Buttermilk: from sour to sweet

A carton of buttermilk might have made for some rather lewd headlines recently (Google ‘Tesco buttermilk carton’ to find out why), but the mere fact that the ingredient is being sold in supermarkets at all shows that it’s back in vogue.

In fact, there seems to be buttermilk craze at the moment. Scan any typical menu and, invariably, there will be a dish containing buttermilk – savoury or sweet. Given its versatility, it’s not difficult to see why.

The sort of buttermilk typically seen on supermarket shelves today originated in the US in the 1920s. The advent of refrigeration meant naturally-occurring sour milk was becoming increasingly rare, so diaries began to ‘culture’ it themselves – using low-fat milk instead of butter, because it was more cost-effective but gave a similar result.

Today, however, traditional buttermilk – made from actual butter – is enjoying a revival, and is available from a number of small dairies, cheesemongers and delis.

Common usage​

As a food ingredient, buttermilk is most commonly used in ice creams and pancakes.

Mitchells & Butlers brand All Bar One has buttermilk pancakes with smoked back bacon and spinach on its new breakfast menu. Similarly, the Churchill Tavern, in Ramsgate, Kent, offers three American-style buttermilk pancakes w

ithcrispy bacon and maple syrup for £5.

It can also be used as a dressing on mains dishes, and works particularly well with fish and chicken.

Michelin chef Tom Sellers has included a cod, cabbage and buttermilk dish as one of five mains at the Lickfold Inn, in Petworth, West Sussex, which he is reopening this month.

Green King, meanwhile, has fried buttermilk chicken wings as a small plate option on its Local pubs menu (£3.75).

Pine dish​

At the Ten Bells pub in Spitalfields, London, the buttermilk chicken and pine salt dish – which is served on a bed of pine branches – is now a permanent fixture thanks to its popularity. The dish was created by Isaac McHale of the ‘Young Turks’ fame, who has since moved on to the Clove Club in Dalston.

Buttermilk dessert options are no less popular. Emily Watkins, chef/proprietor at the Kingham Plough, in Oxfordshire, included a buttermilk and blackberry sorbet in her winning Great British Menu​ dessert, which aired on BBC Two ​over the summer.

Her ‘Street Party’ dessert featured in a special banquet for D-Day veterans at St Paul’s Cathedral.