How are you supposed to actually use butter?

[AintNobodyHereButUsChickens]

I usually just use fake Lurpak from Aldi for day-to-day sandwiches but for when I’m feeling fancy I keep a block of proper butter with salt crystals in it, in the fridge (I keep it in the fridge because one block lasts me months, no-one else eats it). I get it out hours in advance and even when it’s at room temperature it’s still hard enough that I could probably break a window with it. I’ve had my block out since yesterday morning and it’s still not spreadable

Is there a trick to being able to use it or what?

It’s 12 degrees in mine!

Keep it in the fridge and grate it when you need it with a nutmeg grater or the fine end of a cheese grater.

I use Lurpak spreadable, I’m a big fan of real butter but ok with Lurpak for sandwiches, it sounds a bit healthier as I eat a lot of butter.
With real butter I usually warm up the knife with hot water and put thin slices on a hot toast.
I don’t mind if my butter slices are not very thin or even.

I use this butter and never have a problem with it. I do quick, fast movements with the knife rather than big scoops.

It's probably a technique issue rather than a butter texture issue as you are so used to 'spread' which goes on as easily as jam.
Butter, in this weather, needs to be scraped off the block or cut in thin slices- not a chunk. Then there is a knack to spreading it if on soft bread. Start at the crust and coax it carefully around. Toast is easier obviously, or sourdough or dense brown bread etc.
it will never be the same as spread unless it's a hot day.
Adjust your expectations, and enjoy the extra deliciousness and a natual rather than uhp food.

I cut it like cheese and have a big lump on thick toasted bread.

Soften the butter under a hot glass. I haven't tried this but I've seen it often on them crappy 'life hack' videos I watch on FB... You might need to portion out the butter you intend on using unless you have a massive glass.

https://www.foodandwine.com/cooking-techniques/does-it-hack-softening-butter
Boil water. Pour the water into a glass and let it sit for five minutes. Pour the water out and set it the glass upside down over the butter stick creating a miniature sauna of sorts. Let that sit for another fifteen minutes and you’re supposed to have perfectly softened butter.

You do remember though because you just change it when you use the butter. It only uses a tiny bit of water.

I keep mine in an old fashioned lidded enamel butter dish. It sits on the worktop well away from the windows. It doesn't go off or melt and is always nicely spreadable. We get through about a block a week. I wash the dish in the dishwasher or with hot soapy water before putting in the new block (kept waiting until needed in the fridge).

I buy kilo blocks of unsalted from costco. I just slice a bit off and keep it out in a butter dish

Where are you?? It’s not been near 20° for days.

It’s only 14° out here, and the house isn’t much warmer than that. If it’s under 18° the butter is too firm to spread.

OP, it doesn’t matter how long the butter is out of the fridge if the ambient temperature is too low.

Same!
🤣🤣

Keep out in covered butter dish - easy! I keep blocks in the fridge until needed then take out and put in the cleaned dish. Haven’t had any issues with this, always soft enough to spread, never goes off. I might put back in fridge if there was a heatwave but doesn’t seem much chance of that!

I cut a quarter block at a time, keep it in a small lidded glass bowl in the bread cupboard instead of a bigger butter dish.

Like a pp I have spreadable butter in the fridge ( anchor I think ) and block butter in a butter dish on the worktop ( Kerrygold)

Love butter but don’t fancy it with salt crystals in it

slice a small amount off and keep that out for spreading

before I had a microwave I used to put a chunk of butter in a dish and mash it with a fork until it was soft enough to spread, never takes long. My granny always did it that way too.

What's going on in your households? Hardly ever use butter?

Use it for frying, add at the end of sauces to make glossy. Room temp butter should be spreadable, particularly in June.

Use a vegetable peeler for thin slices!

Wow! I never realised about fake and real butter!
So Amchor is fake butter?

I don’t eat it every day though, like I said one block lasts me months, I only really eat the proper butter when I have crumpets or crusty bread and that’s not really regularly. I don’t even use the spreadable stuff every day or even every week!

The rest of the family don’t like any kind of butter, they all prefer the fake stuff like I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter 🤢

Ours generally lives on the work surface near the bread. A 250g pack lasts 3-4 days, only goes in the fridge if exceptionally warm and then I put a slice in a dish in the kitchen so it’s spreadable.
If it’s hard in the fridge, I just cut thin slices off the bar and put on the toast/ bread. It softens very quickly.
But we eat a ridiculous amount of butter in a week as I will not consider eating the substitutes.

anchor pack butter is real butter but anchor spreadable is a blend of butter and oil.

If it's too hard I cut some off and microwave it for 10 or 15 seconds.