homemade | The Rambling Epicure

Sauce for Thought: Sweet Flower of Dreams

Published by Alice + Monday, March 26, 2012 Permalink 0

A little prehistoric flower has been grown, re-created really, from 32,000 year-old seeds found in the ancient den of an artic ground squirrel. The photo of the little white flower in the New York Times [i] brought a rush of excitement and a feeling of kinship with the scientists who sought to cover those seeds with earth and add water, to cup their hands and breathe warm air over the planting, revealing the sprouts last seen by the tiny ground squirrel so long ago. I have the same feeling when reading an antique recipe that might bring back the flavors of the ancestors. Can we breathe life in to an antique delicacy and resurrect a better flavor? Why did people add rose geraniums to their jelly, infuse herring pie[ii] with grains de paradis[iii], or even stir and stir to create cornstarch pudding for that matter? Perhaps they knew a marvelous flavor-way or texture that has been lost to us, overtaken by food fads and conveniences of the present day?

Food Play: How to make Homemade Butter

Published by sandeea + Monday, August 15, 2011 Permalink 0

por SandeeA

Versión origínale en español

Kids in the Kitchen

Nowadays we’ve forgotten where food actually comes from. Some people find it difficult to believe olives were “born” with pits, because they’ve only eaten the pitted ones out of cans, and others have never known fresh milk or milk straight from the cow; they’ve only had milk from a U.H.T. Tetra Brik carton.

So what about pulling some magic in the kitchen and showing your kids how cream becomes butter? You will get a delicious homemade butter, full of flavour, with 65% fat, as compared to commercial butters, which commonly have up to 80% fat and zero flavour to boot.

So switch on the music on, and let’s shake it! Who said you cannot play with food?

Recipe

Homemade Butter

Click here for recipe converter

Preparation time: 4-5 min
Cooking time: 0 min
Total: 4-5 min
Yield: 40 gr butter (2 portions)

Difficulty: My 3-year-old son can do it

Ingredients

100 ml heavy cream, very cold (minimum 35% fat)

A small jar with lid

Preparation

1. Put cream in the jar and close lid.

Mantequilla casera 2

2. Turn the music on.

3. Shake it, shake it. About two minutes later, you will notice that the cream is starting to thicken. Take a rest.

Mantequilla casera 2

4. Keep shaking shaking (it will take a couple more minutes). Suddenly, the cream will start to divide into a solid part (butter) and a liquid part (buttermilk) You did it! Press butter and knead it a litte bit to eliminate exceeding buttermilk, and clean it under clean water. You can keep both buttermilk and butter in the refrigerator for a few days.

Note 1: You can do the same thing using a food processor, but it won’t be as much fun! Click here to watch a video showing how to make homemade butter using a food processor.

Note 2: The bottle shown in the pics is not the ideal recipient for making butter…when butter becomes solid, it is really hard to get the butter out of it.

Note 3: The time indicated on the recipe is for an adult. Kids have less strengh and cannot mantain constant movement, so it will take them longer to actually get butter.

As seen at Cultured Butter