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Ramblings of a retiree in France
French Fancies: Beurre Bordier
My local cheese shop stocks (among other things) crème fraîche and butter from Brittany. In the case of the latter, specifically the truly magnificent and wholly divine Bordier butter.
At once sweet, salty, and smoky, Beurre Bordier is one of Brittany’s most famous products. You can taste it yourself at butter artisan Jean-Yves Bordier’s Saint-Malo creamery, where he uses 19th century methods of pounding and shaping butter to ensure a silky texture, complex aroma and smart balance of flavour.
Bordier’s shop Maison du Beurre showcases his product range alongside a small exhibition on the history of butter. It’s an emblematic spot in Saint-Malo that delights locals and tourists alike. Here, you can shop all of Bordier’s popular flavours—from beurre d’algues with flecks of Breton seaweed to smoked salt, lemon-olive oil, fennel, and even Venezuelan chocolate chip—along with 230 different cheeses, charcuterie, desserts and a wide selection of wine.
How it all began
Both the son and grandson of cheesemongers, Jean-Yves Bordier became a butter and cheese craftsman in Saint-Malo, France in 1985, taking over the House of Creamery Butter. Bordier rediscovered and perfected the art of mixing butter, a traditional method from 19th century.
As a cheesemonger, Jean -Yves Bordier’s butter perfecting technique is legendary. His goal is to work with the highest quality milk in accordance with tradition. The milk comes from Brittany and Normandy farms that practice organic, sustainable farming. These farmers pay particular attention to the care of cows, how they are treated and fed. The milk matures slowly for two days to thicken and develop its aromatic complexity. Churned, kneaded by hand, and salted, by Bordier’s trained staff, the butter is shaped by using two paddles.
Chefs, restaurateurs and hoteliers can custom design butter to their wishes; weight, shape, amount of salt, and added flavor to make it uniquely their own.
Bordier butter is very different from a typical brick of butter. The latter is made just six hours after the cow is milked. It takes Bordier three days. For a lot of that time, the cream is culturing and developing flavour.
Regular butter is made on a large scale, in a factory setting that produces a lot of product at high speed. Bordier has a special wooden machine (only one!) called a Malaxeur that the butter is kneaded through, at a slow speed, for a specific amount of time—kneading time depends on the season, but it can be as long as 30 minutes. They say it helps develop flavour and create a silky texture. After the Malaxeur, Bordier uses special grooved paddles to pound the butter, by hand, before forming it into the shapes requested by chefs for each individual order. The hand movements with the paddles are very specific (see video below), and they say they do this to respect the texture.
Bordier butter has very noticeable seasonal differences. Summer butter is very yellow, because the cows are grazing on fresh grass and wildflowers which are high in beta carotene. Summer butter is silky and tender, and has pronounced savoury aromas. Winter butter is pale, like an ivory yellow, because the cows are eating dried grasses. The texture is more granular and brittle, and winter butter is sweeter.
What makes Bordier butter so sublime is time. But, if you ask the man behind the butter, Jean-Yves Bordier, he’ll say something modest such as he hasn’t invented anything new, he uses old methods that respect the land, the animals and tradition. But Monsieur. Bordier doesn’t seem to be aware that his product makes you look at butter in a completely new way. It’s not just a mildly flavored fat that’s fine on bread, or good to bake with, or extra tasty when it’s browned; it’s a completely special ingredient in it’s own right. This butter can be appreciated the way a good cheese is. It’s got so much character, the texture is noticeably elegant, and once you get some of his flavoured butters, you realize this guy is like Willy Wonka for adults who live for good food.
In 1997, on a visit to Brittany, Éric Briffard, the chef at the Plaza Athénée, had the opportunity to taste Bordier butter and instantly recognised its fine qualities, ordering 800 pats! The rest, as they say, is history.
This was a pivotal point, as Bordier explains:
From that moment on I began to make a name for myself, and production went far beyond what I had imagined for the Saint-Malo market.
One of Jean-Yves Bordier’s greatest ideas were his customised mini pats of butter, specially shaped to order by 10 of his workmen for the great names in gastronomy.
What makes Beurre Bordier so special? If you ask the man behind the butter, Jean-Yves Bordier, he’ll say something modest such as he hasn’t invented anything new, he uses old methods that respect the land, the animals and tradition. But Monsieur Bordier doesn’t seem to be aware that his product makes you look at butter in a completely new way. It’s not just a mildly flavored fat that’s fine on bread, or good to bake with, or extra tasty when it’s browned; it’s a completely special ingredient in it’s own right. This butter can be appreciated the same way as a good cheese. It’s got so much character, the texture is noticeably elegant, and once you get some of his flavoured butters, you realize this guy is like Willy Wonka for adults who live for good food.
The icing on the pat of butter is that since 2011 there is also a gourmet restaurant, “Autour du beurre”, which offers refined small dishes, not to mention the inevitable tasting of eight emblematic Bordier butters. Watch out for your cholesterol!
Jean-Yves Bordier also makes cheese using traditional, artisanal methods, refining his products in seven reconstituted natural cellars in order to obtain tasteful and perfectly textured cheeses from quality milk. This is an entrepreneur who wants to preserve tradition but in a modern industrial setting.
All images courtesy of Beurre Bordier
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What a great post! I learned a few new things. 1: I need to travel more. 2: I need more butter!
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My pleasure Mrs Shecky
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How yummy! I spent part of my honeymoon in St. Malo. Love it.
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It’s a lovely spot
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Delish!
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Indeed Eliza
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How lucky are you!!! My closest is Lidl!! Those flavoured butters must be just yum.
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They are indeed Marie
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I did enjoy this. When we were raising our boys we did milk a cow daily and I learned to make butter. Oh so good! The old fashioned way with a Crock and wooden paddle. Home made cottage cheese too. Farm life is hard but there is an upside too.
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Thanks BC
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wow, what a labor of love! ❣️
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Indeed
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An excellent read on quality butter. It’s quite interesting ~ process ~ different flavors and shapes plus seasonal color.
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I had no idea
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Oh yes butter is it here!! In fact too many kg of butter all over but again the very best we use Kerargoët beurre de Baratte! from Quimper!
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Thanks
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you are welcome
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sounds so good! ❤
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It is!
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Oh my gosh. I would try a new butter each week.
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Been there, done that, got the t-shirt
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Haha
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Yet one more reason I LOVE living so close to France. The butter!!! Just bread, butter, and radishes and I’m in heaven. Butter like this… please I’d house an entire baguette!
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Me too!
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Yum! We have a French cheese shop in NYC and I recently went to their fondue class. It was delicious!
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How wonderful
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Greata post!! I love butter!!!!
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Who doesn’t? Thanks Belladonna
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Le Beurre Bordier is famous but no relations (my parents said) although it’s also my maiden name!
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Shame
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What a beautiful post, and an inspirational story. While not familiar with le beurre Bordier until reading your words, I do love French butter and when in France it is something that I truly look forward to.
Recently I began purchasing locally made cultured Jersey cream for the sole purpose of making our own butter. The butter is delicious and the buttermilk a valuable bi-product. While I was shaping the last batch with my pats, my husband walked in and asked what I was doing, when I told him, he exclaimed “you make our butter too!”. While it would pale into significance against le beurre Bordier, I love it and both the process of making it, along with the enjoyment of eating it, remind me of the butter that my grandmother would send home with Dad each week when I was a child.
Thank you again💕
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I’ve never made butter but I’m sure it must be very satisfying and delicious. Thank you so much for dropping by and telling me about it.
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