Do the butter churn

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Did you ever notice that when you read a recipe that involves whipping cream, the instructions always say to make sure you don’t beat the cream too much?  The reason for that is simple: too much beating the cream turns into butter.

If you’ve never made butter before, this probably sounds a little oversimplified.  However, it really is just that easy.  You just need maybe a pint of cream at room temperature.  There are plenty of local dairies that produce cream, so finding the only ingredient you need is super simple.

There’s a low tech way to do this and a slightly higher tech way - and neither involves a milkmaid and a butter churn.  You’ll either need a jar with a tight lid or an electric mixer with a whisk attachment.  I guess you could even use a wire whisk if you’re especially strong in the wrist, although I’m not sure how well that would work.

OK, ready?

Pour room temperature cream into the jar and screw the lid on tightly or pour the cream into the mixer bowl.  Shake the jar for all you’re worth for 30 minutes to an hour, or you can mix it for maybe 15 minutes or so in the electric mixer.  I’ve made butter by jar before, but it’s pretty tiring.  I prefer the mixer.  The cream will go from very liquidy to forming soft peaks.  And then the soft peaks will go to hard peaks.  And then, magically, it’ll turn yellow and get chunky.  Here’s where your common sense comes in - you have to keep tasting it at this stage until it’s got the right taste.

The perfect stage is the middle photo (click the photo for a bigger look) - chunky with buttermilk being released.  When that happens, wash the butter.  To do this, dump the buttermilk out that has already been released (obviously, you can save this for baking or something) and throw in maybe 1/4 cup of really cold water - mix the water into the butter.  You can do this a couple of times - you want the water to be clear instead of cloudy or milky looking.  Sometimes I wash the butter by kneading the butter while I run cold water over it.  This is crucial: any buttermilk left in the butter will give it a rancid flavor.  And who wants that?

When the water is running clear, you’ll need to press the water out of the butter.  Use your hands or a spatula to squish all the water out.

At this point, your butter is ready to go.  Salt it, mix in herbs, shape it…whatever.  You can freeze homemade butter for about three months, or it’ll keep in the fridge for a week or two.

Now true, people look at me kind of funny when I say that I make my own butter.  But the taste of homemade butter is far superior to the stuff you can get at the store, and I know exactly what goes into it.