Search Feature

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Cold Smoking and Canning Butter

 


I loaded up my smokehouse with a few things....mainly because I was out of stuff! I've been cold smoking butter but go through it so fast, I decided to can some to have on hand.

I went with 5 pounds of salted butter and 5 pounds of unsalted. Blending the two gives the butter a smoother texture than 100% salted. imo


Made my usual blend of coarse salt, cracked black pepper and garlic.. also a pan of the same with onion powder added..


Into the smokehouse with a few blocks of pepperjack and mozzarella cheese..




I let the butter smoke for about 2 hrs and kept the smoke around 65F degrees and below. 

Used a blend of light woods.




Removed the butter and let the cheese and salt blends go for another 4 hours..

I stir the salts every 30 minutes or so.


I chilled the smoked butter overnight...
.


Wrapped the cheese and it was ready to eat.


I jar up the smoked salt blends and they are ready to use..


The next day I slowly melted the smoked butter. It tasted amazing.... 


Skimmed off a bit of the foam, but reserved it for a later treat..





You have the option to keep skimming the foam and removing the solids that settle on the bottom to make clarified butter or ghee. I prefer not to. I like the flavor of whole smoked butter better.

I fill the hot sterilized jars with the smoked butter... being sure to stir the pot often before dipping, to keep the solids from sinking to the bottom of the pot. 


I wipe the rims of the jars with a cloth dipped in white vinegar before topping with lids and rings..
vinegar cuts through the fat well. 

Make sure the rim is clean or the lid won't seal. 



Into the pressure canner for 60 minutes at 12lbs of pressure. I used half pints. The pounds of pressure will be different for everyone. Check the instructions on your canner for your altitude. 





Let the jars cool on the counter. 

As the butter cools... I give the jars a shake every so often,  to redistribute the solids. By the time they are cool, the butter is blended and ready to eat. 





I should have made more. It's going fast!!

I've used the smoked butter on popcorn..


I use the smoked butter on my "dippin'" toast for cloud eggs... or any eggs. lol




Made a blonde, smoked butter roux for my crawfish etouffee... it was sooooo tasty. 




Smoked butter topped sous vide tri tip!




Scallops, seared in smoked butter...


The uses are endless! I will be making more soon, this time I will put the butter in larger jars. Half pints go fast!

Hope everyone is staying safe, healthy and happy!

 Things are normal here. Living in the middle of nowhere has it's perks. lol  The critters are doing great. I have garden plants started and will be moving them outside in a few weeks. The pastures are showing a hint of green, I saw a couple of robins bobbing around the yard. Spring has arrived!

Thanks for stopping by! 



14 comments:

Rob said...

It's good to see you back, and the popcorn with the smoked butter sounds like a winner!

I little jar is 1/2 cup?

2 Tramps said...

Wow, does that all look good! Never thought of smoking butter - it sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing and good to see you back again.

Coltaine said...

Welcome back Cowgirl! Been reading your blog for years. Amazing as always.

cowgirl said...

Great to see you Rob! Hope life is treatin' you well!
That smoked butter popcorn is easy to go through. lol I eat a bowl for supper sometimes.
The small jars are about 1 cup each. I will use full pint jars next time!
Thanks for stopping by! :)

cowgirl said...

Thanks so much 2 Tramps! Good to see ya!
I hope you give smoked butter a try sometime. Mild woods work best for me. It doesn't take much smoke at all.
Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it! :)

cowgirl said...

Thank you Coltaine! I appreciate you stopping by my blog!
I've been cooking and keeping busy but have slowed down on posting pics. I need to get back to it! lol
Hope you are having a great 2021! Sending hugs from Oklahoma! :)

MW said...

Do you store the jars with the rings on? I've always been told to remove the rings before storing.

cowgirl said...

Hi MW! Yep! I store with rings on most of the time for a couple of reasons. Storage being one reason. I have tons of rings. I leave the rings with the jars for easy storage.
Also, some of the food I can will not be eaten in one sitting. I use half of the jar, put the lid on and store the other half jar in the fridge until I eat it.
There is no need to remove bands from jars for storage if you remove them after canning, wash the jars in hot soapy water (check the seals), then place the bands back on....leaving them loose.
Hope I explained it well. Sometimes I make things as clear as mud!

Good luck with your canning and thanks for stopping by!

Mike said...

Wow Jeanie! Smoked butter, I would have never thought of that in a million years. I'm going to have to try that this fall when the weather gets cold enough to cold smoke again.

cowgirl said...

Mike... Good to see ya!! Hope you all are doing well!
You need to cold smoke some butter. It's pretty good on veggies, eggs, heck, anything. lol
Hope you're still camping. I always enjoyed your camping pics, such a pretty area. Thanks for stopping by! :)

Barry said...

Hi Jeanie,

I noticed the walls of your smokehouse look almost freshly planed. Does the cold smoke process not discolor or leave any residue?

cowgirl said...

Hi Barry!
The walls have turned a deep golden color. It's really pretty in person. lol
I try to keep the smoke as light as possible. If I can smell smoke, I know it's smoking whether I see it or not.
The wood was almost white when I built the thing.
Not sure if you're interested, but it shows in the "build" post at the top right side of my blog page.

Thanks for stopping by!

Unknown said...

Hey Jeanie,

Got disgusted with FN programming again today. Sent them an email suggesting they contact you for quality new ideas. You are the actual Pioneer Woman.

Best regards,
Erik

cowgirl said...

Very kind of you Erik! lol I don't watch FN... I think it's for city folk. lol
Hope you're having a great week, thanks so much for the kind message! :)