Someone please explain using butter AND cream cheese on your sandwich

[Feed Me]

Why do people do that? It seems like over-kill, like more heart-attack possibilities than benefit. If you have a rich cream cheese, what does the butter add to it besides more calories and fat?

[SeattleJim]

Heaven on Earth Grandma style, 1974: egg bagel toasted dark topped with butter, then cream cheese, then egg yolk and bacon. This was all about complex flavors, skip the butter and flavor is sacrificed.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i'm guessing Grandma wasn't Jewish ;)

[shaogo]

If Grandma *was* Jewish, well, then let's call her "Bubby Trayf." :)

[shaogo]

I will often butter half the bagel and then spread the other half with cream cheese. It's not over-kill; the butter enriches the cream cheese to such a degree that it becomes a whole different (rich, decadent) experience.

A chef I worked with years ago would spread butter on the bread for all canapes. This included cucumber sandwiches, watercress sandwiches, and also canapes of smoked salmon and pate.

So to answer the OP's question: why do I do this? Because I can. And because there's nothing like the taste and mouthfeel of butter to make foods that are already great, better.

[goodhealthgourmet]

shaogo, i have a question about the bagel...toasted or not? i'm just wondering because temperature will certainly impact texture & mouthfeel. i was always more of a cream cheese girl when it came to my bagel, but if i did choose butter instead (usually only for a cinnamon-raisin bagel), it had to be toasted. i've never enjoyed the mouthfeel of cold or [relatively] solid butter - it has to be melted. (which is the same reason i probably would have passed on those canapes your former colleague used to prepare!)

[shaogo]

60% of the time, toasted; 40% not (usually because the bagel shop's slammed and I don't want to wait). It's all about butter flavor, for me, whether the butter's decadently soft or still a little waxy, like it just came out of the fridge.

As for the canapes, I assure you there wasn't enough butter for you to get that "hunk of fat" kind of mouth-feel. But you'd have missed it if it weren't there.

[goodhealthgourmet]

temperature & texture can make or break my entire eating experience, but for you it's all about the flavor. got it. thanks for the explanation!

[shaogo]

goodhealth:

Hey, I completely understand where you're coming from. If I'm eating prime rib and it gets really cold, I gross out on the waxy bits of fat around the edges and have to stop eating.

I can't tell you how many times I've received a buttered hard roll or buttered bagel at a deli only to find that I have to go back and get a plastic knife because, in the middle of said pastry, there's a huge, 1" thick glop of butter -- right in the middle. And none around the rest of the pastry. Mushing the halves together to schmear it around is useless when you're dealing with a big, hard hunk of refrigerated butter.

[danhole]

I learned a long time ago that if you are making a sandwich, in advance, then you put a light layer of butter on the bread to keep the juicy ingredients from soaking the bread.If I make a sandwich before bed, for lunch the next day, this is what I do. Not enough to get a true mouthfeel, but just enough!

I also put a layer of butter on my PB sandwich as well. Can't eat one without it!

[burlgurl]

I agree that butter is such more fat added..it only bothers me when dining out and the sandwich comes buttered when not mentioned in the menu..
The only time i like buttered bread sandwiches, is when it's toasted and on an egg salad sandwich..otherwise, waste of calories/fat.

[goodhealthgourmet]

see, this is another one i don't understand - the use of butter when there's mayo present (as there is in the egg salad). do you do it for the flavor? i'm not trying to be difficult - i'm genuinely interested because i'd like to understand what it is that you like about the combination.

[Sooeygun]

I like that the butter prevents the mayo from soaking into the bread and keeps it from getting mushy.

[chowmel]

All our sandwiches were buttered when I was growing up (maybe not peanut butter). It was to keep the bread dryer and it was for taste. I especially like the taste of a 'salad' sandwich with butter - tuna, chicken, egg, ham. I may switch and put mayo on a tuna sandwich if I'm in the mood. I guess something always goes on the bread then the sandwich is made.

[smtucker]

My great puzzlement has always been mayonnaise on a tuna fish salad sandwich or egg salad, when the salad is made with mayo. But, I don't really care that much as long as I don't have to eat it.

[goodhealthgourmet]

it must be a flavor thing. i've never understood it either. butter plus cream cheese has always puzzled me, as has the addition of butter to a peanut butter sandwich...but to each his/her own.

[Sooeygun]

I like butter on my toast with PB because it tastes good. That's the only reason

[Cherylptw]

Taste, which is why any of us eat the things we do..to each his own

[Feed Me]

well then