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.

Recipe LXXVIII - Spiced Pork Ribs

Supermarkets and food companies have one thing to thank for their success over the last 50 years - that the human being is inherently lazy. They know this, and that's what makes them able to control profits and sell you all kinds of stuff that you could easily make yourself. There are rows upon rows of ready-made foods: canned, packaged, frozen, even put in a bag for you and sold for a higher price than if you put it in your own bag. If you go to the meat counter, they'll even sell you a lump of meat with its own marinade. In Germany, this amounts to three flavours: brown flavour, orange flavour, or red flavour. Goodness knows what they taste like, but they're pretty distressing to lok at. I feel sorry for the poor animal who sacrificed its life only to find itself painted a gaudy luminous colour and sold for a ridiculous price.
For this healthy recipe, you need very little, and it's so cheap. For the same amount as the supermarket's price mark-up, you'll have enough of this stuff to last the rest of the year: and unlike its supermarket counterpart, it doesn't have a use-by date. Firstly, pay a visit to your local spice merchant - the local merchant deserves your business much, much more than any vast food wholesaler ever did.

Ingredients:
Pork ribs, however many you need
33% cumin
33% ground coriander
33% tandoori massala
2 onions
Carrots, potatoes and other veggies
1 freezer bag
You need no salt for this recipe, as the spices provide the savoury flavours for you.



Instructions:
Switch on the oven to a low temperature of 150°C and put some oil in a baking tray.
Take the spices and mix them well in a bowl. Put a proportionate amount in the freezer bag, take one of the pork pieces and slide it in, giving the bag a good shake.



Massage the spices into the meat until it is totally covered. This has a second effect, tenderising the meat.



Halve the onions and put them in the baking tray. Lay the meat on top of the oil and onions. Put it in the oven for a minimum of one hour.



You can add parboiled carrots and potatoes to the roast a little later on. For the last 10 minutes, turn up the heat to 180°C to give it a crisp finish.



Serve with steamed vegetables and a nice bottle of Gewürztraminer!