Bob Pastorio wrote:

> Lena B Katz wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 12 Jan 2004, Bob Pastorio wrote:
>>
>>> JimLane wrote:
>>>
>>>> Charles Gifford wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> "Fred" > wrote in message
>>>>> t...
>>>>> <snip>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> snip
>>>>
>>>>>> Why use unsalted butter? For the same reason one
>>>>>> should always use unsalted butter and that is because it allows
>>>>>> the cook
>>>>>> to control the salt level, not the ingredients.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Nonsense. Most recipes using salted butter also call for added
>>>>> salt. The
>>>>> added salt can be adjusted.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Most of my cookbooks recommend in the front matter that unsalted butter
>>>> be used. You might want to check that section once in awhile.
>>>
>>>
>>> This is one of the perennial discussions amongst foodies. The fact is
>>> that there's a bit over two teaspoons of salt in a whole pound of
>>> American commercial butter. I don't know a recipe where the salt
>>> content is so critical as to demand unsalted.
>>>
>>>>>> Salt is added to butter to make it last longer.
>>>
>>>
>>> No. It isn't. It was before refrigeration, but not any more.
>>>
>>>>> Not always the reason. Many people prefer the taste of salted butter.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> However, the original reason salt was added was as a preservative. You
>>>> have no position there.
>>>
>>>
>>> That was then, this is now.
>>>
>>>> That people became used to it and then salted
>>>> became the standard is another matter.
>>>
>>>
>>> To be sure. But the amount of salt in butter today will make not a
>>> whit of difference in just about any recipe I've ever seen. A whole
>>> stick of butter has a tad over a half-teaspoon of salt.
>>
>>
>> Thank you for the info! It's useful in baking, and other places where
>> salt flavoring is rather... inappropriate.
>
>
> Well, I was mistaken in the figures that I quoted. I inadvertently
> doubled the figure for the amount of salt in a pound of butter. Here's
> the real info from an older post of mine where I did all the
> calculations after weighing and measuring volumes of salt:
>
> "...the amount of salt in butter is rather trivial for most recipes.
> Roughly 90 mgs sodium in a tablespoon of butter. 32 tablespoons of
> butter in a whole pound or 2880 mgs of sodium (2.88 grams). That's about
> 7200 mgs or 7.2 grams of salt. A tablespoon of table salt weighs right
> at 0.6 ounces or 16.8 grams. A tablespoon is 3 teaspoons of salt which
> weigh 5.6 grams each. A whole pound of butter will have about a teaspoon
> and a quarter of salt in it."
>
> Most cake recipes include some salt. Look at German Chocolate cake or
> spice cakes or pound cakes or even simple white cakes. At least 1/4
> teaspoon salt (most start at 1/2) and on up to a teaspoon.
>
> There's so little salt in butter that I've never been able to taste the
> difference in finished product, even tasting side by side. I made hot
> milk sponge cakes for the holidays and used salted butter. My daughter
> read the recipe and it called for unsalted. She asked what the
> difference was and I said, "None." She asked why they'd specify unsalted
> and I gave her a cynical answer. She said let's test it. We did a test
> and made 4 cakes. Two with salted and two with unsalted. Couldn't taste
> any difference. Nobody could who tried them - 12 people. The "testing"
> went on for two days until there were no cakes left. (Filled them with a
> creme patissiere with Grand Marnier and white creme de cacao, and topped
> with a dark chocolate ganache with peach schnapps and brown creme de
> cacao - sorta an uptown Boston Cream Pie.)
>
> The cakes each took 2 tablespoons butter, 5 eggs, 3/4 cup of flour, 1/4
> cup milk, 3/4 cup sugar, teaspoon baking powder, 1/8 teaspoon salt,
> teaspoon lemon extract. The butter (if I had measured it exactly)
> contained 0.45 grams of salt (28 grams are an ounce), 1/62nd of an ounce
> or 0.08 teaspoons of butter. Eight hundredths of a teaspoon. Less than
> 1/10th of a teaspoon. That's a Scroogy pinch for a whole cake intended
> to serve 8. Combining 1/8 teaspoon salt the recipe calls for with the
> 1/12th teaspoon from the butter makes the amount of salt leap from 3/24
> of a teaspoon to 5/24 of a teaspoon. All the way up to just under 1/5 of
> a teaspoon in a 9-inch cake.
>
> Meaningless.
>
> Pastorio
>

You did a great job of covering any salt flavor with your filling. Why
did you not test them plain, cake to cake no extras?


jim