This report is the essence of an interview that Reiner Veit of inforadio from the RBB conducted with Jean-Yves Bordier in the autumn of 2012.
It is about the butter that Jean-Yves Bordier makes in his dairy near the French city of Rennes. His grandfather already made butter, his father cheese. The son actually wanted to become a sailor, but quickly realized that this was basically not really right for him. Butter was in his blood and flowed through his veins – nothing could stop it. So he took over his ancestors' legacy and became France's butter pope, who is known beyond national borders.
But Jean-Yves Bordier does not simply make butter. He has reinvented it. And created new types of butter. Bordier butter is handmade and unsurpassed in its quality and is exported all over the world: from Australia via Asia to the USA and, of course, here in Europe, Michelin-starred chefs cook with Bordier's butter.
The Bordier dairy is still located in Rennes and is a traditional artisanal operation. All butter pieces are hand-shaped before being shipped worldwide. However, the butter is also sold at market stalls in the region and in the small delicatessen shop in the town of Saint-Malo, intra muros, i.e., inside the city walls.
Here, in the back of the shop, which also offers cheese and regional delicacies besides butter, there is a restaurant. There, regional dishes are cooked with a light touch and for little money, almost all of them refined with Beurre Bordier. In addition to regular, salted or unsalted butter, there are those extraordinary varieties for which Bordier has become famous worldwide: butter with algae or with smoked salt, with piment d'Espelette or olive oil and lemon.
But how did Jean-Yves Bordier come up with the idea for these partially exotic creations?
Jean-Yves Bordier:
“That is a good question. I only make one single product: butter. A company that does well with only one product, people naturally look particularly closely at what and how they make it. It is easier to have 10,000 products than one. But I have simply lost my heart to one, butter. I mix it with one thing and then with another, it is embarrassing and rubbish, but suddenly something very special comes out. I was in Japan twice – 2006, 2009 – and in 2006 a man gave me endlessly much to taste and try, all different things, but there was one product that really blew me away. I was surprised by the elegance. I know that the yuzu fruit is very fashionable today, but that is not what it is about. If I had been there earlier, I would have had the wonderful shock earlier, but it was in 2006, from that came the Beurre au Yuzu, the yuzu butter. Later I was shown a yuzu plantation, and I discovered yuzu juice, which is also used as vinegar, and a yuzu powder that can be used like pepper. The Beurre au Yuzu, that was my idea ...”
To make one kilo of butter, you need 22 liters of milk, we know Bordier. When his butter comes out of the refrigerator, it is firmer and looks a bit more glassy than industrial butter. This is mainly due to the milk and the feed that the cows eat. Silage is forbidden! The milk itself comes from Brittany and Normandy, delivered by ten farmers between Rennes and Mont-Saint-Michel, all of them organic farms. Many factors determine the quality of a butter. Above all, making butter is a matter of time. Industrial butter is produced in about six hours. At Bordier, production takes 72 hours!
Jean-Yves Bordier on the production steps:
“On Monday mornings, the cows are milked. From ten producers between Rennes and Mont-Saint-Michel, the milk arrives at the dairy in the afternoon. There, the cream is allowed to set, and this cream is kept until Wednesday morning. As it ages, it gains an aromatic complexity, i.e., more aroma and flavor. Then milk ferments are added to stabilize it. This results in the pH value, depending on the amount. This is the production secret of the cream. This cream goes into a butter machine on Wednesday morning – a so-called “baratte” – a stirring device. The creamy and liquid cream is heated to 13 - 14 degrees and stirred for about 50 minutes. This results in a phosphorescent liquid in which yellow lumps float. These are fats. Milk fat … Subsequently, the phosphorescent liquid is drained. Only the fat remains. Now as much ice-water is added as was drained from the phosphorescent liquid. Now it is stirred again for 50 minutes. And what happens there? The cream was 14 degrees warm. Through the ice-water, the butter flakes contract. Through rotation, the aggregation of the butter flakes is achieved, and this finally results in perfect butter. Now you have to wait another 24 hours, because now the butter must rest to achieve even more aromatic complexity. During this time, all kinds of hygienic and sensory analyses are carried out. Meanwhile, it is Thursday. In a final step, the butter is flavored and packaged and sent on its journey.”
So Bordier's butter is also a matter of time. And as for the perfect consistency of his butter, Butter Master Bordier likes to speak of Tartinabilité – spreadability.
And what are creations that are not necessarily intended for the general public?
Jean-Yves Bordier: “Some of my creations are made exclusively for kitchen chefs, which no one else has. So the butter with lemon oil was created. Initially, it was only for Guy Savoy. With his consent, it is now available for everyone. But the butter with nut oil has only one single restaurant. There is also butter with wine salt, which is a fleur de sel that is soaked in grape must. There are already a few very peculiar special creations. But apart from that, I have also been asked for completely idiotic things: I will not say who, that would not be nice. I should come up with a Swarovski butter and a yellow, red, green butter. That is weird, but also sad for those who come up with such things.”
Why did Bordier himself open another restaurant?
Jean-Yves Bordier:
“It is very simple. There is this saying in French: “de la fourche à la fourchette”, and it is also very important in my little life to develop from the rough fork to the fine fork. Especially when you have such a good product like I do. My butter. And my little butter cook, Morganne. This wonderful young cook Morganne, he is there to turn my butter into music in the restaurant. Despite the many butter, our kitchen is light and airy. Butter is in bad repute, making us sick and fat. It is true: oil is less fatty than butter. But butter is a completely natural food. Butter itself is therefore not dangerous or bad, if you handle it moderately. You have to eat butter with common sense.”
You can find more information on inforadio.de. The complete interview was broadcast on the show “Aufgegabelt” on 20.04.2013.
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With us you get the Bordier butter in combination with sardines. Among others also the one with yuzu … Definitely try it!
