Help! Buttermilk replacement

Easy: put 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in a measuring cup. Fill with regular milk. Bingo! If you need a lot more, just figure 1 tablespoon (30 ml) lemon juice per cup (240 ml) of milk.

I've frequently done the same thing when baking a cake that calls for buttermilk and I don't want to buy buttermilk when all I need is a small amount. I have always used regular milk. The milk will curdle to some degree but not much if you don't use too much lemon juice.

Yep, acid and milk. You could probably order powdered buttermilk too. Saco is the only maker I know of but I keep some of that on hand for pancakes, biscuits and that sort of thing.

Phil

yoghurt works well too

If butter is made in your region, buttermilk can probably be found. If butter is not made, allow me to provide the right terms just in case. It's called leche agria or suero de la leche in some places. In this case it's the suero that does NOT come from making cheese (which is "whey," in English.)

The method Suzanne suggested is called "clabbering." The one that follows is called "culturing."

Add 250ml of crema agria per L of regular milk, and allow to sit on the counter for 4 hours before returning to the refrigerator overnight. Depending on what country you're in, crema fresa may also work. If you like, you can simply thin crema agria with an equal volume of milk and use that.

BDL

I've used a recipe for muffins that calls for either buttermilk or milk with 1 TBSP lemon juice per cup of regular milk.

I've used both, and they work equally well.

Mike

With biscuits it's a matter of the acidity both for tang and to get the baking powder (and/or soda) started. The taste and textural differences between cultured, "churned" and clabbered (curdled with acid) just don't enter into it. With chicken, it can be a bit more complicated.

Also, the acidulation doesn't have to be by lemon juice, but can be by vinegar, or lime juice if those are more convenient. I actually prefer lime for the taste.

BDL

To add to BDL last comment:

The acidulated milk alternative to buttermilk works fine in baking where the tang (and possible reaction to baking powder) are the desired effects. With fried chicken, eh, not so much. Buttermilk (and I could go on a tangent about "grocery store buttermilk"--I used to sling pancakes after all, but I won't. Just yet) when working with meats is all about the culture. I suspect that your fried chicken will involve a buttermilk marinade. The beauty of this method is that the buttermilk does several fancy "cooky" type things all at once.

1) Marinade (duh). The culture in the buttermilk will affect the meat in the ways that oil/spice/acid marinades would. That is help 'soften" or tenderize the meat by breaking its protein structure down (yes, I know, not the best way to describe it but we prep'd a wedding tonight and exhaustion trumps accuracy). It will also flavour the meat as any marinade would--however that flavour is a neutral "tang." Which, when frying, is exactly what you what to play against the fat and crunch.

2) Degourge (or milk): Buttermilk is still milk and will degourge your meat, that is draw out "nasty juices" and "bleach" your protein. Just like we do with liver, as an example. It may not seem like a big deal but it really helps the look of the final product (brilliant white meat against the golden crust, no red bits that make you second guess your timing).

3) Binding. The viscosity of buttermilk ( I suspect) is what is going to hold your breading to the chicken. You use buttermilk, you don't need eggs. Milk and lemon juice won't help you at all in this department. And really, this is AMERICAN FRIED CHICKEN, right? Not Tempura. Save the eggs for the potato salad.

Right, got that off of my chest. As stated before, if you really can't get buttermilk use yoghurt, thought you might have to thin it out. And please use an active culture yoghurt.

--Al

Unfortunately that's not always true. Italy produces plenty of butter (though i think it's usually considered a sideline of cheese production, and tastes accordingly), but buttermilk is almost completely unknown. About 5 years ago, a local health food store started importing it from germany. It's wonderful and has changed my baking. (I did try using buttermilk in the states in some pancakes once and was really disappointed - wasn;t as good. but maybe the one i get here is a special organic, grass-fed-free-range something or other)

Until then i used yoghurt for everything calling for buttermilk. It wasn;t as good, but did the job in tenderising the dough and activating the soda.

Is there any reason southern fried chicken with yoghurt wouldn't work? I often do a coating for fried stuff based on (usually thick) yoghurt, and everything comes out great- chicken pieces or eggplant or cauliflower... (eggplant is amazing, it gets creamy inside and crispy outside)

If you are using the acid/milk substitute for buttermilk, be sure to allow it to stand at room temp for about 10 minutes, to allow the mixture to set up. By the way, while lemon juice is the usual acid, white vinegar may also be used. Just use about half as much vinegar as you would use of the lemon juice.

 

Thanks for your remedy for buttermilk.
Tlj Victoria B.C.