I spent most of my life not knowing that there was a difference between American butter and European butter. This is even after spending my teen years eating Danish Lurpak butter. However, my search for the perfect pie crust led me on a butter excursion.
Some people swear by lard for pie crust. I have tried that, and yes, it makes a wonderfully flakey textured crust. But there are some folks who don’t like the thought of eating lard, vegetarians for instance, or Muslims, or people with actively functioning hearts and arteries, though it doesn’t really deserve its negative reputation since it has less saturated fat and cholesterol and more unsaturated fat than butter, and no transfat. Really. Go look it up. It’s better for you.
But I like the taste that butter adds to pie crust. So sometimes I used lard, but mostly I used butter. Then I stumbled, quite by accident, onto an article saying that top bakers typically prefer to use European butter. Why’s that? Because European butter is higher in fat than American butter. I had never given my butter much thought, wasn’t butter just pure fat? Oh no, there’s water in there, and milk proteins. American butter typically has only 80-82% fat, while European butter starts at 82% and goes up to 85%. That 5% can make a major difference in terms of how much water you are really adding to your pie crust. I never counted the water in the butter before. And water and flour = gluten = tough crust. Damn, those sneaky pâtissiers!
Another thing I had never thought about was that label on every American brick of butter I’d bought: “sweet cream butter”. I thought that was just advertising language, like “rich chocolately” or “fresh cut”, but it turns out to be an important descriptor. American butter is made from cream that is straight from the cow as it were, while European butter is made from cream allowed to sit up and culture for awhile, like crème fraiche or sour cream. One actually is sweet cream, and one is not, and the European butter has a different, and IMHO more complex flavor.
I can get Kerrygold, Lurpak, and Plugra butter here. Plugra is a domestic brand sold as “European style” (Plugra = plus gras = more fat) The search for the ultimate pie crust has led me to only using these sources of fat for my crust, oh, and cake flour (less protein and gluten), and iced vodka rather than water. Alcohol evaporates quicker and at a lower temperature, which, again, reduces the gluten. Pat the dough together into a flat disk, wrap it up, and put it in the fridge to rest for at least several hours to let osmosis reduce the amount of handling you have to do. I put them in the freezer at this point so I always have a crust on hand ready to use. I dare you to make those changes and produce a tough crust.
These distinctions must have been much more well-known in the past. Here’s an excerpt from the Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, 1918, vol 2. We’re not even going to talk about renovated butter. Erp.
“FLAVOR AND COMPOSITION OF BUTTER.--That the housewife may have an understanding of the food substances found in butter and also learn how to determine the quantity of butter needed for her family, she should become familiar with the composition of this food. The flavor of butter depends to a great extent on the kind of cream from which it is made, both sweet and sour cream being used for this purpose. Of these two kinds, sour cream is the preferable one, because it gives to the butter a desirable flavor. Still, the unsalted butter that is made from sweet cream is apparently growing in favor, although it is usually more expensive than salted butter. The difference in price is due to the fact that unsalted butter spoils readily.
RENOVATED BUTTER.--Another substitute that is sometimes used to take the place of the best grades of butter is renovated, or process, butter. This is obtained by purifying butter that is dirty and rancid and that contains all sorts of foreign material and then rechurning it with fresh cream or milk. The purifying process consists in melting the butter, removing the scum from the top, as well as the buttermilk, brine, and foreign materials that settle, and then blowing air through the fat to remove any odors that it might contain. Butter that is thus purified is replaced on the market, but in some states the authorities have seen fit to restrict its sale. While such restrictions are without doubt justifiable, it is possible to buy butter that is more objectionable than renovated, or process, butter, but that has no restriction on it.”
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