Description

Cultured butter is made using creme fraiche, which is fresh cream fermented with cultures – in a similar way to yoghurt. It lends the butter a slight tang. You can use fresh cream just as well, but in that case the butter will have a more sweet, creamy flavour. Both are prepared the same way. Our metod: While we used a stick blender’s whisk attachment to churn our butter in minutes, my Mum mentioned the more traditional method of… shaking cream in a jar until there was a distinct “sloshing and thudding” sound — the point at which the fat solids had separated from the whey. Yield: 200ml creme fraiche makes around 100g cultured butter. Storage: wrap butter in cling film or wax paper and store in the fridge in accordance with your cream’s use by date. Otherwise, you can freeze the log and cut chunks off as needed.

Ingredients

Scale

For Cultured Butter:

200ml creme fraiche

For Vanilla Bean Butter:

seeds from 1 vanilla stalk or ¼ teaspoon vanilla powder or vanilla bean paste

For Garlic and Herb Butter:

1 teaspoon freshly crushed garlic
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon fresh chives
4 basil leaves, finely chopped
½ teaspoon Italian herb mix

For Cafe de Paris Butter

3 tsp light tasting olive oil
¼ small brown onion, finely diced
10g Indian style curry powder
125g unsalted butter, softened
1 small handful parsley leaves
1 clove garlic, crushed
Juice of ½ lemon
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 anchovy fillets
½ tsp baby capers, rinsed
½ tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground pepper
1 small handful basil leaves
1 small handful thyme sprigs, leaves only
½ tsp ground ginger
1 egg yolk

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Instructions

To make Cultured Butter:

Place creme fraiche into a 2-cup capacity jug or bowl and whisk using an electric mixer or a stick blender with a whisk attachment for 2-3 minutes. As you’re processing, the cream will first resemble whipped cream in consistency. Continue whisking until you hear a “sloshing” sound and the fat solids begin to separate from the whey. Continue to work the butter for another minute.
Transfer butter and whey into a cheesecloth-lined sieve placed over another bowl. Wrap into a ball and squeeze out the whey – you can use the whey to add to smoothies or use in baking. Add flavourings of choice and mix well.
Wrap the butter tightly in a sheet of cling film or wax paper and store in the fridge or freezer.

To make Cafe de Paris Butter:

Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the onion and curry powder over low heat until soft and fragrant. Set aside to cool.
Place cooled cooked onion and all remaining ingredients in a food processor or a chopping attachment of your sick blender and process until well combined and majority of the herbs have been blended into the butter. Adjust the seasoning if necessary.
Roll Cafe de Paris Butter into a 2 inch diameter log, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm. Any unused butter can be frozen if it is not going to be used within a week or so.

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Category: Condiment