Butter

MILWAUKEE -- Although our business is searching out unique regional specialties wherever we travel, our hobby is hamburgers. No matter how remarkable and exotic the local culinary passion might be -- from Santa Fe's carne adovada to southern Indiana's turtle soup -- you can be sure that if you are in America, there are innovative and interesting culinary twists on the hamburger somewhere nearby; and it is our pleasure, between sampling the regional trademarks,...

Charlotte Sullivan wouldn't hurt a fly.Really.She catches them in a cup and takes them outside.The same with rats, creatures which deserve no mercy, as far as I'm concerned. She "rescues" them in humane traps, drives them to a field and sets them free.I call rats disgusting vermin; she calls them "little guys."If rats and flies get this kind of treatment, then it's no wonder Ms. Sullivan tried last week to save a lobster, destined to be served up with drawn butter and beer at Middleton's Tavern in Annapolis.

The Ultimate Peanut Butter Book Savory & Sweet, Breakfast to Dessert, Hundreds of Ways to Use America's Favorite Spread Peanut Butter Planet By Robin Robertson Rodale / 2006 / $15.95 This celebration of peanut butter comes from a vegan chef, though it includes suggestions for adding meat, milk and other animal products to its 80 recipes. Robin Robertson says that after years of avoiding peanut butter because of its calories and fat, she has embraced it as an alternative source of protein, rich in vitamins and monounsaturated fat. This compact paper- back includes several tasty-sounding soups.

One twentysomething friend called me a few days ago to ask for help with a party she was giving her best friend. The young hostess was concerned about the food and was calling for menu advice. Simple, unfancy dishes, especially ones cooked over a grill, were what she envisioned for her fete. Could I offer suggestions, she asked. Together, we outlined a meal.For appetizers, there would be barbecued shrimp in their shells, served with a spicy dipping sauce. The main course would include grilled lime-scented chicken, steamed green beans, sliced tomatoes, and corn on the cob with three flavored butters.

It's a brown butter kind of fall. That is to say, the nutty flavor and butterscotch aroma of butter that is cooked until it turns hazelnut brown are turning up on more than a few dinner plates. Making brown butter is simple: Melt unsalted butter in a small saute pan over medium heat, cooking it until the water cooks off, then turn down the heat and continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the solids turn golden brown. The whisking ensures even browning. If you have a light-colored pan, that's the one to use, as it makes it easy to see the browning.

Kids are nuts about peanut butter. So nuts that a school-age child eats about 4.8 pounds of it a year -- compared to just over 1 pound for the average adult, according to Peanut Advisory Board studies.But should health-conscious parents be shell-shocked by peanut butter's high fat content?No, say nutritionists -- it's OK to keep stuffing those PB&Js into school lunch bags. They're cheap, easy to make and, with some simple additions, can be part of a nutritious meal."I think it's fine. It has protein in it; it's something children like.

Peanut butter has gone nuts. Now there's creamy, crunchy, extra chunky, reduced fat, reduced sugar, honey roasted and even peanut butter mixed with "banana" swirls.Beyond flavor choices, understanding peanut butter's place in healthy eating is driving some folks crazy, too. Long promoted as a "great source of protein," peanut butter has become taboo in some circles, because it's just so high in fat.But for some kids it's the only sandwich they'll take in a lunch box.So let's look at the facts, and see how peanut butter can fit in your child's healthy eating plan.

I grew up associating preserves with old people. My mother's older friends seemed to be the last cooks with the energy to pickle peaches and the alchemist's patience to turn messy mulberries into jam and prickly pears into jelly.Like every child of the '50s and '60s who read diet books, I had swallowed the old advice: To cut calories, leave the strawberry jam off the toast and the grape jelly off the peanut butter. Today the food police have adopted a new law: Eat your biscuits with jam instead of butter.

My wife and I were discussing the fact that some recipes call for unsalted butter and others call for salted butter. She asked why, and I said it's strictly a matter of the amount of salt in the overall dish. She said she thinks it goes beyond that, that the type of butter has a greater impact on the dish than just saltiness -- and mentioned texture as a possibility. Who is right? I really like that word "discussing" when talking about who is right and who is wrong in a "discussion" between husband and wife.

The Cold War may be over, but the War on Fat rages on in the culinary world.If there's a single theme for food preparation in the '90s, it seems to be dodging fat. No more than 10 percent of the calories in a health-conscious person's diet should be in "saturated" fats, which come primarily from animal sources, according to American Heart Association guidelines. (Among the saturated sources: meat fat, lard, butter, whole milk, cheese, cream, egg yolks and chicken fat.)Baking, surprisingly enough, is one place where you can banish the usual half cup or so of oil or butter in favor of fruit and vegetable stand-ins.