Here at The Madhouse, we get through vast quantities of butter. I blame it on the Breton heritage of the kids - I can remember their Breton grandmother on one visit sticking a chunk of salted butter in the middle of a pile of chips on each plate to provide extra flavour ! - but before this review, I had never sampled flavoured butters. I have been known to make homemade garlic butter in the past but when this selection of butters arrived from Sublime Butter, we were blown away.
The flavoured butter category is growing every day, but it was actually Sublime that created the category around seven years ago. They received the Dairy Innovation Award for doing so. While many flavoured butter brands work with supermarkets in mind (meaning they start from a low cost and work backwards), Sublime set out to create products that even the best chefs would enjoy. Each one of their award-winning flavours is made with just cream (from grass-fed British dairy) and salt. No unpronounceable stabilisers, fillers or E numbers. From there, they develop tantalising flavours for every culinary need.
Without further ado, we jumped in and started sampling several of the flavours that we received. I decided to keep things simple and just have a first taste on a square of plain white bread, but they could also be eaten on fine artisanal or homemade bread, melted on steak or vegetables or stirred through pasta, rice or mashed potatoes.
We started at the beginning with flavour number 1 - the simple pink Himalayan salt. This is a neutral flavour that can be used in place of our regular supermarket brand salted butter, adding rich finesse and opening up the taste buds without overpowering the flavour of whatever you eating. Delicious on a simple slice of bread, the Sublime Butter website also proposes recipes to use it, including The Ho's Turkey Gravy (it comes from the chef's name, nothing rude !) and Sublime Lemon and Thyme Shortbread.
The next one that we tried - number 17, Chimichurri - is my absolute favourite. Based on the Argentinian sauce, it contains oregano, coriander, lemon and garlic and provides a versatile blend that can be spread, smeared or drizzled over a variety of meats and vegetables. We tried it and loved it on pan fried chicken fillets, pork chops, pasta and simple plain rice. It provides a lovely, rich flavour that takes all the hassle out of creating complicated spice blends or sauces. Pierre said he'd happily eat a bowl of plain rice or pasta with a slice of this butter melting on top every day and we have indeed tried this as a simple but popular way of using up leftovers.
Number 9 - Red Chilli, Smoked Salt and Lime - offers a more robust flavour with a distinct kick of heat. Perfect for adding an extra boost of flavour to Mexican style food, for anything from prawns and salmon to chicken and beef, it will takes things up another level. I love the flavour of this one but it did leave my tongue feeling decidedly tingly !
Number 11 - Lemon, Caper and Dill - offers a classic blend of citric, sour and mellow flavours. While we enjoyed it simply on bread, this one can be used to brighten up fish and seafood but also meat dishes. This is a good one to get experimental with, as the punchy flavour is very versatile.
Number 5 - Garlic and Herb - is a classic combination that is rich, pungent and packed full of flavour. It will liven up meat or fish dishes but is also delicious smeared on bread, stirred through mash or as an instant pasta topping. You can have a gourmet-tasting meal on your plates in ten minutes flat with absolutely zero effort.
The other flavours that we got to sample are number 19, Béarnaise butter, perfect on steak; number 12, Truffle, Parmesan & Black Pepper (Sophie's favourite, on toast, as a quick snack); and number 11, Lemon, Caper & Dill, perfect with fish.
Thay also have a Ridiculous range, defined as butters that push the very limit of what butter can be. If money is no object, you may like to try Number 55 - British Isles Lobster, Devon Crab, Caviar, Sicilian Lemon & Fennel, which has been described as the finest butter in the world, and to support this idea, it won the Golden Fork for London in 2021; number 78 - Cinco Jotas Jamon Ibérico, Carabineros, Pedro Ximénez & Spanish Saffron; number 88, The Xo, Hokkaido Scallops, Jinhua Ham & Birds Eye Chilli; and number 100 - Langavulin Smoked Barbary Duck, Morello Cherry & Grand Marnier Centenaire. Just running through the ingredients list gives you a good idea of how serious they take their flavours and it is unsurprising to see that a stick of these refined butters will cost £40-£60.
These butters are fantastic as gifts for foodies that have tried everything or anyone who likes trying unusual and innovative flavours.
RRP : £4.50 for 90g
for more information : https://sublimebutter.com/
Disclosure : We received the products in order to share our honest opinion.
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