Butter

Having a taste for Butter depends almost entirely on whether you find the comedy of condescension and ridicule a hoot or a very cheap form of amusement. This satire on self-righteous, homily-spewing red-staters and the cutthroat world of butter carving trades almost entirely on making jokes at the expense of others, most of all an obsessed, venal woman who could pass as a kissin' cousin to two prominent female Republicans of the preprimary season ( Butter was made in 2011). Decidedly not a critics' picture, Butter brandishes the sort of snide humor that plays well with a large public, but a fair slice of that audience could well be put off by the whiff of an agenda that's hard to miss.

AS POLITICAL satires go, "Butter" is about as subtle as a slab of lard served on a slice of ham. Big, broad, but only fitfully funny, it takes a swipe at Iowa and Iowans. A few sucker punches land, thanks largely to a star-studded cast. But it never feels like anything but an outsider's nasty dismissal of the corn-fed corner of red-state culture. Jennifer Garner is cast amusingly against type as Laura, a real Lady Macbeth with a butter knife. She shouldn't have to take up that knife, but the Iowa "Mastery of Butter" judges have nudged her dairy-Degas, 15-time state fair butter-carving champ husband, Bob, out of competition.

1 cup flour ½ cup brown sugar 6 tablespoons butter, cut into 6 pieces Pinch of salt     1. In the bowl of a food processor, blend ingredients well.   Note: Favorite Crisp Topping Variations: 1. Add ½ cup walnuts, pecans, or almonds. 2. Substitute up to ½ cup of rolled oats for some of the flour. 3. Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon or cardamom to the mixture. 4. Use vegetable oil instead of butter. 5. Add 2 more tablespoons butter for a more crumbly topping.

½ teaspoon soft butter and 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan for preparing the mold 2 teaspoons butter 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 1/3 cup milk Large pinch of salt Small pinch of paprika 1 egg yolk 2 egg whites 1/3 cup tightly packed grated cheese (an aged Cheddar, a Swiss cheese, and an aged mountain cheese)     1. Smear the soft butter around the inside of your mold, and sprinkle the Parmesan around the sides and bottom.

Salt 2 to 3 ounces linguine 1 teaspoon butter 2 scallions, sliced fairly thin A splash of vodka 2 or 3 slices smoked salmon 3 to 4 tablespoons heavy cream Freshly ground pepper 1 teaspoon capers, rinsed Parsley   1. Cook linguine according to package directions, adding salt to water. While linguine is boiling, melt the butter in a small wok or medium skillet. Toss in the scallions and saute gently for one minute, stirring.

When I finally met Nora Ephron six years ago, I did something I had never done before in a few thousand interviews and I haven't done since.   I told her I loved her. I have always loved her, since first reading her Esquire pieces in the 1970s. Of course, her admirers are legion. We love her extraordinary wit, her inimitable style, her appetite for risk and change. Her actual appetite, for butter, pate, steak, pie, and her rejection of the egg-white omelet, of which she noted, "People who eat them think they're doing something virtuous when they are instead merely misinformed.

2 cups Original Bisquick mix 1 cup whole milk 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 stick butter 1 cup real maple syrup 3-4 ripe bananas, cut into 1/2-inch slices 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts     1. Make pancake batter, combining Bisquick with milk, eggs, and vanilla. 2. Move top rack of oven to the upper-middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. 3. Melt butter in heavy 10- or 11-inch ovenproof skillet in oven.

2 tablespoons butter 8 eggs, lightly beaten 2 cups broccoli rabe pieces (1 inch), blanched Salt and freshly ground pepper 4 Italian sandwich rolls (Sarcone's are recommended) 8 slices provolone cheese   1. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the eggs and cook, stirring often. Just before the eggs are set, stir in the broccoli rabe and cook the eggs for 1 minute longer. Season the egg and broccoli rabe mixture with salt and pepper to taste.

FRENCHTOWN, N.J. — Elizabeth Gilbert is standing at her stove, stirring flour into melted butter, attempting a simple white sauce for the base of an oyster bisque. As she slowly adds the milk, just as directed in the recipe, the sauce clumps. "I don't know about this, I've never made a white sauce before," she says, stirring furiously to smooth out the lumps. The best-selling author of Eat, Pray, Love is the first to admit her greatest talent is not in the kitchen.

8-ounce tub of oysters, chopped, with juice 1 pint clam juice 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons flour 2 cups milk 1 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon black pepper 1. Add oysters to 1 pint of clam juice and bring to a boil. 2. Make white sauce: In a saucepan, melt the butter over a medium flame and stir in the flour. When it starts to bubble, take the pan from the fire and slowly stir in 1 cup of milk, letting the flour absorb the liquid. Put the pan back over the heat and just as slowly add 1 cup more of milk, never ceasing the stirring.