Chef Alex Harrell is known for his fresh and refined Southern cuisine that he serves up at his restaurant Angeline, in the French Quarter in New Orleans. He has shared a few recipes and projects with us which we will be publishing over the next few weeks. First up is the cultured butter they serve in house.
Ingredients:
2 ½ gallons heavy cream (high fat content)
2 cups buttermilk (local is best)
Instructions:
o In a glass or plastic container, combine heavy cream and the buttermilk. Cover the container with a cheese cloth and secure with rubber band.
o Leave the cream mixture at room temperature for two days. After two days, transfer to refrigerator and chill overnight (cultured cream needs to be cold before it can be whipped into butter).
To make butter:
o In a mixer fitted with whisk attachment, place six cups of the cultured cream into the bowl. Wrap the bowl in plastic wrap to prevent cream from splattering. Whip on high speed until it begins to break. When cream breaks, it will separate into butter and buttermilk.
o Once the butter has formed, strain the butter from the buttermilk using a colander lined with cheese cloth, making sure to wring all of the buttermilk from the butter. Reserve buttermilk for other uses.
o Rinse the butter well in ice water (this adds to the shelf-life of the butter).
o Season the butter with sea salt and pack in to containers for storage.
The butter will hold refrigerated for 7-10 days or frozen for several months.