Re: Subject: [CH] cornbread - buttermilk substitute?

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Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 10:58:09 +1300
From: stevet@terabyte.co.nz (Steve Taylor)
Subject: [CH] cornbread - buttermilk substitute?

Help, can anyone recomend an alternative to buttermilk.
 I have been having a hel of a lot of trouble finding it here in New
Zealand.

Thanks in advance   -Steve

I paraphrase from page 485, Joy of Cooking, 1961 edition.
[Also, there is more info on pp486-7
on various thicknesses of yogurt and sour cream.]

Buttermilk
Originally this was the residue from the butter churn.
Today it is made from pasteurized skim milk.
Buttermilk has a higher amount of lactic acid than skim milk.
Its protein precipitate is in the form of a fine curd,
which makes it more quickly (easily) digested than skim milk.

You can make it by warming 1 quart of skim milk to 70-80F,
and adding 1/8 tsp. salt & 1/2 cup 70F buttermilk
and letting it curdle at 70F. Big damn help, that.

However,

Sour Milk
This is whole (or skim) milk
that is allowed to sour naturally
(covered, at 70F).
It is made from UNPASTEURIZED or UNSCALDED milk:
pasteurized or scalded milk will NOT SOUR, but will SIMPLY SPOIL.

This is the way my grandmother used to make it;
she called it "clabbered milk"
and after chilling it well, drank it.

Clabbered milk can be subsituted for buttermilk in cooking.
When she wanted extra richness for her baking,
she would stir a small amount, about 1:4 by volume,
of fresh cream into the clabbered milk.

So, try the plain and the enriched "clabbered" milk.

Art

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