Monsieur Jean-Yves Bordier makes a butter that you will only understand if you really, really love butter. His butter - le Beurre Bordier - is a beurre de baratte - which is butter that's taken at a certain temperature/texture - then beaten/worked/relaxed with two small wooden paddles. It's shaped into either a small rectangular-ish block - as was sold at the Salon - or into unique forms that vary for each of the gastronomic restaurants that he supplies - no two restaurants have the same shape. It is not at all the same as just molding butter - so put away your little Easter lamb butter molds - what he does is work the butter to its optimum texture - which means it's then at its peak flavour. And the flavour of his butter alone - even if it were just wrapped in waxed paper and suffocatingly boxed in the supermarket - blows away any idea of butter you've ever had. You would eat loaves of bread just to better taste this amazing butter. It's smooth, rich, flavourful - and lightly salted - not just fat on your tongue.
The shapes you see above are the forms he does for my chef at Les Ambassadeurs at the Crillon. He showed me his restaurant list - and I mentioned that I was going to start working there - so he whipped up a couple of Crillon butters. I asked him how he decides the shapes for each restaurant - and he said that he doesn't - it's the chefs - but he does make suggestions.
That so much thought is put into butter? This is one of the reasons I love France so much - sometimes.
Le Beurre Border is available in Paris at La Grande Epicerie au Bon Marche, Fauchon at Madeleine, Dalloyau on Rue de Faubourg Saint-Honore, Da Rosa, and the traiteur/gourmet takeout shop Maison Baillon.
Jean-Yves Bordier
9, rue de l'Orme
35400 Saint-Malo
02 99 40 88 79
