Help me use up half a bag of Bob's Red Mill powdered buttermilk

August 3, 2024 9:35 PM

I bought a bag of powdered buttermilk as an experiment for making ranch dressing and it doesn't taste at all like what I expected. I hate wasting food. Help me use it all up!

Neither fresh buttermilk nor ranch dressing is popular and common in my country so I thought I'll buy some powdered buttermilk to make my own healthy ranch dressing. It just didn't taste like I expected on vegetables. I am on a weight-loss diet and gave up baking years ago for the sake of my waist-line so anything involving baked goods is out.

I've been using it up by putting it in my hot cacao but it isn't ideal because it makes my hot cacao taste sourish and it's just different from normal full cream milk powder which mellows out the bitter cacao powder. Does anyone have any low-carb, non-fattening ideas for using it all up?

posted by whitelotus to Food & Drink (13 answers total)

It would work well in pancakes.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 10:17 PM on August 3, 2024 [1 favorite]

Peach + buttermilk smoothies are delicious
posted by cakebatter at 10:29 PM on August 3, 2024

Best answer: Buttermilk coleslaw is the sweet spot between creamy and tangy coleslaw and since it’s mostly cabbage it’s great for lots of fiber and crunch. There are a bunch of recipes, some that add mayonnaise, some that don’t, some that have you salt and rinse the cabbage ahead of time, some that don’t, some with a bunch of elaborate add-ins and some that are just cabbage and dressing. I like it with chunkier pieces of savoy or Nappa cabbage because they hold the dressing nicely, but you can use any kind. I also prefer a bunch of carrots for sweetness, and to use the powdered buttermilk in a more concentrated form so the juices from the veggies mix with it after sitting instead of having a bunch of extra liquid. Lots of room for experimentation and adjustment to your taste.
posted by Mizu at 10:50 PM on August 3, 2024 [3 favorites]

Buttermilk biscuits are my reason for powdered buttermilk.
posted by away for regrooving at 12:37 AM on August 4, 2024 [3 favorites]

I am about to make scones [=biscuits, more or less] with week-beyond-sell-by buttermilk. It looks like I'll have a bit left after adding the called for cupful. I intend to call it karnemelk chug it down like I do whenever I'm visiting the Netherlands. It will be bracing but refreshing. I also hate food waste and find that adding ingredients to make edge-cases more palatable only prolongs or extends the 'problem'.
posted by BobTheScientist at 2:20 AM on August 4, 2024

Sprinkle it on popcorn for a cheesy popcorn treat.
posted by carrioncomfort at 2:44 AM on August 4, 2024

Since you cannot use it in baked goods you can use it to experiment with your own dressings for salads. It's not limited to ranch dressing.

If baked potatoes are on you foods list then extra thick "buttermilk" is great in lieu of soured cream. Any time you have a recipe that could use a tangy coating or sauce or final stir-in for thickening; consider using a tad of it.

And it's also a nice coating when baking chicken when mixed with your preferred spices.
posted by mightshould at 2:56 AM on August 4, 2024 [1 favorite]

Oh hey mightshould’s answer reminds me, buttermilk is good on white fish.

Option a: put fillets in buttermilk for about half an hour before taking them out, dredging in some seasoned flour, eggs, and then crumbs of your choosing and baking them. Depending on your dietary needs you can change up the flour to any kind of starch, use crushed nuts or cornmeal for the coating, use an egg substitute and so-on, and also you can fry them of course or do them in an air fryer. If you are baking I highly suggest toasting your crumb coating in a pan before putting it on the fish, so it gets some yummy flavor. Crispy buttermilk marinated white fish is particularly good for fish tacos, for which you can also use the buttermilk as a substitute for crema. Or you can do a fish and chips but do whatever you like instead of french fries, served with malt vinegar or tartar sauce for dipping.

Option b: this is from my northeast American grandma who learned how to cook fish from the fishmongers in Portland, Maine in the 60s, so it is very mild and plain but still good - in a baking dish put a little oil or butter, salt and pepper, and place fish fillets down so they are in one layer. Season the tops with salt and pepper as well, and then pour in juuuuuust enough buttermilk to not quite cover the fish. Take thinly sliced lemons and put a couple on each piece of fish, then put a layer of breadcrumbs on top of the whole thing. Put little dots of butter on top evenly distributed. Cover it with foil and bake in a medium oven until the fish is not quite cooked through, this timing varies by the thickness of the fish, then remove the foil and increase the heat for a few minutes so the crumbs get browned a bit. This is how my dad likes to eat extremely fresh white fish, he claims it’s the best way to appreciate what it actually tastes like. For me, I can understand that but good god at least put some parsley on there! Typically my grandma served this with a big garden salad and bread or rice to soak up all the liquid, which is a kind of slightly tangy fish broth/chowder kind of thing. I have adjusted this to my tastes by adding things like mustard powder, paprika, dill, garlic and onion powder, or other things with different sorts of fish. But the older I get and the longer I’ve lived somewhere with good fresh fish, the less I end up changing the recipe.
posted by Mizu at 3:36 AM on August 4, 2024 [1 favorite]

Buttermilk brines produce fantastic results with chicken breasts.
posted by srboisvert at 5:44 AM on August 4, 2024 [5 favorites]

I want to emphasize its use as a brine, suggested by srboisvert. It is outstanding for this purpose. I use it all the time!
posted by skye.dancer at 6:49 AM on August 4, 2024 [2 favorites]

you can use it as an ingredient in cleansing grains to clean your face -

https://wildly-natural-skin-care.com/homemade-facial-cleanser.html
https://crunchybetty.com/no-nonsense-daily-scrub-for-any-skin-type/

add to a bath soak -

https://1212gateway.com/blogs/news/buttermilk-bath-soak
posted by mirileh at 5:30 AM on August 5, 2024 [1 favorite]

Buttermilk is delicious in cornbread, though I believe that's a very US-centric dish. It might be good in any sort of cornmeal type of dish, like a polenta, too.

(NB: I find that watered-down plain yogurt works well as a sub for buttermilk. Yogurt may be easier to find in your area.)
posted by hydra77 at 8:36 AM on August 5, 2024

Response by poster: Mizu, your white fish recipe sounds fantastic but unfortunately, it's beyond both my budget and my cooking skills. I'll try the buttermilk coleslaw without the mayo though!
posted by whitelotus at 1:22 AM on August 6, 2024