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Wednesday 24 July 2013

Recipe CIII - Cooking with Churned Butter

Churned butter (or beurre de baratte) is very, very easy to make, and it's healthier because the carcinogens found in ordinary butter are not present. You bring some very thick cream to a little under room temperature and put it in the mixer. After a little magic with some salt and ice, you'll have churned butter. I buy mine from a French delicatessen in Luxembourg, but in the end doing it at home is more satisfying and there are plenty of recipes for making it on this marvellous informative behemoth we call the Internet. Today I am going to make three things using churned butter and show you how it can enhance your cooking.

Ingredients:

2 spoonfuls of slightly melted churned butter or beurre de baratte
Some pork ribs
Salt and freshly milled pepper


A tablespoonful of churned butter
Some corn on the cob
2 cloves of garlic
Some fresh or dried herbs (I had to use dried because my fresh herbs have been suffering in the heat)
A pinch of chili powder
Some sheets of tin foil and a fork


A tablespoonful of churned butter
Some cream
Some boiled potatoes

Instructions:
Put some of the butter in a roasting tin. Take your pork ribs and spread some softened butter on the outside of the meat. Then sprinkle some crushed pepper over the top. Put it in the oven on a medium temperature (170°C) for about an hour, turning up the heat for the last 5 to 10 minutes to crisp the meat up.

Put the butter and all ingredients into a small pot and crush thoroughly until they form a consistent mix.
Take some silver tin foil and cut it to the size needed to wrap one cob of corn. In the middle where the cob will be placed, spread the butter mix so when you put the cob on it, the total outside will be covered with the butter. Wrap it up and put it in the oven too, for about 20 to 30 minutes. 


Peel and cut up some starchy potatoes, boil them in salted water and once thoroughly cooked, drain the water and add some churned butter and a small pot of cream. Mash well and serve as the bed for the pork.

Remove the pork and the corn from the oven and serve immediately.


Using churned butter enhances the flavour too. It makes everything taste that little more complete and provides some excellent flavour of its own to all meals. With your own input you can also use it as a dip or a spread.