Dairy Discoveries

I remember the day I thought my Grandma (the cook) was losing her mind.  She bought a yogurt maker.  After her first batch, she put it on a shelf and never used it again.  Why?  Because "milk just isn't what it's supposed to be."  Boy, was I confused.  I remained confused about that day until recently, when a friend introduced me to the culinary wonder that is raw milk.  If you don't know, raw milk is milk that is "sraight from the cow" - unpasteurized, unhomogenized, totally un-messed-with.  Lovely stuff.  So I did what any self-respecting farm wife would have done a century ago:  I made butter.  I also made yogurt, and have used the milk in two of my favorite bread recipes with stellar results.  Son-of-a-gun, Grandma wasn't losing it after all.  Milk really wasn't what it had been when she was growing up on the farm...what it was "supposed to be."  What a great discovery!

I'm very fortunate to have some wonderful friends who generously share their knowledge of traditional kitchen practices.  We also have German Baptist and Amish communities nearby, and many of those families are also using the same techniques and recipes they have used for generations, and they are happy to share them to keep the traditions of "real" food alive and growing.

So, about that butter...

I siphoned the cream off the top of the milk with a turkey baster, put it in a jar, and let it sit out on the counter overnight (12 hours or so.)  The next day, I poured it into the bowl of the Kitchen Aid mixer, put on the whisk attachment, and let 'er rip.  I found out that milk flies.  So I made a makeshift tent out of aluminum foil and put it over the top of the mixer and the bowl.  Much better.  About half-an-hour later, I had whipped butter in my  bowl!  I strained the butter through a fine sieve to separate the buttermilk, then chilled it.  It made its debut on the dinner table with baked potatoes the next day to enthusiastic praise.  I think that counts as a success story!