Skip to main content
Dessert

Butter

A homemade butter made by churning cream, washing the butter, pressing out water, and seasoning with salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
Jump to recipe ↓

Butter

Ingredients

Directions

Make the butter

  1. Put cream into a pint Mason jar and screw the cover down tightly.

  2. Shake the jar until lumps of fat appear.

  3. Scald a wooden spoon or butter paddle, then chill the wooden spoon or butter paddle.

  4. Gather the particles of butter into a ball.

Wash and season

  1. Work the butter with the wooden spoon under cold water to wash out the sour buttermilk.

  2. Put the butter into a bowl.

  3. Press out the water from the butter.

  4. Work the salt into the butter.

  5. Place the butter in a covered dish in a cool place.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Cream
Its fat globules clump together when shaken, forming the butter solids.
Salt
Adds flavour and helps preserve the finished butter.

The step that matters

Pressing out the water. Butter left holding water or buttermilk can spoil quickly and turn sour. Working out the liquid thoroughly helps the butter keep its texture and flavour.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like