Buttermilk soaking: how useful?

[Jenise]

Lots of us soak chicken in buttermilk for fried chicken. It both tenderizes and flavors the chicken and acts doubly as the glue that makes the crust and holds it in place.

But have any of us used it on any other meats? I haven't. The closest I've got is using yoghurt as a marinade for a butterflied lamb leg, in which the lactic acid of the yoghurt would have performed, I'm thinking, pretty much the same job the buttermilk does initially for the chicken. So I'm sitting here with some pork chops that might be dinner tomorrow, and half a quart of buttermilk, and am wondering about putting them together overnight. It probably can't hurt: the question is, would it help?

Thoughts?

Apologize for going totally off topic with the first reply, but I'd like to see what's more effective for chicken between yoghurt and buttermilk. I haven't used the latter yet - although most of the time when I cook chicken with any Indian recipe, I marinate it in a fair amount of yoghurt, lemon juice and spices for a few hours. (I'm curious whether both would be equally effective, or whether the live cultures/enzymes in the yoghurt may make it more effective in softening the chicken.)

As for the buttermilk on red meat - no idea, but you could certainly find out with the pork chops.

That said - going even more off-topic - have you ever tried making a paste of papaya and using it to tenderize red meats? Works shockingly well.

Yes, I discovered Adolf's in college when I could only afford round steak. Papain is a very effective tenderizer. But, I'm not altogether that fond of the texture of the meat resulting from its use.

I've used both buttermilk and yogurt on pork and lamb and they work great. Note that a lot of "pros" think that the dairy-based tenderizers are the only ones to use. All I know is that I do it occasionally and it does the job.

[Jenise]

Yes, I discovered Adolf's in college when I could only afford round steak. Papain is a very effective tenderizer. But, I'm not altogether that fond of the texture of the meat resulting from its use.

Agreed. I don't even like the texture of kosher chicken. There's a good place, though, between a little and a lot.

Nu? Are you trying it? (Are you keeping one chop out of it for the sake of comparison?)

Enzymatic minds want to know!

[Jenise]

Nu? Are you trying it? (Are you keeping one chop out of it for the sake of comparison?)

Enzymatic minds want to know!

After all that, no. Turned out the buttermilk had an off odor, so I wouldn't use it. Will take another run at this again soon, though!

But have any of us used it on any other meats?

I have used it on venison. Not often though.

It's pretty good to toss with sliced okra prior to dredging in cornmeal and frying. Adds a nice shot of tangy flavor to an already tasty veggie.

Slightly off topic, but we've been putting buttermilk in mashed potatoes lately. Goes better than either plain milk or sour cream. I won't mention what TV personality put us on to this.