Bordier butter

[cookieyumyum]

Hi,

This will be our first trip to Paris and I think I have everything figured out almost everything EXCEPT I must have Beurre Bordier.

I read the below article about it in Saveur a few years back and it always stayed with me.
http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen...

Is there a restaurant that has a sampling of all the butters or would I be better off purchasing them at a shop?
Is it allowed to take butter back with you to the states?

Thanks for any advice. :)

[John Talbott]

I'm surprised that no one has referred you to Ptipois, a bilingual expert on Brittany, who has posted extensively on her website http://ptipois.canalblog.com/ and on eG - http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=125386&hl=butter on the subject.

John Talbott http://johntalbottsparis.typepad.com/...

[John Talbott]

Well, if you must have it, do.
But as Soup says, there's lots else, my own Marie Quatrehomme stuff from Brittany is pretty good.
Also, over the last two years you couldn't open a resto here without serving (and noting you served) Bordier, at Fines Gueules, etc.

[cookieyumyum]

Wow Thanks for all the wonderful input and I really appreciate the different Butter suggestions as well.
I was not aware that many of the cheesemakers there made butter as well. Very exciting and I feel foolish for not realizing that earlier. :)

I'll be sure to report back on my experience with the butters. Thanks!

[souphie]

There are many excellent butters in France, especially in the season where the cows eat fresh grass and flowers. Bordier is one of them, the most used in fine dining. Alain Passard of l'Arpège uses it exclusively, in very large quantities, for all cooking. It has a very strong identity with its translucid color and the droplets of water it sweats when you spread it. But all top cheese makers have extraordinary butters. DCM mentions one of them. There is also Bellevaire (more and more top restaurants work with him) who now has a few shops in Paris. Bordier can also be found at Dubois, at Alléosse, who have other excellent butters and creams. I don't think they do tastings but you can always ask.

Those excellent butters -- and creams-- are raw. It means they don't keep much over ten days and no more than a couple of days unrefrigerated. But I never heard of anyone having customs issues and brought some myself more than once, but, as DCM says, butter at room temperature is not hard, better to pack it in a tupperware maybe.

Desnoyer the butcher and other chic shops also have Bordier.

The best butter I had was in the Alps in the summer, at Rabaey's restaurant "Le Pont de Brent". That said, the raw butter I get every week from Quatrehomme is good enough that I'm happy to have a spoon full of it.

[fanoffrance]

Is Échiré considered inferior to Bordier?

[souphie]

Yes. But it's good. Echiré is pasteurized butter. You can often find even better butter in your supermarket (one of the charms of France is the availability of good quality local production in supermarkets).

[Nancy S.]

I like both Echire and Bordier, but to me they have very different tastes and textures. I can get Echire in New York, so I eat this a lot. Another restaurant with Bordier is Au Gourmand on rue Moliere in the 1st arron.

[PhilD]

If you want to see the vast range including two Bordier's check out the butter section at Le Bon Marche. I was there yesterday and counted 32 different butters. Some pedestrian (for France) others very high end.

[olivierb]

I've bought Bordier butter twice at La Grande Epicerie du Bon Marché, and twice is had gone off, and these were different shipments, as there had been a few months interval in between.

Maybe it was just bad luck...

[PhilD]

Did you take it back?

[olivierb]

Nope, I know I probably should have, but like a famous american-living-in-Paris-blogger, I encourage people to complain if they don't get what they should, but rarely do so myself. In this case because I was too lazy for that...

[PhilD]

Le Bon Marche was my local supermarket for a couple of years and we did take a few things back. It was never an issue, but I suppose that is what you pay for.

[Delucacheesemonger]

OK to bring back, but will get pretty smooshy. Galleries Lafayette has, on last visit, 4-5 different Bordier selling for about 2.5 Euros per 250 mg. package. Buy good bread and sample in your hotel or apartment. Do not know of any restaurant sampling the butter. It is wonderful butter but the butter from Bretagne served at Le Duc is the best butter ever eaten, last time there, two people in our party pocketed a portion and took with them home, l was one of them.