At the Moorcock we made butter every week. with the exception of Jerusalem artichokes we used our own cultured butter for all our cooking.
It tastes amazing on its own, it became a garnish on its own, Parkin and fruitcake went from being treats you might have at home to something truely gastronomic.
you never see butter cream icing in restaurants, but with our homemade cultured raw butter I had the confidence to charge top dollar for a slice of simple gateaux knowing the icing and the cake batter was made with it.
I would pick wild mushrooms in the morning then serve them that afternoon or lunch cooked in the good butter with an egg yolk and minds were blown. its obvious, fresh picked anything is special, I think the butter made it what it really was.
Puff pastry is another example, the onion and rhubarb tarte tatin with chicken liver parfait was a beloved anchor on the menu, it was delicious, the butter in the parfait and pastry added layers of depth and umami.
If you make it often enough you will see the seasonality of butter, its a beautiful thing, in summer it is sweeter, more earthy, it holds more moisture which makes it nicer to add to sauces, but harder to sauté vegetables and meat. you get a better yield of butter to buttermilk in the warmer months as the cows eat fresh grass, in winter its silage.
Winter butter is firmer, more subtle, less sour. when you cook it's more nutty. less likely to spoil.
Anything with raw cream is risky, you have to know your dairyman well. We worked with two dairyman at the moorcock. The first was John Haigh, his farm was 1 mile from the pub. The milk and cream was separated and chilled by 9am in the morning and we would receive it by 10. I would visit often to talk to John (as best I could, his accent was strong, took me a few trips to get it) or to pick up milk or cream through the week.
John retired and sold the farm after covid. We worked with a local dairy co-operative after that, without the trust connection we switched to cultured pasteurised cream.
different but still delicious.
I should say to anyone who is shaking their heads about us serving raw dairy we did send off our products for microbial testing.
Butter, cheese, salami, cured hams, smoked fish, ferments, dry aged meat anything which could be risky.
The great thing about making cultured butter is you get three products. cultured cream/creme fraiche, butter and buttermilk.
buttermilk is good for making cakes and soda bread, pancakes, buttermilk ricotta, whey sauces, meat marinades (tenderises lamb or for fried chicken)
To make raw cultured cream you don't need anything, it already had the cultures needed to sour. Simply leave it out until it has thickened.
approx 1 week winter, 3 days in summer for a 30 ltr bucket.
If using pasteurised cream you will need to add a starter, this can be a freeze dried culture from a cheesemaking company, or adding some store bought creme fraiche to the cream and mixing it in.
Then holding it at 30 degrees overnight.
Once the cream is cultured you need to chill it down to fridge temp before churning.
churning takes a lot of effort, if you don't have a butter churn, I would recommend using a bread mixer or kitchen aid.
use the paddle attachment, I have seen many a whisk attachment broken when the butter separates.
simply mix the chilled cultured cream until it splits into butter and buttermilk, it will be very obvious when it is done.
Place the butter into a colander to seperate the buttermilk. keep the buttermilk for any of the above mentioned uses.
The next stage is to wash the butter. the butter will spoil within the week if you don't wash it.
fill a large bowl with cool water, massage the butter in the water by compressing it together, this forces the remaining buttermilk out of the solid butter into the water. Change the water until it remains clear, usually 3 water changes. It should take about 5 minutes to wash 5 kg of butter.
Place the butter back in the colander, squeeze it together to press out excess water. you want the butter to be as dry as it can be. butter and water won't mix so its just a case of pressing together to get the interior dry.
the final stage is to salt the butter. this will help it keep for longer and slow dangerous bacteria from growing.
weigh the butter and divide the number by 100. this is the amount of salt which will be needed.
the salt and butter need to be mixed together. don't be tempted to use a mixer for this. it will aerate the butter which will change the flavour as it will oxidise and cause it to spoil faster.
you have gone this far, best to finish it by mixing by hand. if you work quickly the butter should still be firm enough to kneed like bread, or wedge like clay for all you potters.
mix though, then your butter is ready to go.
it will last three weeks in the fridge and 6 months in the freezer.
use it on and in everything. it is a lot of effort and a very special product. but don't be precious with it. just make it again. The more you make it the easier it gets.
you will eat less butter in general as its a lot of effort, but love it even more. and the reason why butter cost so much will make more sense. the cost of a product becomes personally relevant, the true value of a slice of shortbread or buttery mashed potatoes. jacket potatoes and a piece of toast will never taste so good.
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