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Baking

To Make Butter

A method for producing butter from milk and optional ingredients.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 Make Butter

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cream

  1. Skim the milk when the sun has not heated the dairy.

  2. Let the milk stand for 24 hours in summer and 48 hours in winter.

  3. Place the cream pot in a very cold cellar with good air circulation.

Churn

  1. Churn the cream at least twice a week.

  2. If unable to churn daily, transfer the cream to scalded fresh pots.

  3. Churn in a cool environment or in a tub of water two feet deep for firmness.

  4. Once butter forms, pour off the buttermilk.

Wash and shape

  1. Transfer the butter to a fresh scalded pan.

  2. Pour water over the butter.

  3. Let it sit to harden before working it.

  4. Change the water frequently.

  5. Beat the butter with flat boards until clear of buttermilk.

  6. Work in salt.

  7. Weigh the butter.

  8. Shape the butter.

  9. Place it in cold water.

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
Forms the cream that is churned into butter; its fat separates out as the cream is agitated.
Cream
Supplies the butterfat that clumps into solid butter when churned.
Coarse sea salt
Adds flavour and helps preserve the finished butter.

The step that matters

Beat out the buttermilk. Buttermilk left in the butter is rich in milk solids that break down and spoil flavour and shelf life. Thorough washing and working with cold water removes it, and cold water keeps the fat firm enough to handle.

“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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