LoveTheJourney

Unfortunately, we had to come home from the beach. You see, I’d left my chef’s knife at home and seriously, people, I never knew I was the kind of person who had to have their creature comforts to cook. In fact, I get some sort of sick enjoyment out of making do with whatever’s in [...]

That question from reader Amory. The answer is no — however that’s good initiative! Fermentation always provides more complex flavor, especially where dairy is concerned. The problem with using sour cream in a mascarpone recipe is that bacteria will already have begun producing lactic acid before you heat your cream. That means that proteins in [...]

This is the ugliest, best thing I have ever made with three ingredients and the happy ending to three weeks of obsessing. And here you probably just thought it looked like an accident, didn’t you?

This plan hatched last month when Regina Schrambling declared on Epicurious’ Epi-Log that one of the best ways to eat summer [...]

So many responses to the sour cream post, mostly by people who seem to believe that full-fat sour cream is some sort of abomination. You know there was a time when people used to go on holidays to places like Wisconsin and Vermont just so they could have access to the ultra-rich (and fresh) products [...]

Reader Nora asks:
You say that fat is what thickens a fermented dairy product like sour cream, but yogurt is even thicker and has almost no fat. Can you explain that?

I can. (I think). But first I should clarify that fat isn’t the only thing that thickens sour cream. Both yogurt and sour cream are thickened [...]

I’ve always felt that “buttermilk” is a misleading term. It implies a richer form of ordinary milk, when in fact most buttermilk is about as rich as low-fat milk. That makes a lot of sense when you consider where buttermilk comes from, for it’s the liquid that’s leftover when fat (butter) is removed from cream. [...]

…won’t I just make more yogurt? That question from a few folks overnight. The answer is no. But why? Because yogurt cultures, like all fermenting cultures, are composed of scores of different types of microbes. Some grow better than others depending on things like temperature and humidity. The bacteria that create the stiff gels we [...]

Before we move on to the next project, I want to go on a little excursion into the world of dairy. The reason being that I’ve been getting a fair amount of mail the last several months about cream, sour cream, crème fraîche and buttermilk. Readers have wanted to know what the differences are between [...]

Cultured butter is now synonymous with European-style butter, however it was once common in the States, at least until the rise of “sweet cream” butter, which is the American standard now. The spread of sweet cream butter was based on a technological innovation: refrigeration. For it was refrigeration that made it possible to get milk [...]

Me and strawberries are going through the wringer this week. It started with a large, plank-like shortcake with cream cheese, sour cream and a buttered center. It was a dud, an all-caps level DUD. I should have known better than to try a recipe from a dubious source, and also to mess with a perfect [...]