The Kitchen Staple Jacques Pepin Loves That's Available At Dollar General

Butter is a critical ingredient when it comes to baked goods, and French chef Jacques Pepin has a favorite must-use spread. Per an article with Food & Wine, Pepin likes a rather common brand: Land O Lakes. The cookbook author told the publication, "Years ago, I started using Land O Lakes because it was one of the only butters I could find. It's still a favorite of mine." The good news is how accessible this brand of butter is. You can find it at just about any grocery store or convenience store, including Dollar General.

However, not all things at Dollar General are a dollar, and that includes this dairy spread. A package of 2 sticks of salted Land O Lakes butter, totaling 8 ounces, will set you back $4, while a package containing 4 sticks of unsalted butter, weighing 1 pound, costs $3.95. Surprisingly, the salted version of this brand is more expensive at Dollar General stores than at other retailers, where it can run anywhere from $5.39 a pound for Land O Lakes salted butter to $6.79. The unsalted version is definitely a good buy at Dollar General. At other retailers, the unsalted spread typically priced at between $4.49 to $7.19 a pound. This is why you may have to shop at multiple grocery stores if you want to save money.

When it comes to ranking grocery store butter brands, Land O Lakes ranked fifth best on Chowhound's list, but what makes this Land O Lakes butter so likeable that a celebrity chef reaches for it? Two label clues indicating that Land O Lakes butter is real quality are the number of ingredients used and the amount of butterfat it contains. Original Land O Lakes butter contains the standard 80% butterfat, though Land O Lakes also does offer a European-style "Extra Creamy Butter" variety as well. If you are looking for a European-style butter, which contains less moisture and a minimum of 82% butterfat but will give your pastry doughs a richer, more complex flavor, Jacques Pepin likes Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter.

That said, this America-based butter works too, which is why Pepin uses it when he makes puff pastry. Land O Lakes brand butter is fairly simple when it comes to ingredients. It is made using just two: sweet cream and salt. It has a good flavor and adds its tasty thumbprint to just about everything it touches in a good way. This creamy dairy will add just the right amount of flavor, tenderness, and texture to whatever you are baking.