​I love butter. I could eat a fresh baguette smeared with a thick slab every day and never get bored. I’m not alone in harboring fantasies of this indulgence: Americans inhaled 6.8 pounds of butter per person in 2024, the most ever in at least 50 years.. “I’ve always been a bit of a butter snob,” actress and comedian Heather McMahan tells me. “Good butter has always been my thing.”. In one of her recent podcast episodes, McMahan detailed a trip to Paris and her subsequent journey home with 12 (yes, 12) sticks of butter nestled in the depths of her suitcase. This led me down the delightful rabbit hole of butter connoisseurship that’s engulfed social media.. Everywhere I scroll, people are obsessed.. While McMahan has also brought home butter from Japan, Italy and other travels, the internet seems particularly enamored with the French heavy-hitters right now.. There’s a viral video of a new mom getting an 11-pound bucket of Isigny Ste-Mère as her “push present.” (BTW, you can also custom order said bucket.) I’ve watched people document their dedicated trips to Saint-Malo, France, ground-zero for European butter production. And who can ignore Reel after Reel of giddy tourists loading up shopping baskets with Maison Bordier butter from Paris’s La Grande Épicerie?. A Highly Opinionated Guide to the Best Butter for Baking. According to our test kitchen’s pastry expert.. “Butter has entered the chat as something worth traveling for,” laughs Anna Stockwell, author of The Butter Book. “It just keeps getting trendier and trendier.”. These folks gracing my feed aren’t settling for your average grocery store sticks. Or even Irish Kerrygold, which Stockwell lovingly refers to as “gateway butter.” No, they’re seeking out and even making pilgrimages for the definitively more delicious continental European varieties.. “It’s unlike [any butter] that’s in the US,” gushes Meghan Donovan, founder of travel planning agency En Route to Rêverie and one of the first viral butter tourism Reel creators.. In the US, butter has to contain at least 80% butterfat. In Europe, it’s 82% minimum. Sounds like a rounding error, but the extra couple of percentage points of creamy fat is what really intensifies the flavor. Also, most European butter is cultured, yielding a tangy and slightly nutty flavor versus the more muted flavors you’ll find in traditional American sweet cream butter.. Frankly, Euro butter is dreamier than its stateside counterparts. You could even eat it like a piece of cheese if you wanted. (Don’t tempt us with a good time.). Today’s butter tourism is a far cry from the margarine soaked days of the ‘70s where butter and its fatty gloriousness was practically shunned. In her book, Stockwell notes the fall of butter to disproven studies from the 1950s that linked eating saturated fats (which butter has plenty of) to things like heart disease. The low-fat diet craze of the 1980s didn’t help butter’s cau  

​”It’s That Simple” is our series on recipes so effortless, you could whip them up blindfolded. Imagine short ingredient lists, easygoing methods, and flavors so tasty you’ll want to brag to your friends about them. Raw asparagus rarely takes center stage as the star of a dish, but with proper prep, the spears don’t just stand up—they truly dazzle. Here, they’re gently crushed in a zip-top bag using a rolling pin into uneven chunks. This method accomplishes two things: First, it slightly breaks down the asparagus, rendering it more tender and easier to eat. But more importantly, it creates endless nooks and crannies for dressing to cling to. The basic dressing is made with only olive oil, lemon, and shallots. It’s vibrant, flavorful, and sticks just right. You can serve this dish as-is for a straightforward side, or add chopped nuts, dried fruit, or any protein of your choice to turn it into a hearty main salad.  

​”It’s That Simple” is our series on recipes so effortless, you could whip them up blindfolded. Picture short ingredient lists, easygoing methods, and results so tasty you’ll text home about them. Last year, I came up with the idea for a raw smashed asparagus salad, a recipe I knew would be a winner. In my weekly meeting with food director Chris Morocco, I presented my concept, expecting awe and applause. Regrettably, Chris rejected the idea quicker than I could even complete it, remarking, “Raw asparagus sounds bad.” Eager to get the recipe approved, I raised the idea every few months. A year later, Chris finally gave in and let me give it a try. Holding a bunch of asparagus, I strode into the Test Kitchen, prepared a salad, and had everyone sample it. Chris’s face registered shock after just one bite.  

​Jump to primary content. Recipes. Photograph by Graydon Herriott, food styling by Sue Li, prop styling by Aneta Florczyk. If spring had a taste, it would be like peas: sweet, crisp, and with just enough grassy note to signal winter’s end. English peas, sugar snaps, snow peas, frozen peas—we’re not choosy, and you shouldn’t be either. (Actually, we’ve got even more ways to use frozen peas, right here →). Here are our favorite pea recipes for any mood or meal: silky spring pastas that are creamy yet light, crisp salads requiring minimal cooking, and brothy bowls that capture sunshine in soup form. Fritters boasting crispy edges, stir-fries ready in minutes, and countless ways to incorporate heaps of peas into your existing dinner plans. Jump ahead. Bredrätter och sallader. Pasta and grains.  

​Welcome to Open Tab, my weekly digest of news, gossip, and stories that lingered in my browser tabs all week. Last week, we discussed the astonishing quantity of hot sauces on the Artemis II. One detail from this week’s New Yorker exposé on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (especially his frequent lying) that I can’t stop pondering was a standout among its many bombshell revelations. Ronan Farrow wrote that Altman would pause his “war room” at six o’clock each evening for a round of Negronis. Negronis…every night? This man needs to be introduced to new cocktails. Also out there: Danny Meyer’s new book, *What Could Possibly Go Right?* It will be released in late September. What should we anticipate?