And how did I make that fresh buttermilk? Oh, I was hoping that you would ask that question. Because you see, The Matriarch gave me a Butter Churn for Christmas. She said it was from Santa!! Apparently Santa is a very clever old bugger. He knew just what I needed.
A glorious old butter churn. On the label it reads ‘Guaranteed Highest Quality Elgin for the Modern DairyMan.’ Which is kind of strange as often the kids and women did the milking and almost always did the butter churning. But there you are. DairyMAN indeed. It should read Dairy Family. Elgin made this model in the 1920’s. But no matter how old, the gears are good, and back to work it goes, in the old fashioned Farmy Kitchen. 
So, as you can imagine I pounced on it, scattering wrapping paper in all directions, washed it, skimmed the cream off a jug of milk from the cow down the road, and between Our John and I, we cranked that thing until we got some butter. Because the cream was too cold it took a long time. I knew that, but I could not wait. 
I washed and patted the butter while talking trifle on the phone, with my sons in NZ, sluicing the buttermilk out. The Buttermilk was put aside for pancakes. Buttermilk is the left over milk. It is thin and slightly acidic. Not to be confused with Cultured Buttermilk which is slightly fermented milk. I will make some of that too.
So this morning John made pancakes using the home made butter, and a couple of fresh eggs that had miraculously appeared in the laying boxes, (Big day on the egg farm!) and the fresh buttermilk.
Johns Buttermilk Pancakes
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 1 3/4 cups fresh buttermilk
- 2 small eggs
- 3 tablespoons melted homemade butter
- Mix dry ingredients together. Make a well. Add mixed wet ingredients. And you know the rest.
- Mama the Sheep was doing so well yesterday morning that I did let her out into the field for a stroll. She shot out of the barn like a stallion out of the starting gate, took herself for a gallop and within seconds was limping again. So I called her back in to a bigger pen. She has more room but no room to run. She is standing in there now practicing baleful looks. The naughty girl. But she is standing on all four feet, so we are winning.
- The sun is rising, time for me to get busy.
The Kitchen's Garden 
88 responses to “Boxing Day Fresh Buttermilk Pancakes”
Sounds like hard work, but then you build up an appetite and the butter tastes even better.
John likes hard work Juliet (raucous laughter!).. c
Even though I haven’t stopped eating all day; I felt hungry when I saw the image of the buttermilk pancakes, they look yummy.
I know how you feel about the eating all day thing! I am at the groan stage.. c
My goodness what a fabulous gift. Luckily out at Muriwai we can buy our milk unpasturised straight from the farmer and double cream skimmed off the vat.
It is against the law in the US to buy or sell unpasteurised milk, so I cannot confirm whether my butter is unpasteurised or not. I am sure that when I start to milk Daisy it will be ok for me to consume my own unboiled milk. Probably best to check that though as it is very important not to break any silly rules! Don’t ya know!!! (snigger) c
My understanding is that it IS legal to drink unpasteurized milk from a cow that you own, and people in Vermont have been using that as a loophole to sell raw milk. Basically, instead of buying raw milk, the customers buy a share in the cow. The cost of their share is determined by the amount of milk they take. Since they own the cow, they can drink the milk. I don’t think the USDA was too happy about this practice, and they may have closed the loophole by now.
I think so too.. should be no prob, I mean this is why I am growing a cow! So I know where my milk comes from, well that and the cheese and butter! c
We make butter with my Pathfinder Club while sitting around a campfire. All we do is put some cream in a jar, add a glass marble, and shake it. When you get tired of shaking, pass it to the next person around the fire. After it’s been around a couple of times, we have our butter.
That is how we made it too, until the butter churn turned up, but without the marble and how great that would be to make around the campfire! I wish I had had a pathfinder club, you guys do great stuff.. c
i bet you made the syrup also, didn’t you? you are so handy!
NO, but i do insist on pure local maple syrup! c
OMG – I am having complete butter churn envy – what a fantastic Christmas present.
Love the look for John’s Buttermilk Pancakes too 🙂
Sue
Morning Sue, I really did well with this pressie.. c!
That butter looks so fresh and delicious!
That is exactly right Yummy.. c
Celi, I’ve been so busy that I’ve been giving your blog short shrift but now feel caught up with you and your animals. LOVE the breakout attempt narrative and pictures! I continue to be impressed by your can-do attitude and your very accessible writing. I know Christmas is complicated for you so I’m going to wish you Happy Boxing Day, and a very happy New Year.
You HAVE been busy, All those visitors, both those parties and no dishwasher! Not even a kitchen sink! Hope you have that sorted out soon. c
Wow you got a great toy. I had never seen a vintage butter churn like that. I only knew the wooden tubes that the Tibetans still use to make their tea, Have fun !
Now I want one of those too! Do they make butter in them as well? c
I suppose the nomads make their yak butter and their tea in the same churn. Otherwise, they seem to use a very big one to make the butter and a small one to prepare one pot of tea at a time. The object is very similar to a common European butter churn of 19th century.
Oh ok, you have so much info.. and I love that you share some if it with me.. thank you My.
Fresh butter! Lovely. We are lucky enough to be able to purchase Cabot Dairy butter at local markets…yum. I have never purchased margarine in 25 years.(wretched stuff).
You can now incorporate the churn into a New Year’s (get your arms fit) resolution. 😉
Tell Mama, I said to “slow her roll”…silly girl needs to rest.
I never liked marg.. even when it was in fashion. Great that you can get the good butter up there. They only just stock it here and the other day organic butter was cheaper than the regular butter! Mad. I will talk to Mama for you. c
I had a butter churn once (imagine, a city girl with a churn!) I was teaching Kindergarten and every year we’d make butter together. I still remember the complete different taste of that butter and how much nicer it was than the stuff we buy in cubes at the store. These pancakes would be taken to a whole other level with homemade buttermilk and butter…
They really were SO much better than the previous versions, you should have seen Johns eyes light up when he saw the butter milk.. Save That! he yelledas i began to feed it to the cats! c
Hahaha! I can just imagine…
Love the churn, and I bet those pancakes were the best ever. We had pancakes too on boxing day morning, and my nephew ate 2 frying pan sized ones and couldn’t move for the rest of the morning.
I came up with an interesting boxing day twist which was very popular, I made a patty out of leftover xmas pudding and fried this off in butter and sandwiched it between 2 pancakes, with caramel sauce and clotted cream, a real once a year treat.
Take care
Marcus
I still have left over xmas pudd. And that sounds decadent in the extreme! Once a year only Marcus!! c
All the butter churns I’ve seen have been made from metal. This is so much better where the cream can be seen, coagulating and weeping.
I would prefer to see it so that you know when it seperates. I have never seen a metal one but now I want one of those too! c
What a fun idea – making your own butter – love the bowl you put your butter in and John’s pancakes look and sound fantastic – now if I just had a butter churn and some farm fresh milk…
🙂 Mandy
I forget the name of that set of dishes, they are very 60’s in fact I should unwrap the others and use them to show food. That green is a toughie tho! c
Best. Present. Ever…
(I got antique canning jars. 😀 )
Beautiful photos, c!
I do hope you show us your jars when you have time! But until then, have fun on the floor with baby!! c