What different uses do we assign to salted butter vs. unsalted butter?
What different uses do we assign to salted butter versus unsalted butter?
Best Answer
Salted butter is good only for spreading on toast. In all other cooking applications, without exception, you want to use unsalted butter. For one, the addition of salt in some contexts (particularly baking) will affect chemical reactions, so you want to control how much salt is being used. For another, and more importantly in most applications, using salted butter means you will have less control over actual seasoning.
We keep both salted and unsalted butter at home. Salted, as I noted, is for toast only really.
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Quick Answer about "What different uses do we assign to salted butter vs. unsalted butter?"
Use salted butter when composing sauces, sauteeing veggies, topping your morning toast or even making the perfect Thanksgiving turkey. The touch of salt in the butter will really help accentuate all of these flavors. Unsalted butter would provide the fat you'd need in these cases but not that extra flavor.What if I use salted butter instead of unsalted butter?
Technically, yes. You can use salted butter instead of unsalted butter if that's all you've got, especially if you're making something simple like cookies where the chemistry of adding salt in a specific amount and at a certain time won't terribly affect the outcome, unlike bread.When baking is it better to use salted or unsalted butter?
Baking recipes typically call for unsalted butter because the amount of salt in salted butter varies depending on the brand \u2013 there is no \u201cindustry standard.\u201d For example, if you use one brand of salted butter in a recipe, and we use another, our baked goods could end up tasting very different from one other.Salted vs Unsalted Butter - Which Should You Use When?
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Answer 2
In the UK most butter is salted and just labeled butter. Most people use this for everything, unless a recipe calls for unsalted butter particularly. I assume our baking recipes take that into account, but lots of our baked goods, eg shortbread, wouldn't taste right without it.
Answer 3
The short answer is that unsalted butter is for cooking with, salted butter is for spreading on things (biscuits, pancakes, etc.). Salted butters vary in the amount of salt they contain, so when cooking you should use unsalted butter and control the salt level yourself.
I believe I've heard that in some parts of Europe salted butter isn't even sold. If you want to butter your croissant, you use unsalted butter and sprinkle a touch of salt for flavor.
Answer 4
Well, you can assign whatever uses you want, of course. But in general, unsalted butter is used anywhere that you can't or shouldn't taste for saltiness, or where you want to avoid the salt, and salted for anything that you prefer it on, or where there's no worry about getting too much salt without knowing it. This is because the saltiness varies so much with salted butter, so you never know how much salt you're getting.
Of course, lots of people use unsalted butter for most everything--many prefer it on fresh bread, for example--and there are plenty of people who don't worry about using salted butter for everything either.
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