Revol Butter Dish Set of 6 with Steel Cloche

The dome over this dish is steel rather than glass, and that is not a style decision. Light is what turns butter rancid, and a metal cover blocks all of it where a glass one blocks none, which is the difference between butter that lasts a week on a table and butter that does not.

• Metal blocks the light An opaque dome protects the fat from the exposure that spoils it.
• Six dishes to a case One at each setting rather than a single dish carried around a table.
• Three and a half inches An individual portion of butter, not a half pound block on a tray.

Why Butter Hates Light

Fats oxidize, and light accelerates it. Butter left in a clear dish on a sunlit table develops the flat, slightly cheesy taste of oxidation faster than the same butter under something opaque. Steel is the simplest possible answer to that, because it is completely opaque and it does not absorb the fat the way an unglazed cover would. The porcelain underneath does the other half, being non-porous and easy to bring back to clean white.

An Individual Portion

Three and a half inches across holds a little under two and a half ounces, which is a serving rather than a supply. That size choice follows from the same logic as the cover: butter kept in small amounts at the table is butter that gets used before it deteriorates, while a large block sits out through several meals.

Six Around a Table

Six dishes is one for each place, and butter served that way stops being something people reach across for. It also solves a problem nobody names politely: a shared butter dish accumulates crumbs and jam from every knife that touches it over the course of a meal, and six small ones simply do not.

Softening, Storing and Washing

Can butter be left out in these? Salted butter keeps at room temperature for several days under an opaque cover. Unsalted has far less protection and belongs in a refrigerator between meals.

Do the two parts wash together? The porcelain base takes a dishwasher without complaint. The steel dome comes out brighter for a hand wash, since machine detergent dulls a polished finish over time.

How much butter is 2.5 ounces? About five tablespoons, or two thirds of a standard stick. Enough for a meal for two with bread, and easily replaced rather than stored.