Quite a mouthful, huh? I love to host parties. My house is small (the living room is the size of most people’s kitchens) but I have a beautiful backyard and throw small, intimate parties filled with friends. I offered space at the last minute to the San Diego Reddit meetup, but the organizer was dismayed with the size of my house, and although it’s perfect for the size of party he wanted (I feel small spaces force people to talk and builds relationships), he opted to take the party elsewhere. I don’t begrudge him – not everyone can manage living in a small space. Our house is just the right size, though we certainly have growing pains once in a while.
We opted this year to throw a Yule party – Christmas is my birthday, and most people will be with their families. But on Yule, we can have traditional pagan celebrations and it’s all just silly fun. We’ll be picking up a large, dead pine tree that might otherwise just get thrown out to burn in the Viking tradition, a king’s pie (you give everyone some small pies, and one is filled with peas – they’re the king of festivities), caroling, and whatever else seems fun. Though, with the weather as it is, I’ll just be happy if it stops raining so we can light the fire!
So, that said, I’ve been planning the menu for our Yule, keeping in mind that my friend Melissa can’t have gluten or casein, and her husband is a vegetarian. My first observation is that, unless you’re a vegan, margarine just isn’t good enough for baking. The second is that goat butter is expensive, and margarine is not. But, goat milk is relatively inexpensive, so… make your own butter or ghee!
To make butter, you’ll want:
A standing mixer (or a small child who likes to shake mason jars.)
Heavy cream (sheep, goat, yak, etc). If you manage to get it raw (check local farmers) you can use just milk.
A pinch of salt
Using a whisk attachment on your mixer, whip the milk with salt for a long time. Go grab a book or watch TV, it’ll take a while. About 15-30 minutes later (dependent on the milk and how it was processed) you will have some thick, solid stuff – thick enough to hold shape alone – and a lot of liquid. The solid stuff is your butter. The liquid is real buttermilk – what’s sold in the store is cultured milk, and is more like butter-flavored yogurt. Save the liquid and use within 5 days. I’ve had the butter last two weeks when well sealed, but it tastes best when used within 3 days.
Now, let’s say you want to make ghee. Ghee is clarified goat’s butter, and sells at the store for a crazy amount (my jar was $5 and is maybe 1/2 cup!) but as it turns out, making clarified butter is very easy and delicious.
For clarified butter: Take a pan with flat sides (or you’ll hate life later, trust me) and fill it halfway with water. Drop your butter in, and turn on the heat. Never let the heat reach boiling – you just want to melt the butter. While it’s melting, stir regularly. Once fully melted, take it off the heat, and put it in the fridge or freezer on top of an oven mitt. I like to put it in the freezer for 15 minutes to pull the heat of the pan away, then put it in the fridge.
Once all the oil has risen to the top and formed a solid layer of ghee, pull it out of the fridge and with a butter knife, cut around the edges. The butter should pop right out. The water inside will look murky – heavy particles sunk to the bottom, while purer oil rose to the top. There may be some weird looking stuff on the bottom of your ghee – just scrape it off. You have ghee! It’s a purer butter than regular, and tastes great with anything relying on the taste of butter (like sugar cookies or Russian wedding cookies.)
Alternate Method (more likely to burn): On a low heat, melt butter alone in a small pan, uncovered. It will start bubbling as water is released. Continue on low heat for 15-20 minutes, until the bubbling stops and becomes a foam. Strain into a jar and allow to cool.
