Butter

Making butter has been on my to do list for some time now, ever since I saw Darina Allen’s piece in the Guardian about how easy it is to do. I knew that to make butter all you have to do is get some cream, whip it and then keep on whipping. And that really is all there is to it. Here is the process for making unsalted butter that worked for me*. I used smaller quantities than Darina which are a bit easier to handle- unsalted butter doesn't last longer in the fridge than a few days so you also need to think about how much of the stuff you're actually going to be able to consume. It's vital to keep all your equipment as cold and sterilised as possible.

*When I say it worked for me, I really should be crediting my sister Cescy, who took the lead on the butter production, and whose freezing skinny fingers you can see in the photos. Here she is doing some whisking in her coat:

1)      Put a large mixing bowl, your whisk attachments and a sieve into the fridge a couple of hours before you begin.

2)      Leave 1.2 litres of cream out of the fridge for a couple of hours as well.

3)      Pour the cream into the cold bowl and start whipping. After it has past the stage of looking like stiffly whipped cream, it starts to become more yellow and begins to look like pale scrambled egg. A faint sloshing sound starts to be heard as the buttermilk is released, becoming more audible until the whisk is clogged with thick globules of butter.

4)      When you feel you can whisk no more, pour the whole lot through the sieve with a bowl underneath to collect the buttermilk (this has its uses, particularly in making soda bread).

5)      Put the butter back into the bowl and whisk for a minute more to release even more buttermilk. Drain again.

6)      Fill the bowl with very cold water and squeeze the butter to release as much buttermilk as possible. Drain and repeat until the water in the bowl remains clear.

7)      With cold hands and as quickly as possible, form the butter into pats.

To make salted butter you need to seek out some dairy salt which is just a very pure type of salt. I have done some cursory googling but I’m afraid it doesn’t seem very easy to come by so I’m inclined to advise keeping homemade butter unsalted. But there are all kinds of flavours you can add to your butter – herbs, garlic, brandy – if you can bear to sully its pale beauty.