In the last couple of weeks, butter has been smeared, spread and spread across all manner of surfaces and social media, in the name of the butter board.
Not to be confused with a charcuterie table, which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s butter, and it’s on a board.
A common butter board is less of a recipe, more of a technique: soften some butter, then place it on a wooden cutting board or a slate or marble cheese plate.
Then drizzle some honey. Grate some lemon zest. Sprinkle some edible flowers or chili flakes. Add figs, maybe radishes. That, and the flaky salt, artfully mask the reality. Serve with bread.
“This is essentially a glorified stick of butter,” said Justine Doiron, a recipe developer in New York who blogs under the name. Justine Snacks.
When Ms. Doiron posted a 28 second video of his preparation of a “butter board” for TikTok earlier this month, he was simply contributing to the canon of trendy board-based recipes that have come to find a huge audience thanks to the mysterious creation algorithm platform stars
The butter board, a smaller format heir grazing tablesmaybe it’s a little childish: We’ll eat anything. And as diners become more comfortable with communal eating two and a half years after a pandemic, the resurgence of shareable recipes is no surprise. The butter board is a harbinger of festivities to come.
Savory or sweet, a butter board is a beautiful centerpiece, and beautiful is the point. But its simplicity is, perhaps, the real appeal.
“It’s a more humble way to entertain,” said Ms. Doiron, whose video has been viewed more than 8.4 million times. “Charcuterie tables have become so demanding and so done.”
While she may have been the digital midwife of the butter board, Ms. Doiron credits chef and cookbook author Joshua McFadden with the idea.
A butter board is featured in his 2017 James Beard Award-winning book “Six seasons: a new way with vegetables”, which he wrote with Martha Holmberg.
He first served one at a farm dinner for about 150 people. “Everybody said, ‘What are you doing with all that butter?'” he said.
The chef recommends using butter at room temperature. “Don’t try to make everything taste the same,” said Mr. McFadden. “Find pockets of sweetness, pockets of salt.”
Salted butter can be left out for four hours at room temperature, said Benjamin Chapman, head of the department of agricultural and human sciences at North Carolina State University. Unlike the average American who prefers to keep butter at much cooler temperatures, people in many other Western countries often leave it on the counter for easy spreading.
“This is not something that would make my top 20 or top 50 list of risky things,” said Dr. Chapman on butter tables.
Supply chain issues, labor shortages and inflation are increasing dairy prices, but butter sales are higher compared to 2019 levels, industry experts said. Butter boards came on the heels of another dairy-based TikTok trend: overdoing it compound butters.
When it comes to butter boards, Big Butter is a big fan.
“We love it, of course,” said Heather Arfang, senior vice president of Land O’ Lakes’ dairy business.
Because the trend is young, he said, “it’s hard to make a real cause and effect on volumes in this short period.” But, Ms. Arfang added, “our demand for butter has been very strong. This month, we have found our forecasts.”
Nearly a dozen woodworking Etsy sellers said they saw visits to their sites soar after Ms. Doiron published his video. Some savvy business owners have even started customizing their standard cutting boards with “Butter Board” in curling script, good for search engine optimization.
For the past two weeks, online visits to Benjamin Blakeley’s Etsy shop, Tobins Carpentrythey have increased by 400 percent, he said.
“It’s simple, it’s fun, it’s artistic,” Blakeley said of the trend.
Like all food trends on TikTok, professional content creators and home cooks are making it their own. Holly Haines, a recipe developer in San Diego, California, not yet ready to double dip, has offered an ouroboros of dams: use focaccia like the board.
“It’s definitely just bread and butter,” Ms. Haines admitted.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when making your own butter board:
The type of board matters. A wooden cutting board may look rustic, but that wears out quickly. Place parchment paper on the board for easy cleanup, or opt for a marble or chalkboard surface.
Utensils are your friends. Place knives to the side so guests don’t treat the butter board like, well, hummus. (Ms. Doiron said the “biggest mistake” in her video was tearing off a piece of bread to dip in butter.)
Soften naturally. The fat and milk solids in the butter can separate when microwaved, so leave the stick for about an hour before serving. If you arrive on time, you can always try body heat.
Treat butter like frosting. Use the back of a spoon or an offset spatula to swirl it like you would frost a layer cake.
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