D.I.Y. Delicious by Vanessa Barrington

Author:Vanessa Barrington
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Published: 2010-04-04T04:00:00+00:00

Cultured Butter

Homemade cultured butter is a revelation. If you’ve ever had butter in France that knocked your socks off, it was probably cultured. Culturing (simply a slight souring) gives the butter a rich, cheesy-in-a-good-way taste that is tangy and complex with layers of flavor. And it’s so easy to make. Culturing butter uses the same technique as crème fraîche, and then you simply chill and whip your crème fraîche. For very little effort, you’ll be rewarded with a superior product, for much less money than you’d spend at a specialty store. It’s also great fun to make flavored butters out of your own cultured butter. Add flaky sea salt and enjoy with bread and radishes; or add chopped anchovies and garlic to flavor grilled fish, roasted vegetables, or beans. Stirring in dried lavender makes a wonderful butter for biscuits and muffins. While the butter is still soft, simply work the flavorings in to your taste. Making small batches of butter is best because homemade butter doesn’t keep as long as store-bought, though it does freeze well. This recipe can be scaled up, but a larger batch will take longer to whip.

TIME REQUIRED: 20 to 25minutes active (excluding crème fraîche preparation)

YIELD: about 4 ounces

3 cups chilled Crème Fraîche

Salt and flavorings (optional; see headnote)

Pour the crème fraîche into a medium bowl and, using a handheld mixer on medium-low speed, begin whipping the crème fraîche as if you were making whipped cream. Stop every now and then to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. As the crème fraîche thickens, increase the speed to medium-high. When it’s just past the stage of a stiff whipped cream, the crème fraîche will become yellow and separate into clumps. At this point, decrease the speed to medium-low or you run the risk of spraying buttermilk all over. After this point, the butter will quickly solidify and separate fully from the buttermilk. The whole process takes 8 to 10 minutes. When the butter seems to have given off all the buttermilk it is going to, pour off the buttermilk and save it. (It’s truly delicious, and it’s also great to use for biscuits or Aunt Mil’s Jam-Filled Sugar Cookies.) Push the butter against the sides of the bowl with a flexible spatula to squeeze out as much of the buttermilk as possible.

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