What to do with buttermilk

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

jpinmaryland

Sous Chef
Joined
Sep 16, 2004
Messages
509
Got about a quart left over after making red velvet cake. What can I do with it? Other than coat food and fry it...
 
Got about a quart left over after making red velvet cake. What can I do with it? Other than coat food and fry it...

A QUART left over?!? How much did you start with?

I tend to use leftover buttermilk for pancakes.

Edit: With that much, I'd probably make ricotta.
 
Pancakes? The pancake recipe I use calls for soured milk (milk with a little vinegar, sit for 5 mins) but I assume you could use buttermilk too.
 
Pancakes? The pancake recipe I use calls for soured milk (milk with a little vinegar, sit for 5 mins) but I assume you could use buttermilk too.

The recipe actually calls for soured milk? How odd...
 
jet said:
The recipe actually calls for soured milk? How odd...

Any recipe that calls for soured milk is going to be an old one from back before all milk was pasteurized - unpasteurized milk will sour (bacteria would produce lactic acid giving the milk a tart flavor and thickening it a bit), pasteurized milk just spoils (the bacteria that caused souring is killed in the pasteurization process). Buttermilk has a similar flavor so many old recipes that have been updated now call for it instead of sour milk.

Buttermilk/sour milk does two things in a recipe: 1) gives a distinctive flavor, 2) acts as a tenderizer.

To simulate the old sour milk, or as a substitute for buttermilk, to 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar add enough room temperature sweet milk to make 1 cup - and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes to "sour".
 
Last edited:
actually I have 3 cups left as I started with a quart and used one cup for the velvet cake. WHich is basically a cake with red food coloring, cocoa powder, vinegar and baking soda. Odd.
 
Sweet ideas: Quick breads, muffins, cakes, cinnamon rolls, scones, irish soda bread, buttermilk pie.

Savory: Coleslaw, potato salad, salad dressings (as mentioned previously).
 
Sweet ideas: Quick breads, muffins, cakes, cinnamon rolls, scones, irish soda bread, buttermilk pie.

Savory: Coleslaw, potato salad, salad dressings (as mentioned previously).

Next time just e-mail merstar!
Buttermilk lasts a long time in a cold refrigerator.
Vagriller, you need to put some in your chili :w00t2:
 
I am one of those strange people who loves buttermilk to drink. And hey, did you know that buttermilk is not milk that has butter added to it. Traditionally, buttermilk was what was left in the churn after making butter, therefore, buttermilk is basically, non fat milk. When I was a kid, you could buy either “churned,” or “cultured,” buttermilk. Today, almost all buttermilk is cultured.

In future, if you are making something that calls for buttermilk and you don’t have any, just add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to your milk and it will curdle and you can use it in place of buttermilk.
 
One of my grandma's favorites suppers or late night snacks - a big ol' glass of buttermilk with a big hunk of cornbread crumbled up in it.
 
Back
Top Bottom