Why Butter Always Tastes Better At A Restaurant Than At Home

There are plenty of reasons to go out to eat, one of which might be that the butter at restaurants just tastes better and more luxurious. Maybe you've noticed it when you spread it across your fresh bread basket, or when it's melted over a sizzling steak or steaming hot baked potato. But why exactly does butter tend to be creamier and tastier when dining out as opposed to eating it at home? 

It comes down to a couple of factors. While the actual butter itself used in restaurants is usually no different than the butter you can purchase at the grocery store, restaurant kitchen employ specific practices that have a big impact on the quality and flavor of your food, including butter. First and foremost, chefs tend to use fresh butter, whereas at home, you're often pulling from the butter carton or slicing into a stick that has been in your fridge for weeks. On top of that, restaurants store that fresh butter at the perfect temperature in order to ensure maximum flavor on every plate that leaves the kitchen.

Claudia Sidoti, the head chef of Hello Fresh, spoke with Eat This, Not That and revealed how chefs store their butter: at room temperature. Sidoti said, "Keeping butter on the counter will help provide you with ready-to-spread butter. Besides being more spreadable, you will taste the delicious milk fat and ingredients way better if it's at room temperature." Keeping butter in the fridge is advised only when it will be used as an ingredient while cooking or baking, instead of enjoyed on, say, a piece of toast.

Butter can safely be left out of the fridge, as long as it's covered, for about 10 days. But the fresh taste will decrease over that time, so only leave out small amounts that you will use up quickly in order to maintain that restaurant quality taste. Another way that restaurants ensure freshness is by utilizing small, individual packets of butter, which are often given to diners with rolls of bread or something similar. Because these small packets of butter are unopened until the consumer is ready to use it, it stays fresher for longer.