butterisbetter

We'll be open with slightly curtailed hours

Saturday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Sunday 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM these are normal Sunday hours)

Monday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Tuesday normal hours (8;00 AM to 7:00 PM)

The kitchen closes half an hour before the closing time.

There is another alternative to packaged Prague salt and I almost

went thru with it, but managed to find a small amount of the pink salt

to delay actually doing it.

I bought some food grade 100% sodium

nitrite from a chemical supply house here in CM and it doesn't seem like rocket science to measure out 6.25grams of nitrite and 93.75 grams of salt = Prague salt, right??

I know the 'standard' is to use pink Prague salt, but I know a quite

famous [unnamed] sausage maker that simply does that and he has been distributing

his product all over the country for years.

My last resort.............

Or if anyone does know someone coming to CM and would schlep a kilo or 2 over for me, I will pay for their kindness in excellent home made bacon or Baht.

Actually, the safest way I know of to do this is mix the salt and sodium nitrite together, then add some water and stir it around a lot to make a slurry. Then boil it down until it's a dense sludge and either use an oven or leave in the sun to evaporate the rest. Then find some way to grind it or smash it back into a powder. This way, you can be sure that the sodium nitrite is evenly distributed. Best to use pure salt too (not iodized or containing additives such as aluminosilicate whatever)

BB, Have you actually done this yourself?? or read it somewhere and could you provide me with the link? It sounds like a good way to evenly distribute the nitrite.

The salt that I use is pure mined salt from the ground. it's the kind that they coat the Tabtim fish with, then bar-b-q. non iodized and only 10thb/kilo at any public market.

Thanks.........

Yes, I have done it myself. And I did it because I read somewhere or other that this is the way the manufacturers do it to ensure that the sodium nitrite is evenly distributed. It's good to keep stirring it up from time to time especially as it starts to get very dry in the oven. That way you will get more moisture out of it and it will be easier to grind up at the end.

We promised a few people that we would call them the next time we ran a corned beef hash special. Unfortunately, my phone now refuses to divulge any information at all, much less let me make calls. And I thought waterboarding, even if committed inadvertently, was supposed to make its targets talk. So much for zero dark thirty.

Anyway, it's here today.

There is another alternative to packaged Prague salt and I almost

went thru with it, but managed to find a small amount of the pink salt

to delay actually doing it.

I bought some food grade 100% sodium

nitrite from a chemical supply house here in CM and it doesn't seem like rocket science to measure out 6.25grams of nitrite and 93.75 grams of salt = Prague salt, right??

I know the 'standard' is to use pink Prague salt, but I know a quite

famous [unnamed] sausage maker that simply does that and he has been distributing

his product all over the country for years.

My last resort.............

Or if anyone does know someone coming to CM and would schlep a kilo or 2 over for me, I will pay for their kindness in excellent home made bacon or Baht.

Actually, the safest way I know of to do this is mix the salt and sodium nitrite together, then add some water and stir it around a lot to make a slurry. Then boil it down until it's a dense sludge and either use an oven or leave in the sun to evaporate the rest. Then find some way to grind it or smash it back into a powder. This way, you can be sure that the sodium nitrite is evenly distributed. Best to use pure salt too (not iodized or containing additives such as aluminosilicate whatever)

From what I could find, the sugar content is somewhat variable. Sucrose anywhere from 70-79 percent, glucose and fructose each from 3-9 percent. Now this figure is for the sugar in its dried form with most of the water evaporated out. The syrup must have somewhat more water but not much.

I'm not so sure about the reliablity of that GI number for coconut palm syrup. According to what I've read, that number came from a one time trial conducted by some branch of the Philippine govt. It was a one time thing conducted on only 10 people. Generally, to establish the glycemic index of a food, multiple studies are done What's more, coconut palm sugar is 70-79 percent sucrose (table sugar). Which has a glycemic index of 80. There can be anywhere from 3-9 percent each of fructose and glucose in the syrup as well. I'm not saying it's not true, but there is not a lot of backing for that figure.

Remarkable one advertises with a quality between fats but doesn't believe there is a significant quality difference between sugars.

Actually, that's the exact opposite of what I wrote. The gist was that palm sugar is mostly sucrose which has a GI of 80. So how can palm sugar have a GI of 35? Now, since it's a syrup and partly water, that may lower the GI somewhat. What's more, I didn't assert that the number is inaccurate, just that it seemed peculiar and is thinly backed.

As for fats, I have never claimed any particular health benefit for butter. Apparently it's better (or less worse) for you than trans fats. It seems pretty clear that as far as health benefits go, olive oil and fish oils are better. I wouldn't want to eat a cookie made with fish oil, though. Would you? Our claims for the superiority of butter rest on its flavor. That's how we differentiate it from other fats. Not on its health benefits. And even then, there are people who seem to prefer margarine or white vegetable to butter. Which is fine with me. There's no quarreling with taste. Our appeal is to people who agree with our proposition.

I'm not so sure about the reliablity of that GI number for coconut palm syrup. According to what I've read, that number came from a one time trial conducted by some branch of the Philippine govt. It was a one time thing conducted on only 10 people. Generally, to establish the glycemic index of a food, multiple studies are done What's more, coconut palm sugar is 70-79 percent sucrose (table sugar). Which has a glycemic index of 80. There can be anywhere from 3-9 percent each of fructose and glucose in the syrup as well. I'm not saying it's not true, but there is not a lot of backing for that figure.

The rye bread we offer all the time is, for lack of a better adjective, "Jewish Rye". It's very mild. I suspect that if you liked the rye from Bei Otto, it was a lot more intense. Occasionally we do make a real German "sauerteig" sourdough bread. It's very heavy largely because 2/3 of the flour is dark rye flour and the other 1/3 is whole wheat. We haven't actively promoted it and I usually end up eating about half of it.

There is a German bakery in Chiang Mai called Jo's which sells its stuff at Rim Ping and elsewhere.

Also a local Finn makes a very sour Finnish rye which he ships all over Thailand. It's supposed to be very good, but I haven't tried it.

You may not be able to get food grade but Union Science should carry reagent grade, which is actually purer than food grade.

right now it's a special because I'm not sure if the supply will be dependable. I just checked and we still have 6 orders left.

We have turkey burgers today. 6 1/4 ounce patty. Comes with oven roasted potatoes and all the trimmings you see below. 150 baht

I had Jackie's food at the xmas bazaar a couple of years ago and I thought it was excellent. And Jackie's company and conversation is even better. She's a pleasure to hang out with. I'll be heading that way soon.

Try going to Kasem--they have two or three locations--and if they don't stock it, they may be able to order what you need. I find them very accommodating at the Nimmenhaemin branch where I shop.

Thanks for the suggestion. i"ll give it a shot if no other solutions are forthcoming.

Are there any Chinese grocery stores in Chiangmai? Not grocery stores run by Thai Chinese but stores that specialize in Chinese products. Right now, I'm specifically looking for 2 items. One is Chinese fermented black beans (what remains of the soy beans after the sauce is decanted) and soy paste. I think soy paste might be a Taiwanese specialty. Miso is not a suitable substitute. I've searched in the major supermarkets without success.

Here's a link from the NY Times on this very subject: http://eastvillage.thelocal.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/coffee-shops-ponder-life-without-wifi/

Went to Sausage King. He directed me to Macro's frozen section, however there were so many choices of pis intestines, I balked. I'm a rookie. I guess after further googling, I'd say I'm in search of one's in a salted brine. I'm not interested in making more than 50 at a time,

I think he meant to refer you to the salted pig's intestines. I've only ever seen one brand there.

Butter is Better is now offering buffalo wings. The original classic recipe more or less, if there is such a thing. It comes with 4 wings, blue cheese dressing, carrot sticks, celery sticks, and cole slaw. 110 Baht. And for those of you who are unnerved by the current meat scandals in Europe, rest assured that our buffalo wings don't come from flying horses or, for that matter, flying unicorns.

Dear "BUTTER IS BETTER", I understand you are in three locations.

Where are you serving the BORSCHT, please? in all of therm ?

thank you

Actually, we only have 1 restaurant and that's where the borscht is served. It's located on Chang Klan Road just slightly south of the intersection with Sridonchai Rd. Here are the GPS coordinates: 18.780400 98.999704. We also have a bakery outlet branch at Mee Chok Plaza. We used to have a branch at Nim City Plaza but no more.

I like the old outlet on SriDonchai Rd. Prefer the non airconditioned area cos if you dawdle the food cools a little too quickly in airconditioning. And the elderly auntie, wife of the founder, wanders around making sure you don't order too much!!

And I concur Lawrence, great Teochew grub.

I never knew what kind of food it was, but this restaurant has always been my favorite. I have never tried the 2nd branch that Lawrence reviewed. Has Lawrence ever been to the Sridonchai branch?

To celebrate the advent of the hot season -- or at least to mitigate its effects -- Butter is Better is now offering cold borscht ( you can have it heated up if you like). Our version stars beets (beetroot), with strong support from potatoes and cabbage.

It's served with sides of homemade sour cream, chopped dill, and homemade sliced bread of your choice.(We recommend rye).

The cost is 95 baht.

American breakfast --- the best is Butter is Better by far. They know what eggs over easy means and their coffee is great. Their bagels, biscuits & gravy and pancakes also fit the bill. And for lunch they have real American Hot Dogs. Their baked goods are also first rate. I'm a fan and eat there a lot.

No Grits eh.

Not yet.

I second seahorse's assessment.

The way I deal with the casings is to disentangle them all at one sitting. As I tease each casing out of the entanglement, I wrap it around a short dowel that I've made from the handle of a wooden spoon. I have lots of these dowels. Then I store the casings and the constricted dowels in a ziploc bog and use as needed.

And ignore the trolls. Your trepidation and hesitation are perfectly understandable.

Best American Breakfast I've found is at Butter is Better on Chang Klan Road. Home made breads and everything made from scratch. Their suasage is so-so, however everything else I've had is great. Pancakes are among the best I've had anywhere - normally pancakes in Asia have no flavor other than what you put on them, but their's are great (whole wheat, buttermilk, buckwheat, blueberry, etc). Very good coffee too (though if you are a Starbucks fan, which I'm not, you might feel otherwise).

Texas Bar B Q in Chiang Mai... I wish !!!

Duke's has a good Cajun Chicken sandwich and many other decent American comfort food items as well. The buns they use for their sandwiches are top notch.

Thanks for the endorsement. As for the sausage patties (I'm guessing that's what you are referring to) I think the problem is that our staff is overcooking them so all the fat runs out and they get hard. This is because a few of our more vociferous customers want most of the fat out. Why eat sausages if you don't want fat? At any rate, we're trying to get the waitresses to ask our customers if they want the sausage patties regular or well done. Soon we'll be putting them in casings so that should help them stay juicy.

We also use that sausage meat in our biscuit and gravy. Our biscuits are the old fashioned kind made with cream. (Our British customers insist that they are really scones.) Our recipe took it's final form thanks to a customer named Tex who hails, naturally enough, from Oklahoma. Anyway, we get lots of (American) southerners, who love our biscuit and gravy.

Someone told me today that it's being phased out. He said the last place to offer it was Shell. Something to do with the government mandated introduction of E20 gasohol.

I've tried it and the flavour was ... ok.

Very thin consistency but cheap enough @ 160 bt per 600 ml's from Royal Project shop, Suthep Rd.

certainly not an authority on honey but we buy a fair amount of the Thai honey (wild; forest)made from the longan flowers and its the same price 160bt but for 1kg tesco or tops, I would describe it as quite viscous, certanly not thin....and never tasted it, as we dont eat it.

so like for like this arabica honey appears quite expensive then ?

One of the problems with buying honey is that there is a lot of fraud out there. Not at the Royal Project, but elsewhere. There was an article in the NY Times or Wall Street Journal about so called filtered honey. The producers claim they have filtered the pollen out of the honey. There's no good reason to do this. Well, unless a good reason is disguising the fact that what you're offering isn't honey at all. I buy my honey either from the Royal Project or from my local market where a couple of vendors bring intact honeycombs and with a kind of mill contraption express the honey into 700 ( or 750?) ml used liquor bottles. They charge 100 baht.