Butter sorted - finally

Thanks to everyone for their comments on my last post - t'was a fabulous day, thank you :D

Back in December I wrote about my frustration at not being able to find a butter dish anywhere, and I posted my solution to that problem.

The inverted plant pots worked a treat!  The only problem was though that the inside were supposed to be glazed.  Why?  Because the porous clay absorbed the oil from the butter and started smelling rancid - the base on which the butter lay especially.  Not even boiling water would solve that problem.

So, fast forward to July this year and my frustration boiled over.

There is a well known potter in Swellendam - Bukkenberg Pottery.  I have popped in there a few years ago, but the items on offer that grabbed my attention were a tad over my budget.

Desperation makes one lose caution though.

On one of our trips to town at the end of July for our weekly shop, I talked RMan into popping in at the pottery studio, and, yippee, David, the master potter, was open to making me a butter dish!

I explained what I wanted - a butter dish glazed on the inside (so that it couldn't absorb the oil from the butter), with the outside left porous so that evapouration could occur thus keeping the butter chilled during the hottest time of the day.  

David suggested a slight deviation - something he used to make years ago.

4 French butter dishes waiting to be glazed, then fired.

What he came up with is a French butter dish.  

The smaller butter filled section is inverted into the larger water
 filled half

It works by filling the smaller end with butter, inverting the butter holding base into the wider section which contains water.

This is what the French butter dish looks like when it's sitting
 on my kitchen counter

The theory is that the water covers / closes the exposed surface of the butter thus preventing oxygen turning the butter rancid.  It is recommended changing the water every week - or every time you finish the butter in our case - we do love butter :D

As water and oil don't mix, the butter isn't watery at all - just completely spreadable :)

Soft enough, and completely spreadable :)

David made 4 French butter dishes, so there are three going spare.  At R220.00 a butter dish, which holds approx 350 - 400gms of butter, and is specially handcrafted, I don't think that is too much to ask.  Perhaps mine will become a family heirloom one day...

However, remember that this is a bespoke order.  A bespoke order in the smaller towns are done in small town time - in this case the order was placed at the end of July, and the butter dish was ready last week.  Admittedly his kiln was enormous, and needs to be filled to make it viable to run - I'd hate to know what his electricity / LP gas bill is every time he fires up the kiln.

It was worth waiting for though :D

That'll definitely save throwing away rancid butter, or having to open the fridge unnecessarily in order to get the butter.

Pottery bird feeder

But - I noticed something else hanging near his studio workshop...   Isn't this the most adorable bird feeder you have ever seen?