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How to make butter and buttermilk

MAKES ABOUT 225G (8OZ) BUTTER

If you’ve ever over-whipped cream, you’ve been on your way to making butter. We make butter every day at the Ballymaloe cookery school and people are often really surprised at how easy it is. You can flavour it how you like, too – with herbs, spices or seaweed.

1 litre (1¾ pints) regular or double cream

2 pinches of sea salt, or dairy salt (if you can get it)

your favourite flavourings – chopped herbs, garlic, dried seaweed, icing sugar or spices (optional)

1. Pour the cream into the bowl of a food mixer and, using the whisk, whip the cream for 5–10 minutes on a medium-high speed (but not so high that it splashes everywhere) until it starts to split (as if you’ve over-beaten it). Continue to beat until the yellow fat separates from the buttermilk (you can use this buttermilk for baking). It will look completely scrambled.

2. Sit a sieve over a large, clean bowl. Place a double layer of muslin in the sieve – you’ll need it to be larger than the sieve as you want to be able to gather up the edges – then pour the contents of the food mixer bowl into it. With the muslin still in the sieve, bring up the edges and squeeze really hard to remove all the buttermilk. When all the buttermilk has been squeezed out, place the butter that remains in the muslin in a bowl and wash well in cold water, squeezing it well to remove every last bit of buttermilk. If you don’t do this the butter will go rancid after a couple of days.

3. Now pat the butter dry with kitchen paper, put it into a bowl and mix in the salt and any other flavourings you like, such as chopped herbs, garlic, dried seaweed, or even icing sugar and spice for melting over pancakes.

4. Shape the butter into a sausage shape by rolling it up in baking parchment, or into a rectangle, or whatever shape you like. You can also place it in a mould that you’ve lined with muslin, if you have one. When you’re happy with the flavour and the shape of your butter, place it in the fridge until needed. It will keep for 10–12 days if you’ve washed it free of all the buttermilk.