Butter doesn't make you fat, unless you eat too much of it.
Whenever I'm discussing cooking and recipes, there is one idea which comes up frequently, like this: "Oh no! But that's got butter in it" (I should add, for the sake of accuracy, that this is something I hear more frequently from women, who are almost all concerned with keeping their figure).
This immediately gives me the impression that butter is THE ingredient that should be banished from the kitchen, and it has been banned in a lot of so-called "healthy cooking" or "slimming" recipes, often being replaced by oil, preferably olive.
This immediately gives me the impression that butter is THE ingredient that should be banished from the kitchen, and it has been banned in a lot of so-called "healthy cooking" or "slimming" recipes, often being replaced by oil, preferably olive.
44 K 4.5/5 (22 reviews)
Keywords for this post:ButterDietWeightFatHealthVitaminLast modified on: March 26th 2012
Butter doesn't make you fat, unless you eat too much of it.
Whenever I'm discussing cooking and recipes, there is one idea which comes up frequently, like this: "Oh no! But that's got butter in it" (I should add, for the sake of accuracy, that this is something I hear more frequently from women, who are almost all concerned with keeping their figure).
This immediately gives me the impression that butter is THE ingredient that should be banished from the kitchen, and it has been banned in a lot of so-called "healthy cooking" or "slimming" recipes, often being replaced by oil, preferably olive.
As I am a fan of olive oil – I use it every day – that suits me fine, but I'm not ready to abandon butter under the pretext that because it is fat, it makes you put on weight.
Allow me then to list a few of the benefits of butter, apart from its nutritional qualities (notably Vitamin A), as its disadvantages are well known:
- Butter contains around 80% fat ; if that seems like a huge amount and you prefer the idea of oil, remember that oil is 100% fat!
- Great chefs often say, quite rightly, that butter "fixes" flavours. So adding a small amount of butter, even if it is not the main type of fat in the dish, will improve the overall flavour. Think of fresh garden peas, boiled quickly in salted water, with a knob of butter melted over them before serving – delicious!
- Butter can provide the fat needed for cooking, but in the process it adds its own subtle flavour, and this is closely tied to the quality of butter you use. It is true that this is also the case for olive oil, but not at all for sunflower or groundnut oil, which are fats with a neutral flavour.
- You will not put on any more weight through eating butter than any other fat; it's an excess of butter/fat which leads to weight gain.
- Butter can be eaten cold and can be used hot in cooking, but with certain precautions. It only becomes indigestible when burnt (ah – that awful outmoded recipe for ray with black butter).
- Without butter, there would be no French pâtisserie (cakes and pastries), or hardly any. Replacing butter with margarine does not make a good shortcrust pastry or good french croissants (for example).
But it's not just because I live in Brittany that I owe it to myself to stay faithful to butter. It is certainly true that using too much butter is neither good for the cooking nor for health, but – as in all things – it is an excess that is bad, and only an excess. If you are worried about your figure, then eat less, or only a little, but do eat the good, proper stuff.
So there is no need to deprive yourself of using butter in cooking, or take an extreme anti-butter stance, but just use it wisely. To all lovers of good food and enthusiastic cooks (like us), it is a precious ally.
I will close with a quotation attributed (allegedly) to Paul Bocuse. He was talking to an American food critic, who remarked on the quantity of butter he used in his cooking. The chef replied, "If you don't like butter or cream, there's really no point coming to France".
This immediately gives me the impression that butter is THE ingredient that should be banished from the kitchen, and it has been banned in a lot of so-called "healthy cooking" or "slimming" recipes, often being replaced by oil, preferably olive.
As I am a fan of olive oil – I use it every day – that suits me fine, but I'm not ready to abandon butter under the pretext that because it is fat, it makes you put on weight.
Allow me then to list a few of the benefits of butter, apart from its nutritional qualities (notably Vitamin A), as its disadvantages are well known:
- Butter contains around 80% fat ; if that seems like a huge amount and you prefer the idea of oil, remember that oil is 100% fat!
- Great chefs often say, quite rightly, that butter "fixes" flavours. So adding a small amount of butter, even if it is not the main type of fat in the dish, will improve the overall flavour. Think of fresh garden peas, boiled quickly in salted water, with a knob of butter melted over them before serving – delicious!
- Butter can provide the fat needed for cooking, but in the process it adds its own subtle flavour, and this is closely tied to the quality of butter you use. It is true that this is also the case for olive oil, but not at all for sunflower or groundnut oil, which are fats with a neutral flavour.
- You will not put on any more weight through eating butter than any other fat; it's an excess of butter/fat which leads to weight gain.
- Butter can be eaten cold and can be used hot in cooking, but with certain precautions. It only becomes indigestible when burnt (ah – that awful outmoded recipe for ray with black butter).
- Without butter, there would be no French pâtisserie (cakes and pastries), or hardly any. Replacing butter with margarine does not make a good shortcrust pastry or good french croissants (for example).
But it's not just because I live in Brittany that I owe it to myself to stay faithful to butter. It is certainly true that using too much butter is neither good for the cooking nor for health, but – as in all things – it is an excess that is bad, and only an excess. If you are worried about your figure, then eat less, or only a little, but do eat the good, proper stuff.
So there is no need to deprive yourself of using butter in cooking, or take an extreme anti-butter stance, but just use it wisely. To all lovers of good food and enthusiastic cooks (like us), it is a precious ally.
I will close with a quotation attributed (allegedly) to Paul Bocuse. He was talking to an American food critic, who remarked on the quantity of butter he used in his cooking. The chef replied, "If you don't like butter or cream, there's really no point coming to France".
Lasts posts
Oven height
When we put a dish or cake in the oven, we naturally tend to put it on the middle shelf, and that's what we usually do. But in some cases, this position and height can be a little tricky, so let's find out why.October 8th 20251,3415
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 20256,8333
The grease spray
As soon as you have something in a recipe that sticks to the mold, the question always arises as to how difficult it is to remove from the mold. There's nothing more frustrating than breaking your cake when unmolding it, because part of it has stuck in the mold. The classic way to avoid this is...August 26th 20256,2745
Cake moulds
When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?August 25th 20256,3825
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...August 8th 20254,5135
Other pages you may also like
How to break eggs properly?
It is a very common gesture in pastry, bakery and of course cooking: breaking eggs to incorporate them into a recipe. You have eggs (which professionals call "shell eggs" to differentiate them from liquid eggs in cartons or cans), and you must break them to incorporate the contents into your...June 26th 202114 K4.8
Making the most of seeds: Dry roasting
In cooking, and particularly in baking, there are a lot of seeds we can use, such as linseed, sesame, poppy, etc. Usually, recipes simply say to add them just as they are to the mixture or dough. To make a seeded loaf, for example, prepare a plain bread dough as usual, then, towards the end of...January 30th 201562 K4.0
The beautiful story of the croissants
As you may have already noticed, cooking, baking and pastry-making are full of stories or legends, usually very romantic, about this or that product or recipe. This is often the case for named recipes, for example tarte tatin, peach melba, paris-brest and many others, but it also applies to very...October 10th 201819 K5
Brioche for a savoury recipe
When we make brioche, it is generally sweet, that is to say that in the dough there is sugar or honey or dried or candied fruits, or even sometimes the 3 together. It's normal, it's very good, it's a pastry. But you may also need brioche for a savoury dish, like a sausage or a sausage in brioche...June 30th 201913 K4.9
The super powers of cornstarch
I start this new year by evoking an old product, that you most probably have in your cupboards, a white powder, often in a small cardboard package with a slightly outdated look, only the "gluten free" is relatively recent, it is simply cornstarch, hence its name of maïzena. It's used for a lot...January 14th 202214 K
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.