In article . com>,
Merry > wrote:
=
= Frank103 wrote:
= > I have heard that pastry chefs usually prefer unsalted butter rather than
= > salted butter. When it comes to cakes and cookies, can you actually taste
= > the difference between salted and unsalted butter? I guess people who are
= > professionals can but can most others tell the difference? thanks in
= > advance.
= > Frank
= I use unsalted butter- most recipes call for salt anyway, so why ruin
= what you are making with more. If I must use salted, I reduce the
= amount of salt called for in the recipe

I must say that I've often wondered as Frank has done. How much
salt *is* there is a stick of "lightly salted butter" (as it says
on the package)?

Considering all the variables in cooking, it really puzzles me that
the little bit of salt in salted butter will make *that* much
difference to the final product. Consider just the variability in
eggs, for example. Yes, I know the "standard" size is, what, USDA
"Large"? I don't know about the eggs y'all buy, but the ones I get
vary all over the place. I suspect that sizes vary from a miniscule
amount above the next smaller "standard" size to a similar bit below
the next larger. And consider flour. No matter how you measure
it. Whether you measure by weight or by volume, unless the flour
is from the same batch, has been stored and will be used under
precisely the same conditions as the person who created the recipe,
you are unlikely to use precisely the same amount that he did.

Consider for example, two packages of flour from the same batch.
One is stored in my house at 6500 feet above sea level here in the
desert (US) southwest, humidity often single-digit; the other in my
sister's house, a stone's throw from the Ohio River (about 600 feet
above see level) in humid, sometimes 90+%, West Virginia. No matter
how you measure it, you won't get the same amount both places.
Other examples abound.

And we're going to worry about the bit of salt in a tablespoon, a
stick, even a pound, of butter?

--
Charlie Sorsby

Edgewood, NM 87015
USA