I Tried The TikTok Famous Butter Board—Here's Why You Need To, Too
If you're on the food side of TikTok, you know that every few weeks there's a new infatuation. In the past, the world has been captivated by baked feta pasta, tortillas hacks, the salmon rice bowl, and most recently tinned fish. But the new thing taking FoodTok by storm is a butter board.
Think of a charcuterie board, but instead of layers of meat and cheese, piles of olives, and stacks of crackers, it's a spread out layer of butter dressed with herbs, aromatics, flakey salt, and more. The first viral video to kick off the trend was from Justine Doiron, a.k.a @justine_snacks.
She credits Josh McFadden, chef and restauranteur, with the original idea and describes it as a good way to serve a bunch of people. The viral video has racked up eight million views, and has been met with praise and criticism—with some commenters saying they can't wait to try or suggesting other toppings, while other complain of double dippers in the time of a pandemic and others noting know much butter it is.
When I saw the video, I fell in love. I think it's unexpected (though now everyone knows about it), and a great way to change up the tired charcuterie board. But I wanted to add a twist.
The main problems I saw with this board was that once all the toppings were gone, you would only be eating butter and bread—kinda boring. The second was that that's a lot of butter with only one flavor. Sure, she layers lots of ingredients (lemon zest, herbs, red onions, flakey salt), but they cover the entire board. I wanted to make four flavored butters that I would mix with the ingredients instead of layering on top.
I hit all the notes. I made a sweet blackberry jam butter with toasted hazelnuts, a spicy butter with Calabrian chili, a bright butter with herbs and lemon zest, and a savory butter with garlic and parmesan. I spread them all out on the board, placing the ones that I think might mix well together if any cross contamination happened. Jam and spicy make a pepper jelly flavor. Spicy and garlicky make a spicy-savory situation. Garlicky and herbs tastes like garlic bread. And herbs and jam make a sweet and savory spread.
I also couldn't help myself and made a completely separate butter board with tinned fish and herbs—genius, if I do say so. I just recommend keeping it away from the other butters, as fish from a can isn't exactly everyone's favorite.
Overall, I love this idea. I think the key is to use really good butter, pick well-liked mix ins or toppings, and keep the board small—use a stick or two of butter at most.
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