Monday, August 25, 2014

ButterUp KickStartup

"A Sydney-based trio of "avid butter enthusiasts" has come up with this knife, which renders cold, hard butter into dainty and pliable curls, and the group's Kickstarter seems to indicate that this is something people need in their lives."

"While the Stupendous Splendiferous ButterUp guys continue to exponentially surpass their funding goals, just remember there's an age-old cooks' trick for softening butter: Cut a slab, put it on a cutting board, and whack it with the flat part of a knife blade. Pros: This technique softens butter into submission right ahead. Cons: It doesn't produce the pretty, pretty squiggles of fluffy butter like the ones depicted in the video here. It's your call really, and probably subjective based on how much you like toast."


24 comments:

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Looks just like a lemon zester. No need to reinvent the wheel.

deborah said...

Brilliant, maybe, but I wonder if the butter will soften on top after the first couple passes, like it does when I try that with a serrated butter knife.

It seems that whacking the butter with the flat of a knife is the way to go.

deborah said...

DBQ! I just erased a lemon zester link because I thought the length of the knife was an added element.

TTBurnett said...

Does the world need another kitchen gadget?

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Yes. It would be difficult to butter a piece of bread with a lemon zester :-)

I usually just plan ahead and put the butter dish out on the counter for about 30 minutes before I make toast. Or slice it into pieces and let those get soft.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I've cut butter from my diet and I don't miss it at all.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

When I started Atkins I'd have a two-egg omelette, fried in as little butter as I could manage.

But now I have a single hard-boiled egg. Less mess. Better for me.

I don't feel deprived in the least.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Does the world need another kitchen gadget?

I suspect ChipA has an answer to that.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

I cannot see myself whacking butter on my cutting board with hangover though...

deborah said...

DBQ, yes, butter kept at room temp is my SOP. But I must keep the lid on the butter dish, as the cat may lick it.

Dust Bunny Queen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dust Bunny Queen said...

LOL at the cat. We used to have a cat that insisted on jumping up on the counter and licking the butter, if it was left uncovered. If she could not find the butter she would wander around on the counter top and sniff, lick things or just knock items off onto the floor.

No matter how many times we caught her in the act and yelled at her she would persist....UNTIL....I got a big squirt gun that would reach across the room. Wait for her to jump and say NO! at the same time she would get squirted. Boom....instantly jumping away from the counter. Sometimes we wouldn't even yell...just watch and squirt her butt and soak her. Soon the counter was a very not nice place and sort of scary for her. No more jumping on the counter. Good. No more soaking the cat with a squirt gun. Darn...that was kind of fun

Fr Martin Fox said...

I toast the bread, slice off the butter thin, then put it in the micro for about 15 seconds.

And why not just slice off the butter you want and nuke it on a plate for about 5-8 seconds? If some melts, just mop it up with the bread.

This is a nifty thing, but I am not seeing a lot of people run out to buy one. This shark is out.

Michael Haz said...

It already exists, and I've got one. It's a lemon zester, actually, but should I ever need curly butter, I'm prepared.

If they's invent curly bread, they'd be doing a good thing.

Speaking of butter, have you tried the butter-in-your-coffee thing? I did, and I have to admin that I like it more than cream.

Fr Martin Fox said...

After reading this, I decided I wanted a bread-and-butter sandwich.

So I went into the kitchen, popped two slices of white bread into the toaster just to warm it up (I keep it frozen, else a loaf will go moldy before I use it up).

Meanwhile, with nothing to do but admire the toaster filaments glowing a soothing orange-red, I took my knife to the butter, to see if I could slice off fairly thin bits to put on the bread.

It wasn't terribly hard; it's not as if I needed the butter I was slicing off to be pretty, or even, or anything. And I wasn't worried about "too much" butter, for heaven's sake.

If anything made a difference, it was that I had bought an uncut pound of butter, rather than sliced butter, because it was cheaper. And the larger hunk of butter doesn't slide all over when one tries to cut at it.

After just consuming my tasty bread-and-butter sandwich, I'm still not seeing a need to possess this gadget.

Michael Haz said...

My Uncle Joe, the farmer, had a favorite sandwich he'd take with in when working in the field. It was home-churned butter on home-made bread, with sliced radishes and a bit of salt.

I made one a few years ago and thought it was pretty good.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Michael:

About the butter-in-coffee thing...

Do you blend it up, or do you just melt some butter in your coffee and stir it?

I generally favor my coffee black and strong, but cream -- the real thing -- is nice once in a while.

But if I have to deal with a blender and all that...skip it.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Michael:

About the butter-in-coffee thing...

Do you blend it up, or do you just melt some butter in your coffee and stir it?

I generally favor my coffee black and strong, but cream -- the real thing -- is nice once in a while.

But if I have to deal with a blender and all that...skip it.

Michael Haz said...

A generous portion of butter into a cup, pour in hot coffee, agitate with a fork for less than 30 seconds.

deborah said...

DBQ, great solution for a counter cat. My daughter had to use a spray bottle to teach her cat not to pounce on her legs under the bed covers or to wake her in the middle of the night.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Michael:

OK, I can handle that! I'll try it...

rcocean said...

Our cat is a butter weirdo. She'll go crazy when the butter comes out and beg for some. Yet, when we give her a piece she'll turn up her nose and walk away.

Damn Cats.

rcocean said...

Butter in coffee? I'll have to give it a shot.

Michael Haz said...

Regarding putting butter in one's coffee, there's this and this.

I've tried coffee with butter and a bit of coconut oil, frothed up a bit, and confess that I like it. And it does seem to cause my n=energy level to increase in the morning, while my appetite seems to diminish a bit.