Having been raised with real butter, I have an inherent dislike for margarine (unless it becomes an “ingredient” in a recipe); even though it is more expensive, I buy butter instead of margarine for a variety of uses.

 

What would homemade hash browns be without real butter? Or a baked potato? Corn on the cob? Popcorn? Garlic bread? I’m aware there are butter-flavored seasonings on the market, but I have tried most of them and have yet to find one that equals the taste of the real thing. While I was growing up, my mother would sometimes try to fool my father and slip in margarine or a butter substitute, but he was never bamboozled.

 

The first cooking of my own that met with any great success was a tried and true Wyoming recipe for homemade peanut butter cookies. I was about ten years old at the time (Mum has kept the original cookbook from where the recipe originated), and I was delighted by my skill at making criss-cross marks with a fork on top of the cookies (the trick is to dip the fork prongs in flour before each cross, thus avoiding a sticky implement). The particular recipe also called for an entire stick of butter – melted – and there was no seasoning or margarine that could replace that flavor.

 

Being such a butter-lover (and I’m almost certain there are more of you out there), having stumbled on a web site about the subject matter was a definite good find. Butter includes the history and making of the flavorful utopia, along with butter around the world, detailed descriptions of its composition, how to make it (of course), and a glossary of terms.