“French” Butter Dish
Or a Butter Crock or Butter Bell.
There’s really not much French about it, other than the fact that it is attributed to a French inventor. I bought this one last year in Naumburg as a gift for Julie’s mom. She seems to remember her grandparents having one, but I have yet to encounter anyone else in France who knows what these things are.
That’s a pity because every kitchen should have one. You pack a stick of butter into the top section, and pour a little water into the base. The butter is stored upside down at room temperature, and the water creates a nice airtight seal. Voila, fresh spreadable butter every time! The result is that you use less butter than you would with hard, cold butter (unless you are like me and just skip the butter altogether if too hard, in which case you eat a hell of a lot more butter.)
I could go on, but there’s more here: