Cook’s Notebook: Soured milk good alternative for buttermilk

Spokesman-Review subscriber Karen Ranlett posed an interesting question. She knew that milk soured with vinegar could be substituted for buttermilk in baked goods. Could it also be used in fried chicken or ranch dressing?

For answers I turned to the experts at Cooks Illustrated. A search of their Web site revealed several articles about buttermilk and its substitutes. There, I learned several things.

1. These days, buttermilk isn’t really buttermilk, meaning it isn’t the watery byproduct of butter-making. It actually is pasteurized milk treated with bacteria to give it that signature viscosity and tang.

2. Powdered buttermilk is another acceptable substitute for the real deal in baking.

3. Frozen buttermilk can be defrosted and used in baked goods and waffles or pancakes. For dressings, it’s best to take the defrosted buttermilk for a whirl in the blender first. Apparently, the whey separates during defrosting, but is easily reconstituted in the blender.

In the issue that arrived in my mailbox this past weekend, the editors tackled the question of whether plain yogurt could be used instead of buttermilk. Their results? Yes, it can, for baked goods, provided it is thinned with a bit of whole milk. Their test using yogurt in mashed potatoes left them cold. “For savory recipes,” they wrote, “stick with the real thing.”

However, there was little I could find about using soured, or clabbered, milk in nonbaking applications. So, I set up my own test kitchen.

First, I soured some milk, using a ratio of one tablespoon vinegar, lemon juice or cream of tartar per cup of milk. After adding the vinegar, I let the milk sit at room temperature for 10 minutes, to curdle. I made two versions of the Cook’s Illustrated ranch dressing, from the “American Classics” cookbook. I then served them to my friends as a veggie dip.

The results? Promising. While my friends were able to identify which dressing didn’t have buttermilk – it lacked that distinctive tang – it was pretty tasty anyway. The differences between the two were slight enough that many people likely won’t notice.

This, of course, may depend on the recipe. The “American Classics” ranch dressing has only 1/4 cup of buttermilk to begin with, along with 1/4 cup mayo and 2 tablespoons sour cream. It’s pretty thick. If your recipe has a higher percentage of buttermilk – and fewer thickening agents such as mayonnaise and sour cream – you may run into trouble. Soured milk is thinner than buttermilk, and depending on how much you use, it may leave you with a runny ranch. In that case, a little sour cream, plain yogurt or mayonnaise might save the day.

For test number two, I soaked chicken in buttermilk and soured milk and fried ‘em up. Honestly, my family couldn’t taste the difference between the two. Both were moist. Both seemed well-seasoned. Both had a crispy coating. What more could one want from fried chicken?

In the end, I think Ranlett is safe using soured milk. While it’s easy to keep buttermilk on hand in the freezer, it’s also easy not to. In the end, it comes down to whatever works best for you in your own kitchen.

Ranch Dressing

From “American Classics”

1/2 small clove garlic, peeled

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 small red bell pepper, minced (about 1 tablespoon)

1 medium scallion, white and green parts, minced

1 small shallot, minced (about 1/2 tablespoon)

1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley leaves

1/2 teaspoons minced fresh cilantro leaves

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Pinch ground black pepper

1/4 cup buttermilk (see note)

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons sour cream

Roughly chop the garlic, then sprinkle it with the salt. With a chef’s knife, turn the garlic and salt into a smooth paste.

Mix the garlic paste, bell pepper, scallion, shallot, parsley, cilantro, lemon juice and black pepper together in a medium bowl. Add the buttermilk, mayonnaise and sour cream and whisk until smooth.

(The dressing can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days.)

Note: Substitute 1/4 cup milk soured with 1/4 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice. Allow milk mixture to curdle at room temperature for about 10 minutes.

Yield: About 3/4 cup dressing, enough for six servings of salad greens.