Cooking: salt in butter
Self-tutoring about cooking: the tutor reflects….
As I’ve been reminded lately, I’m not getting any younger. Recently I ruminated about age while baking my own birthday cake. Shortly, though, my mind wandered to other topics.
The best posts, I find, are ones that answer questions anyone might ask, but not necessarily research to answer. I get stuck in that same loop: I encounter a question I’ve wondered before, but never when I’m in a position to look it up.
Combining the ingredients for my birthday cake, the recipe calls for melted butter. I prefer to use oil – no melting. One time my wife noticed my doing so.
“What are you doing?” she asked plaintively.
“Substituting oil for butter. It’s practically the same.”
“Not true: butter has salt in it, for instance.”
(Important to explain: we say “butter” but mean margarine. Furthermore, we never buy unsalted margarine.)
My wife seldom needs to think before answering; I’ve never caught her wrong. Therefore, I started using margarine. Yet, I preferred using oil.
A shockingly long period elapsed before I developed the idea to use oil, but just add salt to compensate for what would have been in the (salted) margarine.
How much salt (approximately) is in 1 cup butter (margarine)? My source says 1/2 teaspoon, so that’s the ratio I use. For me, it works perfectly.
Source:
Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.