The Washington Post notes:
The proof is in the pancakes: Adding lemon juice or vinegar to milk is a bad buttermilk substitute
A couple of points I would add - in the article, the writer compares pancakes she makes by adding vinegar to milk. I have done that too, but the slight smell of vinegar in milk is annoying. I only ever use lemon juice for this reason.
Secondly, she says that the vinegar added did not make her milk change consistency. As I think I have noted here before, I have found that the temperature of the milk seems to affect its ease of curdling with lemon juice. As I want it to thicken a bit, I warm the milk slightly in the microwave first, then add the lemon juice. This usually works.
Sure, using store bought buttermilk might be the ideal, but who remembers to do that?
They say it in the post obviously, but while it may not replicate the texture it does replicate another important thing about buttermilk, the acidity. I did it two days ago with a slice I was making. It wasn't a failure. It was a very delicious non-failure, in fact.
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