Loving Butter
Celebrity chef James Martin on the perfect butter-to-toast ratio, Flake sandwiches and why margarine should be banned.
Every now and again, chef James Martin’s mum would let him make his own packed lunch – and on those occasions, he knew exactly what was going in his Spider-Man lunchbox.
“I’d have buttered white sliced bread and mashed up banana with a Cadbury Flake on it, press it down, wrap it in cling film,” he remembers fondly. “Then you get to lunchtime and it would sort of look – when it was out the cling film – almost like a tennis ball. It would be all congealed together. But you managed to eat it. Nobody wanted to swap with me, but it was proper”, he says. Several decades on, this is a Yorkshireman who puts butter on roast potatoes (specifically when they’re “not cold, cold”, but lukewarm) and has now written a whole cookbook devoted to the yellow stuff, simply titled Butter.
It shouldn’t be a controversial topic, but let’s be honest, people can get judgy about how much butter you slather on stuff (for instance, if you put it on gingernut biscuits… cue lots of raised eyebrows).
Everyone believes their way of buttering toast is the ‘right’ way.
“If it was my granny, she would butter it so much you could see a wedge of butter on it. I can’t do butter if it’s not visual on hot toast,” says Martin of his own butter-to-toast ratio preference. “I can’t eat it; it’s got to be enough butter to make it still visual.”
Then there are the health concerns – Martin, 49, has a family history of heart disease and has a check-up every six months. “I’m fine,” he says.
“It’s everything in moderation. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke. So there you go. If you complain about me putting too much butter on my bread, then stop bloody smoking or stop drinking.”
One of the reasons butter can (ahem) churn up so many opinions, he says, is because “people don’t know as much about it as they should”. The telly chef recently did a demo where 50 per cent of the audience didn’t know how it was made.
“People just think butter is butter, and it’s not,” he says, explaining how different butters suit certain types of cooking. “If you’re going to do French-style patisserie, you just don’t use the stuff you get in the supermarket – it’s too heavily watered, and there’s too much water in buttermilk. Really, really good pastry butter should snap in half like a Dairy Milk.”
The chef is classically French-trained himself, and he believes “there is no substitute” for butter – certainly not margarine. “Margarine should be banned.
It’s dreadful, dreadful stuff,” he says. “It’s two elements away from plastic, it’s horrendous stuff.” He even quotes Anthony Bourdain in the book, who says it’s “not food”.
“I’m a farmer’s kid,” Martin continues. “We’ve always had full-fat milk, butter and cream. And that’s what we had. There wasn’t such a thing as semi-skimmed milk in our house.”
He suggests those anti-butter arguments don’t factor in the full picture. Of course, eating a block a day isn’t going to be good for you, but “it’s not the butter consumption. It’s the ready-made food, it’s the packet food, the hidden salt, hidden fat – that’s the problem in this country,” he says. “It’s not the butter in a butter block, or butter you put on your toast. It’s the fact that not as many people cook in here as they do in France or Italy or Spain.”
The pandemic has shifted that attitude slightly, he reckons, and he also believes people are now “more appreciative” of the restaurant industry and those who work in it. “You’ve spent the last 18 months to two years cooking for yourself, you realise it’s not that glamorous, is it, every single day of the week, day in, day out?”
The bookings for his restaurants are busier than ever – although an issue is the exodus of hospitality staff, which Martin puts more down to individuals having the space and time to consider their job prospects over the various lockdowns, rather than just Brexit.
He argues aspects of the food scene need to change to entice people back, including customers being willing to pay more for what they’re getting. “You go to France and have a croissant or a coffee, it’s twice the price it is over here. You don’t question it when you’re on holiday, because that’s the price,” says Martin. “For too long, we’ve been price-sensitive over everything.
“We’re too price-sensitive in terms of food in our supermarkets. We constantly strive for cheaper and cheaper food and as much as it is great to have good value, for sure, but you can’t continue that spiral down. At some point, you’re going to hit rock bottom.”
Whatever the difficulties – be it prices or people expecting strawberries in December – Martin believes he is “in the business to help others – our job is to serve and help and provide a service for other people, for them to enjoy themselves. That’s what we do. That’s why we work the hours we work” – and he loves it. Feeding people is “a magical thing” – and if there’s butter involved, all the better.
Crispy Buttermilk Chicken With Chipotle Dressing
Crispy chicken and lots of lime – time to tuck in.
“ The key is to use chicken thighs for the best taste, but soak them in buttermilk for at least 24 hours, as this flavours and tenderises the meat. The selection of spices is up to you, but this is our favourite combination.
“Simply mix with flour, coat the chicken and deep fry; if the chicken pieces start to colour too quickly, remove from the fryer and finish cooking in the oven, as you want the fryer at a temperature where it cooks the chicken through but browns the crumb at the same time. I love this with a chipotle dressing, tons of chilli and mint, and fresh lime.”
(SERVES 4-6)
INGREDIENTS:
◆ 12 chicken thighs, skinned and boneless
◆ 500ml buttermilk
◆ Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
◆ Fine sea salt
FOR THE SEASONED FLOUR:
◆ 300g self-raising flour
◆ 2tsp celery salt
◆ 2tsp dried oregano
◆ 2tsp cayenne pepper
◆ ½tsp ground nutmeg
◆ 3tsp garlic salt
◆ 3tsp onion salt
◆ 2tsp dried thyme
◆ 1tsp freshly ground black pepper
FOR THE CHIPOTLE DRESSING:
◆ 1tbsp Dijon mustard
◆ 3 egg yolks
◆ 200ml vegetable oil
◆ 1tbsp chipotle chilli paste
TO SERVE:
◆ A few sprigs of coriander and mint, chopped
◆ 1 red and 1 green chilli, sliced
◆ 2 limes, cut into wedges
METHOD:
➊ Place the chicken in a large bowl or container and coat in the buttermilk. Cover and pop in the fridge overnight.
➋ The next day, heat a pan of vegetable oil or a deep-fat fryer to 170°C (338°F).
➌ Mix the flour together with all the spices in a shallow bowl. Drain the chicken from the buttermilk and dredge it through the seasoned flour, coating each piece well.
➍ Fry the chicken in batches for six to eight minutes until golden and crispy, then drain on kitchen paper.
➎ To make the chipotle dressing, whisk together the mustard and egg yolks. Slowly drizzle in the oil, whisking continuously until you have a thick dressing, then whisk in the chipotle paste.
➏ To serve, pile the chicken onto a platter, drizzle over the chipotle dressing and sprinkle the herbs and chillies over the top. Dot with lime wedges for squeezing.
Roast Crab With Lime And Chilli Butter
This buttery crab deserves a great hunk of bread.
“This can be served as either potted crab spread on warm toast or, as I like to serve it, just melted in a dish so it warms the crab and fully melts the butter. at way all the flavours of the kaffir lime leaves come out.”
(SERVES 2)
INGREDIENTS:
◆ 100g butter, softened
◆ Zest and juice of 2 limes
◆ 2 ka‑ r lime leaves, finely sliced
◆ 1 lemongrass stick, finely chopped
◆ 4 spring onions, sliced
◆ 2tbsp fresh coriander, chopped, plus extra leaves to serve
◆ 1 red chilli, finely diced
◆ 300g white crab meat
◆ Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
TO SERVE:
◆ Toasted sourdough
METHOD:
➊ Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan)/400°F/gas 6.
➋ Beat together the butter, lime zest and juice, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, spring onions, coriander and chilli. Season with salt and pepper.
➌ Spoon the crab into two ovenproof dishes and top with the butter. Place them on a baking tray and roast for 10 minutes until hot and bubbling.
➍ Sprinkle with coriander leaves and serve straight away, with toasted sourdough on the side.
Filo Croustades Of Figs, Almonds & Clotted Cream
(SERVES 4)
INGREDIENTS:
◆ Plain flour, for dusting
◆ 8 sheets of filo pastry
◆ 80g butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
◆ 80g caster sugar
◆ 75g flaked almonds, toasted
◆ 4tbsp clotted cream
◆ 4 ripe figs, stems trimmed and crossed to press open
◆ 2tbsp honey
TO SERVE:
◆ 200g clotted cream
METHOD:
➊ Preheat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan)/325°F/gas 3 and grease four 10 centimetre tart tins, one and a half centimetres deep.
➋ On a lightly floured surface, cut out 12×12 centimetre squares from the filo pastry. From the remaining pastry, cut out eight discs, using a five centimetre round cutter Brush one fi lo disc with melted butter on one side and place it butter-side down into a tart tin. Lightly brush three of the filo squares on both sides with melted butter, then cut them in half into triangles. Arrange the triangles evenly on the disc like petals, then seal them with another filo disc on top (this will ensure light, flaky and crisp croustades). Repeat to assemble the remaining three tart shells.
➍ Bake the tarts for eight to 10 minutes until crisp and golden, then carefully place them on a wire rack to cool. Remove from the tins once cool.
➎ Put the sugar in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat; do not stir but carefully swirl in the pan until the sugar is brown and caramelised. This should take about three to four minutes. Toss in the almonds to coat them.
➏ Place a dollop of clotted cream into each filo shell, add a fig, top with a scattering of caramelised almonds and drizzle with honey. Serve topped with a dollop of clotted cream.
BUTTER: Comforting, Delicious, Versatile – Over 130 Recipes Celebrating Butter by James Martin, published by Quadrille. Photography John Carey. Available now.