This isnt going to give you true French butter, but honestly, it gets pretty damn close.
Its extraordinarily easy to do and ticks off two out of three descriptive boxes for the real stuff.
This faux French butter will surely bring you the joy and wine-soaked reminders of vacation days past.
Heres how to make crunchy French butter the lazy American way.
Whats so great about French butter anyway?
The fat content.Butter is butter, right?
Thats box number one: butter fat.
Its got cultures.Traditional French butter is special because it’s made with cultured cream.
Again, thats the hardest to replicate at home, but still only a subtle team player.
Box number two: cultured cream.
Embrace the salt.The final difference and the easiest one to detect is the salt.
I am perhaps slightly in love with salt, just as a character trait.
I thought, A dream come true?
Yep, even you salt-shy get your own semi-salted butter.
Thats box three: crunchy salt.
You only need two things: unsalted European butter, and large crystal, flaky sea salt.
Once youve chosen your European-style butter, leave it out for four hours, or overnight to soften completely.
Unwrap it and place the butter in a mixing bowl.
Dump in the flaky salt and mix it together with a rubber spatula.
That reminds me: The shape matters.
French butter presents you with shards of salt lost in a sea of sweet cream butter.
You get a delicate crunch and a burst of salt that gets whisked away.
Try maldon sea salt, or a salt that you’re able to see has pyramid crystal structure.
Mix in your flaky salt.
Note that it’s not weird for the salt pockets to become watery.
Salt is hydrophilic and will pull in moisture from the air.
It still tastes great, and this happens with true French butter too.
Since were not churning butter, I dont have an easy way for you to culture the cream.
That is commendable, but maybe another time.
Instead, Ill do without that flavor and rely on the other two factors.
Ive only ever seenthis one from Vermont Creameryfor sale online.
I havent tried it yet, but if you have, Id love to hear how it turns out.
