There is also a small freezer unit (averaging 1 quart) that doesn't require salt or ice, but instead is placed in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator with the electric cord exiting between the freezer's seal and the closed door. In this type, the dasher is motor-turned, while the canister is stationary.
The Rolls-Royce of electric ice-cream freezers is the consumer equivalent of commercial ice-cream makers on the market. These self-contained countertop units have a built-in compressor-freezer, so there's no bowl to prefreeze. That means frozen desserts are ready to enjoy sooner. All that's required for this expensive version is to pour the ice-cream mixture into the canister and flick a switch. They are extremely convenient, up and ready to go whenever a craving for chocolate chip or fresh strawberry ice cream takes hold, and produce an excellent product that is denser than the ice cream made in a frozen canister.
Merchandising Tips
• In 1984, President Ronald Reagan officially designated July as National Ice Cream Month. You can honor the cool and creamy treat and promote all of your gourmet ice-cream accessories by hosting a fun Build-Your-Own-Sundae Celebration.
• Promote ice-cream makers year-round by cross-merchandising them with ice-cream bowls and scoopers, stainless steel cream whippers, cookbooks, milkshake makers, waffle makers, and cookbooks.
• Designate one weekend as "I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream," and on those two days, offer free scoops of homemade ice cream to children.
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