Beurre Pommade

Beurre pommade is butter that has been let come to room temperature so that it is quite soft, like a face cream. If you wish, think of it as butter that has softened to the point that it is spreadable.

The softness allows it to be spread, or to be easily mixed in with other ingredients.

Beurre pommade is used mostly as an ingredient in other dishes, such as certain pastry recipes. It is also used a great deal in making composed butters and beurre manié. It can be used to butter canapés, or to butter bread in making fresh or cooked sandwiches such as croque-monsieurs. Butter will take about two hours to soften to the "Beurre pommade" stage of room temperature once set out of the fridge. If butter is almost at this stage, but you need it right away, you can speed things up by working it with your hands. If you're starting with rock-hard butter, and don't have the time to let room temperature work its magic, you can speed things up by cutting the butter into small pieces, and giving it several zaps in a microwave on the defrost setting, alternating zaps with mixing and pressing it with a plastic spatula (or you can do this with your hands, if the butter doesn't get too hot.) If the butter does get too hot, and in fact you have gone so far with the heat that the butter has melted into an oil, then you'll have to put it in the fridge until it starts to solidify and becomes creamy again.
"Passer de la pommade à quelqu'un" means "to butter someone up."

Also called:

Anchovy Butter, Bercy Butter, Beurre Pommade, Beurre Ramoli, Caviar Butter, Chive Butter, Chivry Butter, Colbert Butter, Crayfish Butter, Filbert Butter, Garlic Butter, Gascogne Butter, Green Butter, Hazelnut Butter, Herring Butter, Horseradish Butter, Lemon Butter, Lobster Butter, Maître d'Hôtel Butter, Marchand de Vins Butter, Montpellier Butter, Mushroom Butter, Mustard Butter, Paprika Butter, Pistachio Butter, Printanier Butter, Red Butter, Salmon Butter, Sardine Butter, Shallot Butter, Shrimp Butter, Smen, Snail Butter Bourguignon Style, Soft Roe Butter, Spiny Lobster Butter, Sweet Pimento Butter, Tarragon Butter, Tomato Butter, Truffle Butter, Tuna Butter, Walnut Butter

Butter Stick, Clarified Butter, Concentrated Butter, Cultured Butter, Dehydrated Butter, French Butters, Ghee, Light Butter, Margarine, National Margarine, Pasteurized Butter, Plugrá Butter, Raw Butter, Rendered Butter, Renovated Butter, Salted Butter, Semi-Salted Butter, Spreadable Butter, Summer Butter, Sweet Cream Butter, Three-Quarter Fat Butter, Unsalted Butter, Whey Butter, Whipped Butter

Cheese, Milk