Butter

So there I was making the Shepard's Pie recipe from Craftbeer.com which calls for mashed potatoes with some milk added. I usually use heavy cream. I get done and look at the leftover cream in the small jug and the stand mixer and my mind wanders to the Alton Brown episode on making butter.

I had to do it!

It was so easy. However, I will warn you that once the butter separates from the water the water will start to fly EVERYWHERE!

After that got cleaned up I poured off the whey(?) and added a bit of salt and put back in the mixer with a different attachment (That won't cause me to clean everything in a 5 foot radius) to blend it in and separate a bit more water.

The Shepard's Pie was done by then and the fresh butter went right on the bread.

Delicious!

And so easy! Next time I do it in the food processor...

I put the whisk attachment on the stand mixer and started it on slow and put foil around it to keep the splashing to a minimum, then I turned it back up on high. After it got thick I stupidly removed the foil. Of course, like a boil over, as soon as I turned my back it started throwing water all over the place.

Nice alternative to throwing the extra cream out.

the SWMBO makes butter all the time now, we won't hardly buy butter in the store. Homemade butter is really good, but like Crack; you can't stop after trying it.

The liquid is buttermilk. I use it in bread or to make buttermilk ranch dressing.

Everyone liked the butter, but I can't honestly say it's any better than the store bought stuff. As good as, maybe. I just can't tell the difference.

I know it's hard as a rock from the fridge. AB had a recipe for whipped butter that I might mix up. Otherwise I just put a small bit of it on the counter to keep it soft. That way it won't all go bad from sitting out.

Not sure it's cost effective to make it, but I have a few recipes that call for heavy cream and I might buy a larger container from now on and use what I need and make butter from the excess.

My kid is doing a science experiment at school - I had to help him shake the cream to make butter.

Cool, but a hell of a lot of work to shake a mason jar with cream!

Wow, that's a lot of work.

I'm pretty sure I could churn butter all day though. It would be like second nature to me.

I've made it with my stand mixer. It's super easy and I like that you can control the amount of salt.

Ravenshead said:

I've made it with my stand mixer. It's super easy and I like that you can control the amount of salt.

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Yeah. I put in extra salt.... :cross:

With either hand, up to 5 batches daily...

Homercidal said:

Wow, that's a lot of work.

I'm pretty sure I could churn butter all day though. It would be like second nature to me.

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Homercidal said:

Yeah. I put in extra salt.... :cross:

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Me too, no reason to watch out for salt if you're already eating butter. I was thinking of adding parmasan and garlic to a batch. Ready made garlic bread.

Ravenshead said:

Me too, no reason to watch out for salt if you're already eating butter. I was thinking of adding parmasan and garlic to a batch. Ready made garlic bread.

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Well, there is a difference between eating low sodium and low fat... Modern science suggests that butter may not be as harmful as it's replacements had been.

Also, other studies suggest that a VERY low sodium diet can actually be harmful as well. And there isn't enough salt in a small tub of butter to make much difference when you "spread" it out over the number of meals it's used in.

I made more last night because I bought a small jug of cream for a kid's school project that we decided to change at the last minute. This time I tried Alton Brown's suggestion of adding a touch of olive oil and whipping it up so it stays softer in the fridge. We'll see.

When you think about it, cream and milk are almost perfect foods. You start your life drinking the stuff, and if you needed to as an adult you could survive on just the stuff for a couple days. Plus, its almost impossible to screw up with it.

If you leave it out too long, it becomes sour or clotted cream

If you to make butter and get a massive cramp in your arm, you most likely have whipped cream.

And if you turn on the mixer whilst making whipped cream and the old lady asks you to help her with her dresh zipper in the next room, you'll come back to ruined whipped cream, also known as butter.

I didnt choose CreamyGoodness for nothing.

CreamyGoodness said:

If you to make butter and get a massive cramp in your arm, you most likely have whipped cream.

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Or if just in your left arm, a heart attack lol. From consuming all that home made butter of course.