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To Malic Butter

A method for producing butter from milk using water, nitre, and sour cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,399 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

To Malic Butter

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the milk

  1. Strain milk into pans.

  2. Add 1 gallon of boiling water for every 6 gallons of milk.

  3. Dissolve 1 ounce of nitre in 1 pint of spring water.

  4. Add ¼ pint to every 15 gallons of milk.

  5. Reserve ¼ pint of sour cream in a scalded pot for the next batch.

  6. Skim milk in summer when the dairy is cool.

Let the cream rise

  1. Let it stand for 24 hours for butter, 48 hours in winter.

  2. Store cream in a cold cellar with good air circulation.

  3. If possible, place the churn in a cool area or in a tub of water for firmness.

Churn and work the butter

  1. Churn at least twice a week.

  2. If not daily, transfer to scalded fresh pots.

  3. After churning, pour off buttermilk.

  4. Transfer butter to a fresh scalded container.

  5. Add water to the butter.

  6. Let it sit to harden before working it.

  7. Change the water frequently.

  8. Beat the butter with flat boards until no buttermilk taste remains.

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

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Milk
Provides the cream that separates and is churned into butter.
Sour cream
Acts as a starter culture that sours the cream for the next batch.
Nitre
Acts as a preservative that slows spoilage of the milk and cream.

The step that matters

Let it sit to harden before working it. Butter that is too soft smears and traps buttermilk when worked. Chilling firms the fat so that buttermilk can be pressed out cleanly.

“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.

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