Cooking only: butter vs. margarine? Is there a rule about which one to use?

Question

Not worried about the health aspects, just which is better for which recipes. I'm frying potatoes (hashbrowns) and the real butter didn't seem to do so well. Also, many people say "butter" but really mean margarine. How do you know which is right for different recipes?

Answer 1

margarine, which is butter flavored shortening, melts at a higher temp, and makes baked goods more tender with a softer crumb.

butter, unless it is clarified, melts and burns at a lower temp. it is mainly used for flavor and enriching.

Answer 2

Ah. I ran a little experiment the other night with fats and potatoes. I concur with "real cooks use only real butter," so left margarine out of the experiment -- I think it's foul stuff, and there're already many good anti-margarine answers here so I'll leave that to them.

Anyway, I roasted potatoes in

butter
olive oil
peanut oil
Crisco veg shortening

...in several little pans at the same time, and did a little taste test with a friend.

Olive oil wasn't too bad, but left a peculiar aftertaste. It wasn't very strongly-flavoured olive oil, or else that might've been worse. Verdict: only in emergencies.

Crisco was pretty bad. The taste was off, and it was the greasiest of the lot. Keep in mind that it's the best analogue to margarine here. I used it only because I'm a vegetarian, and the whole roasted potato experiment was in search of the best _vegetarian_ way to roast potatoes -- I suspect some meat fats might work well.

Peanut oil was a close runner-up. It was light, and fairly tasteless. A lot of the chip wagons here use peanut oil to fry their chips (aka fries), for (apparently) good reason. It didn't compete with the flavour of the potato. It was also a runner-up when it came to browning.

The winner was butter. Unsalted, no less. (I didn't want to bias the results by using salted.) It had a slightly more noticeable flavour than the peanut oil, but what was noticeable was good. It did the best job of browning, and did not turn out too greasy.

Hash browns would obviously be different, though. I'd experiment with half peanut oil and half butter. Butter isn't so hot at high temperatures (ooh, funny), though, but combining it with oil tends to fix that. (Olive oil has a low smoke point as oils go, though, so I'm with peanut over the olive that was suggested earlier.)

I realise this doesn't quite answer the more general aspects of your question. You might run into some interesting, if not useful, propaganda by searching for the web sites of butter marketing boards.

As for "Also, many people say "butter" but really mean margarine" -- I suspect that's not entirely true; at least not if you're following a cookbook or sound advice. Unless a recipe specifies margarine, butter's going to be better.

Try http://www.wisdairy.com/OtherDairyProductInfo/Butter/Default.aspx

"Q: What’s the difference between butter and margarine?

A: Butter is a natural dairy product made by churning or shaking cream until it reaches a semisolid state. Margarine is made from a single oil, or blend of oils, including animal and vegetable fats.

Because butter is a natural product, its performance in cooking and baking is unduplicated, naturally enhancing food flavor and providing a creamy texture."

Consider how disgusting a hollandaise made with margarine would be, or carrots with parsley sautéed in...margarine. Yecch.

Answer 3

I would say that in anything baked you should use butter over margarine when a choice is given. Shortening is different, though, and you probably don't want to mess too much with recipes that call for shortening.

For sautes, butter will taste better than margarine, but I sometimes will use 1/3 part oil to reduce burning. Butter burns at much lower temperatures than oil.

I would never use margarine for anything.

Also, for hashbrowns, a mixture of olive oil + butter would be great.

Answer 4

Pretty funny how that people in the 70's made Margarine popular because they wanted to avoid the high fat content of butter but in the process created a health hazzard that exceeded any that butter could have posed.

Turns out some margarines were made of Partially Hydrogenated oils which can stay solid at room temperature. These turned out to be an artery clogging nightmare,

Since then, new "buttery spreads" have come out essentially as "next generation margarine" but are mixed with canola and olive oild to make them healthier.

But really, nothing beats the taste of butter for certain things. When sauteeing certain foods Olive oil is better, but when baking or making certain seafood dishes, break out the butter!

Answer 5

It depends on your recipe. Most cookie recipes can use butter flavored shortening, sauteed onions can take margarine. Older recipes called for butter because there was no such thing as margarine. If you want to use margarine instead of butter in your recipes, try BLUE BONNET. I have experimented with all kinds over the years, and it's pretty good at imitating butter at a little cheaper price. Stock up when you see it on sale.

Answer 6

a combination of vegetable oil and butter at high heat. margarine has no added benefits to cooking over butter, and butter certainly tastes better. adding vegetable oil to the butter is a way to increase the smoking temperature of the butter so you don't scald it. you should use 1 tablespoon of butter for every two of vegetable oil. while olive oil is a great alternative to most oils, it does not fry well, it's smoke point is sol low that you whole house will be filled with the smell of burnt olive oil and it will disappear out of the pan before the hashbrowns are cooked. also, layer the hashbrowns in the pan evenly and DON"T TOUCH THEM for at least 8 minutes on medium high heat, then flip them and repeat. cooking is fun and worth experimenting, enjoy.

Answer 7

Cooking is experimenting and taste that has to be aquired at time. Maybe your hashbrowns were a bit greasy? you need to with all oils get the grease hot enough 1st before starting to fry otherwise you food soaks up the oil and gets greasy...

Some like Olive Oil instead of Butter or Margarine.

Answer 8

Hi...real cooks use only real butter. The only exception is if the recipe specifically calls for margarine and tells you not to use real butter. That is the only exception. Butter just tastes better and isn't derived from trans fats as margarine is.

Answer 9

To tell you the truth when you are frying any thing never never use butter, butter burns and turns black and any thing you are frying taste burned' if you are frying anything but eggs use a good oil it can take the high heat you need to fry i use olive oil and it gives food a good taste.
If your baking I use butter but some use margarine it depends on your taste but if it calls for one or the other follow the recopied for a good out come. good luck

Answer 10

I don't even like to use butter or margarine in my cooking, I use olive oil for everything and I like it very much and recipes turn out good.

Answer 11

well seeing how margarine is about the worst thing you can ever put in your body I would go with butter always. But since that isn't your concern. Butter or Marg have low heating points go with olive oil and butter combined.