Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking
Nosrat, Samin
This single page focuses on butter as one of the most versatile fats, covering its main forms (salted, unsalted, cultured) and how each should be used. The key practical rule is to always cook and bake with unsalted butter so you control the salt level yourself. Heating unsalted butter gently until the milk solids brown produces nutty, sweet brown butter, a classic in French and Northern Italian cooking.
- Cultured and salted butters are best used as-is (on toast, with radishes and sea salt) rather than for cooking.
- Butter differs from oil because it contains water, milk proteins, and whey solids — these provide much of its flavor.
- Brown butter is made by gently heating unsalted butter until the solids brown; flavor profile is nutty and sweet.
- Brown butter is highlighted as classically paired with hazelnuts, winter squash, and sage — used in the book's Autumn Panzanella with Brown Butter Vinaigrette.