One morning at the Cookery School, one of the students was whipping cream for pudding. She left it to whip merrily in the food mixer while she went off to put the finishing touches to the rest of her meal. Suddenly there was a sloshing sound. The cream had overwhipped and she was astonished to see what was essentially butter and whey in the bowl. She was just about to dump it when I came around the corner, and just managed to save it before it went into the hens' bucket. I gathered the other students around and showed them the miracle of how cream turns into butter. Their amazement and delight made me realise that over half the group didn't know that butter comes from cream, or how easy it is to make butter at home without any special equipment. This is definitely a forgotten skill.
When I was a child, butter was part of everyday life on dairy farms, and I learned the simple art of making it from my great-aunt Lil, who lived in County Tipperary. Every farm had a churn, but you don't need a churn or any specific equipment to make butter; in fact, if you over-whip cream, like my student did, you can quite easily make butter by accident. (I've done it on many occasions!) Then all you have to do is drain and wash it several times, knead it until the water runs clear, and then add some salt to preserve it. A food mixer is an advantage, though not essential. You can also turn cream to butter by shaking the cream in a jam jar, though it begins to be hard work.
I'm very fortunate to live in a country renowned for its wonderful butter. In Ireland we grow grass like nowhere else in the world, because our climate is ideal for it – all that lovely soft rain. The Cork Butter Market, which opened in the 1770s and continued to trade for 150 years, was the biggest in the world and exported Irish butter as far as the Caribbean. The butter was packed in hardwood casks called firkins and brought by horsedrawn cart from Kerry and West Cork which are still known today as butter roads.
Originally home buttermakers didn't understand the science of buttermaking, but were well aware that it sometimes inexplicably could go wrong, so many piseogs (superstitions) prevailed. Butter luck required following all sorts of rituals, like placing a horseshoe below the churn or sprinkling primroses on the threshold of the churning room, though only if they'd been picked before sunrise. In County Mayo, using a dead man's hand to stir the churn was highly recommended!
Nowadays, butter has to compete with a bewildering variety of spreads. I prefer good, honest butter. We know where it comes from and it has no additives, nor does it require any complicated processing.
Butter stamps
Butter stamps were a traditional way of marking butter. People often used a flower or plant motif etched into a wooden stamp. They would dip the stamp in cold water then press it onto little butter pats to make their butter completely unique.
Making butter
You don't absolutely need butter bats to make butter, but they do make it much easier to shape the butter into blocks. They're more widely available than you might think, considering buttermaking is certainly an alternative enterprise, but keep an eye out in antique shops and if you find some, snap them up. A good pair will bring you butter luck.
Unsalted butter should be eaten within a few days, but the addition of salt will preserve it for two to three weeks. Also, you can make butter with any quantity of cream but the amount used in the recipe below will keep you going for a week or so and give you enough to share with friends (though not in my house!).
Remember, sunlight taints butter (and milk) in a short time, so if you are serving butter outdoors, keep it covered.
Makes about 1kg (2¼lb) butter and 1 litre (1¾ pints) buttermilk
2.4 litres (4 pints) unpasteurised or pasteurised double cream at room temperature
2 teaspoons dairy salt (optional)
Pair of butter bats (also called 'butter hands')
Soak the wooden butter bats or hands in iced water for about 30 minutes so they do not stick to the butter.
Pour the double cream into a cold, sterilised mixing bowl. If it's hom*ogenised, it will still whip, but not as well. If you're using raw cream and want a more traditional taste, leave it to ripen in a cool place, where the temperature is about 8°C (46°F), for up to 48 hours.
Whisk the cream at a medium speed in a food mixer until it is thick. First it will be softly whipped, then stiffly whipped. Continue until the whipped cream collapses and separates into butterfat globules. The buttermilk will separate from the butter and slosh around the bowl.
Turn the mixture into a cold, spotlessly clean sieve and drain well. The butter remains in the sieve while the buttermilk drains into the bowl. The buttermilk can be used to make soda bread or as a thirst-quenching drink (it will not taste sour). Put the butter back into a clean bowl and beat with the whisk for a further 30 seconds to 1 minute to expel more buttermilk. Remove and sieve as before.
Fill the bowl containing the butter with very cold water. Use the butter bats or your clean hands to knead the butter to force out as much buttermilk as possible. This is important, as any buttermilk left in the butter will sour and the butter will go off quickly. If you handle the butter too much with warm hands, it will liquefy.
Drain the water, cover and wash twice more, until the water is totally clear.
Weigh the butter into 110g (4oz), 225g (8oz) or 450g (1lb) slabs. Pat into shape with the wet butter hands or bats. Make sure the butter hands or bats have been soaked in ice-cold water for at least 30 minutes before using to stop the butter sticking to the ridges. Wrap in greaseproof or waxed paper and keep chilled in a fridge. The butter also freezes well.
Variations
Salted butter
If you wish to add salt you will need ¼ teaspoon of plain dairy salt for every 110g (4oz) of butter. Before shaping the butter, spread it out in a thin layer and sprinkle evenly with dairy salt. Mix thoroughly using the butter pats, then weigh into slabs as before.
Spreadable butter
I much prefer unadulterated butter, rather than butters with additives that change the texture. So if you want to be able to spread butter easily, simply leave it out of the fridge for a few hours in a covered container.
Butter balls or 'pats'
This is a traditional way of serving butter for the table and at Ballymaloe House, staff members make butter balls every day and butter is still served in this way. Put the butter bats or hands into a deep container of iced water for about 30 minutes. Cut the cold butter into dice. Pick up a piece with the butter bats. Hold one bat flat with the ridged side upwards and the knob of butter on top, then roll the other bat around over the butter to form a ball. Drop each into a bowl of iced water.
Clarified butter
Clarified butter is excellent for cooking because it can withstand a higher temperature when the salt and milk particles are removed. Butter starts to burn at 177°C (350°F), whereas clarified butter can withstand temperatures of up to 252°C (485°F). Use clarified butter for recipes where you want the flavour of butter without the risk of burning, like in a French omelette, when cooking fish à la meunière, frying eggs and so on.
To make clarified butter, melt butter gently in a saucepan or in a Pyrex measure in a very low oven, at 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2. Leave it to stand for a few minutes, then spoon the crusty white layer of salt particles off the top. Underneath this crust there will be a clear liquid butter – the clarified butter. The milky liquid at the bottom can be used in a white sauce.
Ghee
Ghee is clarified butter from India, usually slightly soured and made from either cow's or water buffalo's milk. It cooks longer, hence it keeps longer, and has a lovely nutty flavour.
To make ghee, melt butter in a heavy-based saucepan over a gentle heat for about 45–60 minutes, by which time the sediment will have settled on the bottom of the pan. Strain through a cheesecloth into a sterilised tin or jar, cover and store in a fridge.
Maitre d'hotel butter
This is one of the oldest classic flavoured butters, I remember it as a child at the Clarence Hotel in Dublin. People add all kinds of ingredients to butter nowadays, but originally it was served this way. It is good served with a piece of pan-grilled fish or steak.
110g (4oz) butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice
Cream the butter, then add in the parsley and a few drops of lemon juice at a time.
Roll into butter pats or form into a roll and wrap in greaseproof paper or tin foil, screwing each end so that it looks like a cracker. Refrigerate to harden.
Variations
Watercress butter
Substitute watercress for parsley in the above recipe. Serve with Pan-Grilled Fish using 8 x 175g (6oz) fresh john dory fillets.
Wild garlic butter
Substitute wild garlic for the parsley in the recipe above. Serve with pan-grilled fish or meat.
Fresh herb butter
Substitute a mixture of chopped fresh herbs, e.g. parsley, chives, thyme, fennel or another herb for the parsley. Serve with pangrilled fish.
Mint or rosemary butter
Substitute 2 tablespoons of finely chopped mint or 1–2 tablespoons of rosemary for the parsley and serve with pan-grilled lamb chops.
Dill or fennel butter
Substitute dill or fennel for the parsley. Serve with fish.
Mustard and parsley butter
Add 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard to the basic recipe. Serve with herrings.
Nasturtium butter
Substitute 3 tablespoons of chopped nasturtium flowers (red, yellow and orange) for the parsley. Serve with pan-grilled fish.
Garlic butter
Add 3–5 cloves of crushed garlic. Slather over bruschetta or toast. Also great with pan-grilled fish, meat or vegetables.
Anchovy butter
Add six anchovy fillets and mash them in. Serve with pan-grilled fish or fresh radishes.
Brandy or rum butter
If you have a food-processor, use it for this recipe and you will get a wonderfully light and fluffy butter.
75g (3oz) unsalted butter
75g (3oz) icing sugar
2 tablespoons brandy or Jamaican rum, or more to taste
Cream the butter until it is very light. Add the icing sugar and beat again. Then beat in the brandy or rum, drop by drop. Serve with plum pudding or mince pies.
