When I married, I aws surprised to discover that my wife's entire family (a moderately large family) does not refrigerate their butter - they just leave it on a tray on the counter. I was incredulous to learn this, and this seems absurd to me. It is, after all, a dairy product. So.. how unusual is this?
It's not too unusual. That's one of the reasons butter dishes have covers on them. As long as it's not super hot in your house, it doesn't really matter. On top of that, it becomes spreadable goodness at room temperature. However, to answer your question, I refrigerate mine. I set it out hours before a meal to soften it, though.
In Houston during most of the year you should probably refrigerate your butter, unless you keep your house around 70 degrees. I know lots of people in the North leave it out.
My wife's family is from the midwest. Call me crazy, but when I buy a dairy product that says, "keep refrigerated" on the front... well, I keep it refrigerated.
Not as smart as my dad. When I was about 12 years old we were passing a Taco Bell. There was a sign outside advertising $.39 tacos. My father said: "Son, never trust $.39 meat." God bless my dad.
Nothing is ever wrong with $.39 cent tacos. They're willing to lose a small margin of profit on these and make them up on other items that have a higher profit margin. Stores have been doing this for years. It's good business. Not rancid meat. Sheesh.
Ah, there's the fatty we all know and love... Yeah, I can't imagine not keeping it in the fridge, but that should be done for all dairy products...I use country crock and not the sticks, unless I'm baking something, so I don't even have a butter dish... But I agree, when it's easy to spread, it's like Buttah...
Every chef that I've asked (exactly 1) says that it's fine to leave the butter out. I put it in the refrigerator.
Given the right environmental conditions there's no problem at all leaving butter unrefrigerated. Most cheeses too.
I refrigerate unless I need softened butter for a recipe such I my yummy pound cake. I remember when I worked in mental health I was with a therapist who was seeing this family that actually left their butter/margarine out. There were 2 or dead flies trapped inside the stick. The just cut that part out and told the family to keep using it and he wasn't the one receiving the services.
