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One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

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Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#61

Post by ska »

bombcar wrote: post #35
rexreed wrote: post #32

Meanwhile there's a cream shortage here on the east coast US! The price of cream has gone up substantially and was entirely unavailable during Thanksgiving weekend in my local area. No heavy or light cream whatsoever at any store. And now it's 2.5x the price it usually is.

It’s amazing how local diary still is for many things. During covid my parents could barely get milk and meanwhile we were drowning in it.

> It’s amazing how local diary still is for many things.

It's not really surprising, it doesn't ship well or age well (at least, not as liquid). You can do things like UHT but it negatively affects quality and makes it useless for a lot of things.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#63

Post by BenjiWiebe »

dhosek wrote: post #34
turtledragonfly wrote: post #22

"we do everything by hand" ... proceeds to demonstrate large churning machine (: No, I know they're doing a much more manual process than most such factories. I think even the Amish use automation for churning. For reference though, 380 tons is actually a smallish number. Seems France produces about 1000x that much in total, per year, not to mention other countries.

I was thinking the same thing. It’s a bit over a ton a day, which is 250 gallons of milk (well, probably a bit more assuming that it takes more than a pound of milk to make a pound of butter). Kind of like the scene in the first Austin Powers movie where Doctor Evil demands ONE MILLION DOLLARS! and the world leaders laugh.

It takes over a pound of cream to make a pound of butter.

Whole milk -> skim milk + cream Cream -> buttermilk + butter

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#64

Post by nicoburns »

buzzdenver wrote: post #44
yamtaddle wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, I'm not complaining that our foie gras is lacking, or our sushi's not very good. Bread's pretty important across a lot of cuisines and my city's bizarrely terrible at it, for some reason. Zero places here make really good bread, and the few that achieve "OK" charge so much one hesitates to eat it, rather than preserving it in a display case to impress guests.

What do you expect from a country that came up with the saying "best thing since sliced bread", when sliced bread is the worst :)

You can also get decent sliced bread (it's a regular loaf sliced at the time of purchase rather coming pre-sliced).

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#65

Post by insane_dreamer »

spockz wrote: post #45
yamtaddle wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a US city with a population over 2,000,000 that's seemingly incapable of producing what would be a very mediocre loaf of bread in Paris, for under $12. Actually-good bread simply cannot be had—there isn't any. One consequence of this is that it's impossible to get a decent sandwich here for anything but crazy-high prices. And don't get me started on the croissant situation. Ugh. They're all too-big and disg…

I have been to the USA only twice, to San Francisco and to New York, and the absence of flavour and substance in the food is what really stuck with me. Everything was so bland and generic and non filling. The two only exceptions were a cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory, and a chowder in some small fish shop. And the latter only because I never had it before. I can really imagine all portions being over sized and s…

> And yes, proper fresh French baguette is worth a meal on its own.

Almost. Just add wine and cheese :)

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#66

Post by stephc_int13 »

If any of you are passing by St Malo (France) the owner has a small restaurant called "Le bistrot autour du beurre" that is excellent for its price.

My advice if you also want to buy some butter: unsalted is excellent but it won't taste good for long (pretty much like a fresh baguette). Salted butter has a much longer duration, if you plan to take some home.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#67

Post by acchow »

spockz wrote: post #45
yamtaddle wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a US city with a population over 2,000,000 that's seemingly incapable of producing what would be a very mediocre loaf of bread in Paris, for under $12. Actually-good bread simply cannot be had—there isn't any. One consequence of this is that it's impossible to get a decent sandwich here for anything but crazy-high prices. And don't get me started on the croissant situation. Ugh. They're all too-big and disg…

I have been to the USA only twice, to San Francisco and to New York, and the absence of flavour and substance in the food is what really stuck with me. Everything was so bland and generic and non filling. The two only exceptions were a cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory, and a chowder in some small fish shop. And the latter only because I never had it before. I can really imagine all portions being over sized and s…

> San Francisco and to New York, and the absence of flavour and substance in the food is what really stuck with me

What? Where did you eat?

> The two only exceptions were a cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory

I guess we have different definitions of substance and flavour. I can't imagine anything being more boring than Cheesecake Factory.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#68

Post by cylinder714 »

nestorD wrote: post #7
bombela wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the bay area, mademoiselle Colette has amazing kouign-amann! They use beurre d'Isigny too.

I was surprised to discover that several cafés in Berkeley carry kouign-Amann!

Before I moved away three years ago, I used to get kouign-amann at Peet's coffee stores outside the immediate Bay Area. I don't know what the situation is now.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#69

Post by [deleted] »

jcims wrote: post #50

I just want to dip a spoon in at every step and sample it. About two years ago I bought just about every butter at the local grocery and started sampling them. (COVID hobby i guess) and it completely changed my relationship with butter. I found a few that were clear favorites...to the point where one of them I can slice off a thin pat and just eat it neat. Butter in the abstract is loved, but somehow it has been rele…

[deleted]

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#70

Post by kergonath »

yamtaddle wrote: post #20
xwolfi wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah the food situation in the US is pretty sad. I rmb going there in an exchange and the family dad beeming with pride "look I bought you a French baguette", and suffice to say... it was neither French nor a baguette lol. It barely qualified as food for animals.

I live in a US city with a population over 2,000,000 that's seemingly incapable of producing what would be a very mediocre loaf of bread in Paris, for under $12. Actually-good bread simply cannot be had—there isn't any. One consequence of this is that it's impossible to get a decent sandwich here for anything but crazy-high prices. And don't get me started on the croissant situation. Ugh. They're all too-big and disg…

If it helps, it’s more or less the same in London: I haven’t found a decent baguette in years (though they have some decent croissants, only quite expensive). They have a not-quite baguettes which are serviceable in sandwiches, and some kind of larger loaves that looks like actual bread except that it tends not to have any crust, only the external appearance of it.

But nothing close to an actual baguette, which is something stupidly easy and cheap to make. And stupidly delicious, it goes wonderfully with marmelade and good butter, which is quite easy to find in the UK. Better than crackers with a lot of cheeses, as well.

> You'd think someone could do it, but evidently not.

I think the main things with baguettes is that they are not as sweet as common English “bread”, and for some reason some people seem to hate crust or any kind of texture. Also, you cannot keep them fresh for more than a day. Keeping a supply requires going to a bakery every other day, which in turns requires the presence of a bakery within a couple of minutes walk from home. This is just not a thing in the UK, or the US from my more limited experience.

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