potato leek soup, cream substitute

[sardia]

I have a recipe that suggests heavy cream plus buttermilk to give it an acidic tang to my soup. I was thinking of saving myself trouble of buying two kinds of dairy by getting heavy cream plus an acid, lemons. Good idea or will people notice?

[Angua]

You can make buttermilk by putting some acid (vinegar, lemon juice) into normal milk and letting it sit for 10 minutes.

[PAstrychef]

What you make by acidifying milk with lemon juice is not actually buttermilk- either the original liquid left from churning butter nor the cultured version sold in american grocery stores. You do get milk which has thickened and has a nice tang, so it can be used as buttermilk. I have seen this called soured milk, to distinguish it from milk gone bad, or sour.
Since this trick also works with soy milk, you can use it for vegan dishes when necessary.

[sardia]

What about adding lemon juice to the broth? Will that cause the soup to taste good as well? I am not trying to sour milk but it is an option.

[freezeblade]

you could add creme franche, which is lightly soured heavy cream (sometimes using a buttermilk culture). Although lemons in the broth might be pretty tasty as well, and could help brighten up the heavyness of the cream.

[poxic]

Lemon is a totally good thing in soup. Any tasty acid will add a nice bit of pointiness to the broth if you use it sparingly (taste early, taste often): citrus, mild or flavoured vinegar, tart fruit juice. It enhances flavour without adding more salt.

[sardia]

The lemon didn't work out as I expected, (works much better in white chicken chili). I think I'll stick with buttermilk in the future, though creme freche sounds tempting.