Claudia Romeo: We're in
Saint-Malo, Brittany, France,
and we're about to visit Bordier,
a traditional maison du
beurre, or butter house.
When you picture butter,
you probably think of
a yellow block in a plastic bag.
Well, not here.
Here, butter is done artisanally.
Everything is churned,
kneaded, and shaped by hand.
And I can't wait to see that.
Let's go.
In February, we met
with Jean-Yves Bordier,
son and grandson of
butter and cheese makers,
who brought back to France
the 19th-century technique
of malaxage, using this big wooden wheel
to knead the butter.
To Jean-Yves, the malaxage
is a more romantic way to make butter.
Claudia: The malaxage is really
what makes Bordier butter unique.
These are 50-kilo blocks of
butter extracted from milk
and are pretty standard in
the butter-making industry,
even for the most artisanal.
But while everyone else would use
huge centrifuges to filter out
the last remaining drops of buttermilk,
butter at the Bordier
workshop is flattened
by a wooden wheel and
worked by hand by Eric.
Claudia: Let's do it.
Little by little, the malaxage
is going to give butter a new life.
Dating back to the late 19th century,
this tool was first used to
rework different butters.
At Bordier, it also helps give butter
the desired texture.
Claudia: There's, like,
no way I'm gonna do this.
Claudia: And when you see
him doing that, it's...
it almost has, like, an harmony.
It's not easy.
Monsieur Bordier said this
is 50 kilos of butter.
So, try and lift a bit of it,
it's gonna be, like, what?
10 kilos just in one go?
Claudia: Eric then salts
the butter using fine salt.
This step is crucial
to make sure the butter
finally rejects all the
leftover water it has in it.
Claudia: Oh, wow.
Actually, I can see that
it's getting wetter and wetter.
It's picking up more water.
Claudia: According to Jean-Yves,
they work with old techniques,
but they are not trying
to recreate an old recipe.
Claudia: Big one. Ah, no.
Jean-Yves: Ah, no. Like this? OK.
Voilà.
Claudia: It's salty.
Jean-Yves: It's very salty.
Claudia: It's softer than
the butter I'm used to.
It's much sweeter, this one.
Bordier also makes flavored butters,
including chili butter, buckwheat butter,
vanilla butter, and more.
Claudia: Yeah.
It's very fresh. It's very fresh and...
yeah, it tastes like seaweed,
but it's not fishy at all.
It's nice and sweet.
It really reminds you of
that, like, seaside wind
when you're just sitting
there at the beach
and you can smell it.
Claudia: Yeah, I've just, like,
been catapulted into the picture now.
Claudia: It's marvelous.
It's really incredible.
And so this one is your
signature from Brittany,
because you're from this region?
Jean-Yves: It's the roots of my identity.
Claudia: Ah, no.
I would like to taste
that, then. [laughing]
Claudia: After it's ready,
each stack of freshly churned butter
is then placed into this butter cutter,
another machine signature to Bordier.
Claudia: There's a lot of water.
Claudia: So this means
that there's still water
that's coming out of the butter?
Claudia: The only thing
that is left is shaping.
And just like the rest,
it is all done by hand.
Each shape and size is custom.
Some chefs may order
these bite-sized shapes;
others may just buy the whole stack
and cut it themselves.
Claudia: There's something in this butter.
