Why Aren’t You Slathering Every Sandwich With Butter?

I am a proven fan of butter, but I have not been using it to it fullest potential. It’s an obvious toast topper and cooking fat, but it’s also a pretty fantastic (and criminally underrated) sandwich spread.

If you are a British person, you probably already do this, so feel free to quit reading this and go the chip shop or pub or something. But the rest of you—the people not putting butter on sandwiches—hang around for a moment.

Butter tastes good with most things. It is good with cheese. It is good with meat. It is good with vegetables. Being mostly fat, it repels water even better than mayonnaise, and it adds a nice bit of creaminess without overpowering your sandwich with a distracting flavour. It makes every sandwich you put it on richer and less soggy. Where is the downside?

Am I suggesting you use butter instead of mayo? No, I am suggesting you use both. (I’m a bit of a hedonist that way!) If, however, you are a mayo hater, you should definitely use it; I’ve always wondered how mayo haters endure such dry sandwiches. Making a deli salad sandwich, such as chicken or tuna? Those can be quite damp, so you’ll want to spread both sides of your sandwich with butter.

If you really want to have fun with it, get your hands on some compound butters. We’ve got brie butter, black garlic butter, duck butter, bacon butter, and yogurt butter, and they are all wonderful.

If you are worried about cold butter tearing your bread, use a vegetable peeler. Though really, you should have at least one type of butter at room temperature at all times. There’s no excuse not to butter your sandwich (even vegan ones). Trust me, I know what I’m talking about. I’m the number one butter fan.

This story has been updated since its original publication.