Northern European recipes from 1300 to 1700 predominantly specify butter due to dairy farming prevalence. Southern European versions from the same period use olive oil or lard. Guild records from Hamburg show butter cost one-third the price of imported oils, explaining regional preferences through economics rather than culinary tradition.
Refrigeration Changes Everything
Before 1850, butter spoiled rapidly in warm climates. Spanish and Italian bakers used lard because it remained stable without cooling. Port city import logs show lard shipments increased during summer months across Mediterranean regions. Once ice houses became common after 1860, butter usage in southern recipes increased within one generation. Cookbook comparisons from Naples show 12 percent butter recipes in 1850 versus 64 percent by 1890.
Industrial Processing Shifts Preferences
Commercial butter production in 1870s America made it cheaper than home-rendered lard for the first time. Census data shows bakery ingredient purchases shifted from 70 percent lard in 1870 to 65 percent butter by 1900. This economic reversal changed recipe development patterns permanently, with new cookbooks favoring butter-based formulas that would have been cost-prohibitive just decades earlier.