How to Use Buttermilk

After cream is churned to make butter, a milky liquid called buttermilk remains. If the fresh cream is chilled before churning, the buttermilk is considered to be sweet natural buttermilk. When the cream has been soured, by adding lactic-acid producing bacteria (which is called a starter), sour natural buttermilk is created. Adding a starter to pasteurized skim milk will create cultured buttermilk. Buttermilk has many culinary uses.

Things You'll Need

• Glass Mayonnaise Ranch seasoning Chicken Flour Oil Skillet Baking ingredients

Instructions

1. Pour ice cold buttermilk into a glass and drink up. Although the tart flavor of buttermilk is an acquired taste, it has long since been consumed as a beverage.

2. Mix buttermilk together with mayonnaise and seasonings to make ranch dressing. Original ranch dressing was made by blending equal amounts mayonnaise to buttermilk and adding a packet of ranch dressing mix.

3. Dip flour battered chicken in buttermilk. For extra crispy, southern fried chicken, dip clean, raw chicken pieces in flour, then buttermilk, then flour, before frying in hot oil.

4. Substitute buttermilk for milk or water in biscuit recipes to make buttermilk biscuits.

5. Use buttermilk as a recipe ingredient in baked goods, such as when making breads or muffins.

6. Substitute buttermilk for milk in recipes. Lower in calories and easier to digest than whole milk, buttermilk can usually be used when recipes call for milk.

References

• World Book (B), World Book Inc., 1989
• The Fannie Farmer Baking Book, Marion Cunningham, 1984
• Recipe Traditions, Bobbi Holmes, 2005