Five Bordier butters, a slate, breadsticks and a bottle of white is a whole course. Maison Bordier calls this the apéro tout beurre, and there is nothing to cook. You set out salted, seaweed, lemon-olive oil, Espelette chilli and buckwheat butters, each with its own knife, and let people work their way around. Ten minutes of assembly, and the range of flavors does the rest. It is the best possible way to taste what a flavoured butter actually is if you have never tried one.
At a glance
- Difficulty: Easy
- Serves: 4
- Active time: About 10 minutes to assemble (our estimate)
- Cook: None, other than toasting the bread if you use country bread rather than breadsticks
- Key ingredient: Five Bordier butters: Salted, Seaweed, Lemon-Olive Oil, Espelette Pepper and Buckwheat
Why this works
The five butters Bordier chose are not a random assortment. Salted is the reference point, semi-salted at 2.8% fine salt, creamy with caramel and hazelnut notes in summer. Seaweed, from 1986, is the original flavoured butter and the most savory of the group, iodised and marine. Lemon-olive oil, made in 2009 for a chef, is the bright one. Espelette pepper, from 2008, carries AOP chilli in salted butter and brings warmth rather than sharp heat. Buckwheat, from 2016, is toasty and nutty. Put them side by side and each one makes the others legible.
What makes a board like this work rather than just look good is temperature and order. Bordier butter is churned by hand on a wooden malaxeur, and that texture only shows itself when the butter is cool but not cold, soft enough to take a knife cleanly and spread without tearing the bread. The other half of it is sequence: taste from mildest to strongest so the Espelette and the seaweed do not flatten everything that follows. A separate knife per butter is not fussiness. It is what stops the seaweed from ending up in the lemon.
Ingredients
Bordier does not give quantities for a board, which is reasonable since it depends on your table. The amounts below are our suggestion for four people.
| Ingredient | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Crunchy breadsticks, or country bread toasted and thinly sliced | Enough for four, generously | Enough for four, generously |
| Bordier Salted Butter | 1 block, 125 g (our suggestion) | 4.4 oz |
| Bordier Seaweed Butter | 1 block, 125 g (our suggestion) | 4.4 oz |
| Bordier Lemon-Olive Oil Butter | 1 block, 125 g (our suggestion) | 4.4 oz |
| Bordier Espelette Pepper Butter | 1 block, 125 g (our suggestion) | 4.4 oz |
| Bordier Buckwheat Butter | 1 block, 125 g (our suggestion) | 4.4 oz |
Method
Step 1: Set out the bread and the butters
Ask your baker for crunchy breadsticks, or toast some country bread and cut it into thin slices. Arrange the Bordier butters, salted, seaweed, lemon-olive oil, Espelette chilli and buckwheat, around a slate serving dish, each with its own rounded-tip butter knife.
Step 2: Open the wine and start buttering
Bordier uncorks a bottle of Ordovicien, a white Anjou Brissac from the Christophe Daviau cellars, which surprises with its golden color, floral aromas and frank, voluptuous taste. Butter the breadsticks with each of the Bordier butters in turn. Bread and butter is universal, tasty, easy and within reach of a great many people, which is rather the point.
Tips from our kitchen
- Take the butters out 20 to 30 minutes before guests arrive. Straight from the fridge they are too firm to spread and most of the aroma stays locked up. You want them yielding to a knife but still holding their shape. In a warm room, 15 minutes may be plenty.
- Taste in order, mildest first. Salted, then lemon-olive oil, then buckwheat, then Espelette, then seaweed. Going the other way means the marine and chilli notes coat your palate and the salted butter afterwards tastes of very little.
- One knife per butter, and rounded tips. Bordier specifies this and it matters more than it sounds. A rounded-tip knife lifts a curl off the surface cleanly instead of gouging, so the block still looks presentable an hour in, and it keeps the flavors from migrating.
- Keep the bread neutral. Plain breadsticks or a simple country loaf are the right vehicle. Seeded, olive or herbed breads compete with butters that are already carrying their own flavor.
- Slate is cold, so watch the timing. A slate board looks right and holds a chill, which is useful for a long apéro but works against you at the start. If you are serving straight away, let the butters soften off the board and move them across at the last minute.
- Four butters is plenty if five is a stretch. The set works because of contrast, not because of the number. Salted, seaweed, Espelette and buckwheat still covers savory, marine, warm and toasty.
How to serve it
This is what you put out when people arrive, before anything else happens. It holds on the table for an hour without needing attention, it feeds four without a stove, and it gives everyone something to talk about, which is more than most appetizers manage. A dry, textured white is the pairing Bordier reaches for, and Loire or Anjou whites all suit. If you are choosing which blocks to start with, our guide to Bordier butter walks through each flavor and where it earns its place.
Where to buy Bordier butter in the US
The French Pantry ships Bordier butter across the United States in insulated overnight packaging, straight from the workshop in Brittany.
- Churned Salted Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): semi-salted at 2.8% fine salt, the reference point for the whole board.
- Churned Seaweed Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): the original flavoured butter from 1986, iodised Breton seaweed and unmistakably marine.
- Churned Lemon-Olive Oil Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): butter with lemon-infused extra-virgin olive oil, the bright note on the board.
- Churned Espelette Pepper Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): AOP Espelette chilli in salted butter, warm rather than fierce.
- Churned Buckwheat Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): roasted Breton buckwheat, nutty and toasted.
To see everything at once, browse the Maison Bordier collection.
Frequently asked questions
How much butter should I buy for four people?
One block of each is our recommendation, which is five 4.4 oz / 125 g blocks, 625 g in total. That is generous for four and leaves you with open blocks to cook with afterwards. If you want a smaller board, three blocks feeds four comfortably.
Can I swap in different flavors?
Yes. Bordier names these five, but the structure is what matters: one plain reference, one marine, one bright, one warm and one toasted. Roscoff onion, yuzu or wild garlic and Kampot pepper all slot in without unbalancing the board.
How long can the butters sit out?
Plan on about an hour at room temperature, which covers a normal apéro. After that the surface starts to look tired and the texture goes greasy. Return anything left to the refrigerator promptly rather than leaving it out through dinner.
How should I store Bordier butter?
Wrapped and refrigerated, with the paper pressed back against the cut face so the surface does not dry out or pick up other flavors. Opened blocks are best within a week or so. Unopened blocks freeze well.
Does Bordier butter need to be refrigerated?
Yes. Bordier butter is a fresh, hand-churned product and ships cold. Refrigerate every block as soon as it arrives, and bring out only what is going on the board.
Do I need slate?
No. Slate is what Bordier uses and it photographs beautifully, but a wooden board or a marble slab works just as well. What you do need is enough space between the blocks that the knives are not touching each other.
Related reading
- How to Choose Your French Butter: A Buyer's Guide
- Paysan Breton: The Breton Butter Guide
- Terre Exotique
Recipe and photograph adapted from Maison Bordier, with thanks. The French Pantry is an authorized US retailer of Bordier butter.