Cooking with buttermilk

I’m not a big fan of drinking buttermilk, but I absolutely love using it for cooking. 

Because of its high acidity, buttermilk is ideal for baking. It’s absolutely not as sour as lemon juice or vinegar, but it does add a fresh flavor. It also helps with rising and makes baked goods moist and creamy.

A buttermilk marinade for meat or chicken makes the meat tender. Chicken breast normally doesn’t make it into my kitchen, but if you soak it in buttermilk for a while, it transforms from dry to wonderfully juicy.

Scones
Scones become deliciously flaky as soon as you incorporate buttermilk into the dough. Naturally, with a huge amount of clotted cream and jam.

Pancakes
American pancakes also become wonderfully light and flavorful. These buttermilk pancakes with blueberries are the ideal weekend breakfast.

Cake
This cake with raspberries is one of my favorites. It’s ready in no time and everyone loves it. The crunchy sugar topping is what makes it. The recipe calls for fresh raspberries, but frozen ones work perfectly well too.

Curry
Many Indian curries are made by marinating meat or chicken in yogurt, which has a similar effect. In this recipe, buttermilk is used, resulting in wonderfully tender chicken in this spicy curry.

Crispy chicken
My love for buttermilk blossomed with this recipe by Nigella Lawson for crispy chicken with a crust of panko, Parmesan, cayenne and thyme. They’re basically a kind of chicken nuggets for adults. The recipe says to marinate the chicken for 30 minutes, but I often do this a few hours in advance for extra-tender chicken.

Deep-frying
Deep-frying in a buttermilk batter gives food a delicious flavor and crispy coating. Momofuku’s buttermilk fried chicken has been my go to for years whenever I crave fried chicken. And onion rings suddenly become even more delicious when you dip them in buttermilk between dredging them in flour.

Dressing
It’s also ideal for a fresh, creamy dressing for salads, such as this recipe from New York Times Cooking.

Cookbook
Have you caught the buttermilk bug? The Animal Farm Buttermilk Cookbook by Diane St Clair is packed with 100 recipes in which this ingredient takes center stage.