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beurre en pommade ferme

English translation: slightly softened

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:beurre en pommade ferme
English translation:slightly softened
Entered by: Mark Nathan

11:56 Jan 4, 2007
French to English translations [PRO]
Cooking / Culinary / cooking terminology
French term or phrase: beurre en pommade ferme
This term is in the list of ingredients for a Paris-Brest. I understand beurre en pommade to be softened butter, but cannot understand the adjective ferme which is attached to it, and have no idea how to translate it. Does anybody else have any ideas?

Merci d'avance
julietbec
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:28
slightly softened
Explanation:
You don't want it too soft because you have to beat in other ingredients.

I have one recipe that helpfully suggests that it should be as soft as a cyclist's thigh...

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Note added at 58 mins (2007-01-04 12:55:31 GMT)
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A reference, of course, to Paris-Brest being a bicycle race.

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Note added at 4 hrs (2007-01-04 16:29:24 GMT)
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In the recipe I have, the whipping and resulting increase in volume of the filling takes place AFTER you have added the praline and the pastry cream. So the basic ingredient is softened rather than whipped or creamed butter.
Selected response from:

Mark Nathan
France
Local time: 00:28
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +5slightly softened
Mark Nathan
3 +3see explanation
frenchloki (X)
4slightly softened butter
B D Finch
4butter softened and worked into a stiff paste
chaplin
3whipped butter
Fiorsam


  

Answers


15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +3
see explanation


Explanation:
I think it probably means that you beat the butter to a cream, but that it shouldn't be too soft.

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Note added at 20 mins (2007-01-04 12:17:25 GMT)
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...as opposed to a "pommade onctueuse", to be found in these recipes
http://www.bourgogne-recettes.com/recettes/choco1.html

So you could say "butter beaten to form a stiff cream" or something like that.

frenchloki (X)
Local time: 00:28
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 15

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  danièle davout: creamed butter
21 mins
  -> Thanks Daniele.
agree  Julie Barber: I prefer this to soften butter - which could include heating it - whereas you could do this with a fork http://www.linternaute.com/femmes/cuisine/definition/11/beur... Beurre travaillé ayant atteint la consistance d'une pommade
1 hr
  -> Thanks Julie.
agree  emiledgar
2 days 8 hrs
  -> thanks!
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19 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
slightly softened butter


Explanation:
Yes, **pommade** and **ferme** do appear to be contradictory! However, I think that the idea is that the butter is softened but has not lost its consistency as a (near) solid.

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Note added at 21 mins (2007-01-04 12:17:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Mark N got there first.

B D Finch
France
Local time: 00:28
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 43
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
whipped butter


Explanation:
Not 100% percent sure. But I think this is what's called in English.

Fiorsam
United States
Local time: 18:28
Native speaker of: Italian
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
butter softened and worked into a stiff paste


Explanation:
pommade does not occur by simply softening the butter, it is prepared. I hesitated between paste and cream but paste to my opinion gives the real meaning

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Note added at 2 hrs (2007-01-04 14:52:36 GMT)
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MIAM MIAM I love Paris-Brest! I recommend the ones from Le Meur in Quimper Market...Well I was born in Brest after all, watch out for lightning and thunder cf Tintin

chaplin
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:28
Works in field
Native speaker of: French
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18 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +5
slightly softened


Explanation:
You don't want it too soft because you have to beat in other ingredients.

I have one recipe that helpfully suggests that it should be as soft as a cyclist's thigh...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 58 mins (2007-01-04 12:55:31 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

A reference, of course, to Paris-Brest being a bicycle race.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2007-01-04 16:29:24 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

In the recipe I have, the whipping and resulting increase in volume of the filling takes place AFTER you have added the praline and the pastry cream. So the basic ingredient is softened rather than whipped or creamed butter.


Mark Nathan
France
Local time: 00:28
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 188
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  B D Finch: Sorry, I think that our answers overlapped, but you were first.
1 min
  -> Thanks
agree  frenchloki (X): yes, this is what I was trying to say!
3 mins
  -> Thanks
agree  Veronica Coquard: Nice metaphor!
36 mins
  -> Thanks
agree  Cervin: Wow!
45 mins
  -> Thanks
neutral  Martin Cassell: pre- or post-race?
3 hrs
  -> The inventor's patisserie was somewhere along the route, so presumably midway!
agree  roneill
5 hrs
  -> Thanks
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