after years of being vaguely confused when I came across the measurement “a stick of butter” in recipes, today I learned that in the United States they sell butter in these skinny stick things:
it is literally a stick of butter. A STICK OF BUTTER.Â
i have literally never seen butter sold this way. each stick one only amounts to ½ a cup of butter AMERICANS PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT MY WHOLE LIFE WHEN I SAW THE PHRASE “A STICK OF BUTTER” IN RECIPES I WAS IMAGINING THIS:
THIS IS THE ONLY “STICK” I’D EVER SEEN BUTTER SOLD IN. I THOUGHT Y’ALL WERE THROWING FUCKIN’ POUNDS UPON POUNDS OF BUTTER INTO THINGS HOLY JESUS THE WORLD MAKES SO MUCH MORE SENSE NOW FUCKIN CHRIST.Â
…..they sell those here too, Em. :P
I have seen butter sold in 425g blocks and 250g blocks, but I’ve never seen little mini 113g sticks like that! Even if I imagined people adding the smaller blocks to recipes, that’s still two times as much butter as would be necessary according to the “stick” measurement. :O
In New Zealand butter is always sold in 500g and 250g blocks. I used to be baffled by the “stick” of butter too, especially because whenever I asked an American how much that was, they’d say, “I don’t know, one stick.” “But how much does that weigh?” I’d ask. “You can tell me in ounces, I’ll convert it.” And they’d repeat, “It’s just a stick of butter! You know, a regular-size stick!” And I would generally end up concluding that some cultural misunderstandings just aren’t meant to be addressed.
There are little tick marks on the paper wrapper that mark tablespoons! There are I think 8 tablespoons per stick of butter, and we just use a knife to cut the amount needed.
