Homemade Butter! No Kidding!

You wonder who would bother to make their own butter. Well, it tastes better if you ask me. Also it is annoying to buy the whole block if all you need is just a little to go with your homemade white muffin or homemade whole-grain muffin. Or maybe you want to see if I am kidding you.

By the way, if you make your own Crème fraiche, you will have that heavy cream sitting around. Here is another way to use it besides whipping it up with sugar.

Ingredients:

• Very cold heavy cream (about 36-40% butterfat)
• A small, clean and sterilized jar

Directions:

1. Pour the cold heavy cream into the sterilized jar to about half way full.
2. Shake it like a mad man for 20 minutes. This can be done very quickly in a food processor as well.
3. The milk fat will solidify into a lump and separate from the whey.
4. Drain out the whey and keep the butter frozen or refrigerated. 

Notes:

• It is much easier and faster to do this in a food processor but, hey, this special recipe is for our uncluttered, simple life members.
• By the way, you can do this trick to impress someone, I hope.
• You can add herbs and spices into the heavy cream and shake out a flavored butter. 
• You can keep the leftover whey for baking recipes that call for buttermilk.

Homemade Crème Fraiche!

Ingredients: 

• 1 cups heavy whipping cream (at least 36-40% milk fat.)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cultured buttermilk (real buttermilk with a live culture in it.)

Directions:

1. Clean a jar thoroughly and sterilize it in boiling water for 10 min. Let it dry completely before using. 
2. Pour the heavy cream into the clean jar and add the buttermilk.
3. Mix together and cover with cheesecloth (I use twine to tie it up), a coffee filter or something breathable.
4. Leave it at a warm spot (about 70°F - 75°F) for 24 hours until thickened.
5. Keep refrigerated for 24 hours before using. It lasts about a week or two.

Notes:

• You can slightly warm the cream up first before mixing in the buttermilk to speed up the process. Basically the warmer it is, the faster the reaction is. 
• Unlike sour cream, the cream won't curdle and break when cooked.
• It's tart and tangy with a deeper flavor and a nutty note, better than sour cream.

How to Make Clarified Butter.

Clarified butter is a butter that has been melted and separated into butter fat, butter milk, and milk solids. The buttermilk and milk solids burn more easily (at about 300F and 150C) and are removed to produce the remaining clear butter fat that can tolerate higher heat (about 450F and 230C).

It could take a few hours to make clarified butter, just letting it simmer very gently on the stove. A few hours later, it will be separated into clear fat with the white foam on the top and the butter milk at the bottom.

Directions:

1. Cut the butter into cubes and place them in the saucepan. 
   
2. Melt the butter over a very low flame. It will foam, bubble, and it will start to separate into its components, with the milk solids floating on the top and the butter milk on the bottom.
3. Once the butter starts to separate, you can skim the milk solids off of the top and continue to cook it over a very slow, gentle low heat. As it continues to cook, it will separate even more.
4. Ultimately the butter will be almost clear and it is pure fat.
5. You can use the clarified butter for stir-fry or as a topping.

Note:

• Do not replace regular butter with clarified butter in your recipes unless it calls for it specifically. Since regular butter contains 16-17% water that has been removed from clarified butter, it's going to throw the proportions of your baking recipes off. 
• Ghee is not the same as clarified butter. It's often used in Indian dishes and is heated just a wee bit more on medium heat, until the milk solids are browned, giving the resulting fat a nutty flavor, richer aroma and a very high smoke point. (more)
• The butter milk and milk solids in regular butter start to burn above 250F-300F (about 150C). Clarified butter has a higher smoke point (around 450F and 230C) for high heat cooking. 

Homemade Mayonnaise - Cheaper and More Delicious!

The good thing about making your mayo is that you could use good high quality olive oil that is good for your health.

Ingredients (yield about 2 cups): 

• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil 
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice from half of a lemon
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon sugar
• pinch of black pepper

Directions:

1. Dump the egg yolks into a tall container, a mason jar, or the beaker that comes with the stick blender (immersion hand blender). Add lemon juice, white wine vinegar, salt, sugar, Dijon mustard into egg yolk. Top with a cup of olive oil and 1/2 cup vegetable oil. Let it settle for 10 second.
2. Stick the hand blender to the very bottom of the container or beaker. Start very gentle and slow and just pulse 5 second to begin with. Pulse slowly at 5 second intervals until you see the white thick cloudy emulsion starts to form from the bottom after the first 10 to 20 seconds. Then move the blender around to whip the whole thing into thick mayo.
3. Just a few second and voila! There you have your homemade mayonnaise.

Note:

• This recipe is on the tangy side. If you like a sweeter mayo, reduce the wine vinegar to 2 teaspoons. 
• You can also make it in the food processor following the same drill.