Got buttermilk? If not, try this recipe

heloise

Got buttermilk? If not, try this recipe

Dear Readers: There’s nothing like the tangy taste of buttermilk, so when you’ve started a recipe that calls for it and you realize there’s no buttermilk in the house, don’t panic. It’s actually an easy flavor to fake.

While there’s really no good substitute for buttermilk when you want to drink it, there is when you want to cook with it. Here’s what you can do:

X Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice into enough regular milk to equal 1 cup. Allow this mixture to sit for 10 minutes to give it time to thicken before adding it to the ingredients.

XMixing plain yogurt with whole milk is also a terrific substitution. To make 1 cup buttermilk, mix 3‚Ñ4 cup yogurt with 1‚Ñ4 cup whole milk.

X If a recipe calls for only 1‚Ñ2 cup buttermilk, go ahead and “sour” a whole cup. The consistency will be better.

For a ton of other easy substitute solutions, order my Seasonings, Sauces and Substitutes pamphlet. Just send $3 and a long, self-addressed, stamped (58 cents) envelope to: Heloise/SSS, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. You’ll find that most substitutes can be made from ingredients you already have in your pantry. You’ll also learn how to make healthier egg dishes, homemade sweetened condensed milk and seasoned salt, not to mention a bunch of tasty sauces and marinades. Heloise

Dear Heloise: I have a great fudge recipe that makes 5 pounds. I enjoy sharing the fudge with my friends. However, slicing 5 pounds of fudge was tough on my hands, until one day I discovered the perfect solution. I use a pizza cutter and just roll right through the fudge with no strain. Keep up the good work. Denise Wolfe, via e-mail

Dear Heloise: In response to the reader who was angry that supermarket employees were talking instead of returning frozen food to the freezers — it’s good that the food was never returned to the freezer!

I work for a large retailer. That food is the food that customers decide they don’t want and put it on the nearest shelf. We have no idea how long it has been out of the freezer, so it is gathered in carts, taken to the back and discarded.

I don’t think customers who do this realize the thousands of dollars’ worth of food just one store must discard in a month. Everyone who eats eventually has to pay for this waste by paying higher prices. You aren’t only costing the store and suppliers money, you are costing everyone, including yourself. If you decide you don’t want a refrigerated item, put it back where it belongs! A Reader in Terre Haute, Ind..

King Features Syndicate