Wednesday, October 13, 2010

BACK TO BASICS ~ HOME MADE BUTTER


This is a truly inspired post. Inspired by the talented Quinn of  Quinn's Baking Diary. Quinn has not blogged about this yet but she had facebooked it. 

I was smitten and so were many of her facebook friends. And I promised her I would make this since over beating is in my nature. Indeed if there is anything that I will over beat to a hilt and without a quiver of guilt in the future it will surely be cream.

Yes Ma'am. When I had created the butter I felt like a little Miss Dairy Queen who had just milked a cow and who lives on a farm with plenty of know-how.



Some of us, like me, after some googling, will know that cream is the butterfat-rich part that rises to the top of non homogenized cow's milk. It is not made. It is, in the words of www.ochef.com, "an ur-ingredient if you will." "It is not the product of another recipe, it is a naturally occurring food that you cannot make yourself." Like chicken livers, salt and apples" says he.

But butter is something else. Butter is made the way I just did. By over whipping or over beating cream. 

When I had made the butter, the butter made me ~ a little Dairy Quinn.



Whip whipping cream. Then, over whip it.

Like magic, the cream will first look as light and as fluffy as a cloud, and then it will go on to become curdly and quite, quite ugly and when, finally, it splits completely, a little like magic again, you will be very pleased to see a solid hump of yellow butter swimming in some swishy, skinny milk which, by the way, is what is called buttermilk. 

You'll be laughing and moo-hooing all the way to the refrigerator. Because you have not just made butter but buttermilk too. Moo-hoo.

Drain the buttermilk from the butter in a sieve and rinse the butter under the tap or by pouring filtered water over it. Pat dry gently with a paper towel. Pat into a suitably sized bowl and keep both butter and buttermilk in the refrigerator.

The after effects of making butter ~

I had a conversation with myself ~

Me : I wonder how long it will keep before it turns rancid? 

Me :  I don't think it'll sit around long enough for you to find out.

Me : And you know what? 

Me : What?

Me : It tastes just like butter! 

Me : Heck.... it is butter.


Me : I still can't believe I've made butter. 

Me : Aren't you're such a clever old cow. Moo-hoo.


Thank you Dairy Quinn. xoxo


Do you always buy a 1 litre box of whipping cream because it's cheaper than buying the smaller 250 ml packs? I do. Only now I know what I'll do with the cream that's always left over after I use part of it. Make butter. Would you?

22 comments:

fuat gencal said...

Günaydın, ellerinize sağlık. Çok leziz ve iştah açıcı görünüyor.

Saygılarımla.

Passionate About Baking said...

Cool, so cool. I knew about making butter by over whipping the cream. I knew because I've ever over whipped it! I always love the way you write your post. It's so pleasant to read. Thanks for sharing. I didn't know I had to run it under the water. Now I know what to do with the remaining whipping cream, before it turns bad... Thanks zurin.

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

My goodness..now we are turning into milkmaids living on dairy farms! I knew that if cream or milk is centrifuged long enough, you will get butter..but I have never thought that urbanites like us to try this (LOL)...You know what should do next Zu, infuse your whipped cream with flavours before you beat it... might as well do something different from what we get from the shops...:) maybe colour it a pretty lilac after infusing with Lavender....

leaf (the indolent cook) said...

I didn't know it would be so easy - that's pretty awesome! :D

a quiet life said...

your self conversation cracks me up! looks like i will be making butter soon if its this fun! i thought you had to shake shake shake it...

Clare @ Mrs Multitasker said...

My friend was just talking about making her own butter because butter in the supermarkets is so expensive (I reminded her that the problem is cream in the supermarket is way expensive too).
What a great post =) Thanks for sharing!

Quinn said...

Zurin....I have been so busy...got back from Perth, unpack, more testing with pasta in the kitchen, and I tried lemon-thyme-butter, as good as the orange-parsley butter! Yours look absolutely gorgeous, thanks for the shout out! You are such a darling!

Torviewtoronto said...

this looks very tasty

Unknown said...

I would hands down. I have only made butter once.

Zoe said...

Making butter and buttermilk too! Sounds like Magic. Loves Quinn's blog too. Thanks for sharing :D

Kana said...

Zurin: you can now whip your own cream for all those lovely cakes you make!!!!

Elin Chia said...

Zurin , you and Quinn really made butter ???? Wow...that is wonderful ! I was wondering how long the whole process took before it turns into butter ? I can imagine you dancing and moo -ing away :p

pigpigscorner said...

haha I saw this on Quinn's FB too. Very cool, and you get buttermilk too!

Joyti said...

O, wow...that must be SO delicious!

chow and chatter said...

wow looks amazing with toast and tea yum

Bakericious said...

wow so cool, I know what can I do if I have access whipping cream! thanks to you and Quinn.

Anonymous said...

This is going to be a chain reaction. Now I feel like making my own garlic butter..........

Linda said...

This butter looks simply amazing!
Lovely color!
L~xo

Ninette said...

That happened to me a couple years ago. I nice surprise!

Joudie's Mood Food said...

The first time i made my own butter was by mistake at work and my chef asked me for butter and we had run out and i was whipping somehting and this is what happened. Who knew ? I am so in favour of making my own everything. i hate ready made things but butter is soemthing i use way too much of and it would be too hard to keep it up. But it is a good feeling....Lovely!

Carrie @ Cottage Cozy said...

Your blog is delightful...delightfully delicious! Homemade butter is a "good thing".

I am having a "double-the-fun" giveaway...something for a little one and something for you! Stop on by to join the fun if you get a chance! I enjoyed my visit today! :)

Su-yin said...

Ah nothing like freshly made butter for a good start to the day! ;) Great post and photos, I've never tried making butter before but will have to do it one day when I have extra whipping cream on hand!

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