Smooth Like Butter
A Blackstack Original: Black Recipes newsletter series install.
“Beat the system with chains and whips” is a bar from the Clipse’s song, “Chains & Whips”, and from my point of view, the term butter has belonged to us way before the European creaming sensation hit the grocery aisles. Everything we own, white-washed, but it’s time for us to agree that this is where the stories of our trauma end.
How long will we keep taking the shaking, kneading, and folding before we admit to ourselves we are the process, that’s what makes us the blueprint.
Shea butter is solid in its natural form until you carefully scoop what you need, rub it together in your warm hands to melt it, and it glistens on your skin the way butter melts into warm bread.
Through our lived experiences, storytelling, and inner desire to maintain publishing rights over our words, I believe our writing process is rooted in ancestral guidance, which is why our flow is as smooth as butter.
Mason Jar Butter Recipe
It’s giving the next zine I publish for the Zine Collectors and Zine Club might be a Kitchen Zine, but including more Black Recipes as we share ours.
Ingredients:
Mason jar
Or cleaned spaghetti sauce jar, don’t overthink this, be resourceful.
4-6 oz of Heavy Whipping Cream
Makes about half of cup of butter.
I have not made vegan butter yet, I will report back when I do with a substitute.
Salt (optional)
If you're feeling fancy add add some garlic and herbs to make a compound
Process: About 10 minutes
Pour about 4-6 oz of heavy whipping cream into a jar.
Shake the hell out of the jar till it whips, then go harder.
Once you hear the solid bouncing around, you will see the buttermilk. That’s when it’s ready.
Give the butter an ice bath.
Make sure to get the liquid out before transferring it to a container or parchment paper to store.
That’s when you add your salt or garlic and herbs.
And voila, just like Malice!
Buttery Smooth Landing on the Page
As soon as you hear that sizzle when the butter hits the pan, you know it’s ready. The same could be said about the moment the pen touches paper, or fingers kiss that middle row lineup on the keyboard. Those first opening lines are like the buttery aroma that fills the air, confirming this is going to feed the soul.
Smooth like butter, but only after you’ve done the work to shake the jar and knead it smooth. This is the publishing process. Writing through the emotion to regulate and feel grounded again is the jar shake. Starting with the heavy cream whipping our behinds.
Here’s the secret ingredient most recipes leave out: this is muscle work, meaning you are going to have to rest throughout this process. It’s not going to happen in one full ten-minute shaking rep to grow the muscle; you have to allow the body to rest. The same goes for our writing practice; this is dedication to the soul, scripting new worlds for ourselves and the community we build.
Rest is the forgotten technique in our publishing recipe. Fast-track project deadlines and streamlined processes don’t work for the author who documents the soul discoveries. Storylines can’t be rushed if the scene opens up with emotions melting on the page like butter on a warm, fresh-baked biscuit.
This is that moment in the recipe where the butter and buttermilk separate, and you finally see what’s becoming solid. The moment you stop surviving through the trauma and start sharing what you discovered that can help someone experiencing the same thing. I look at my words as the documentation I wish I could have found when I was seeking wisdom. Shaking the jar is the process of turning cream into butter, like writing, editing, formatting, and cover design, ownership rights, and marketing is the publishing process. Whether it’s a Substack post, debut novel, or memoir.
Not everyone will see you shaking, and they might not see you turning the butter into a smooth compound sensation. But when they taste it, they will know it was homemade because they can feel the care and love put into it.
Breaking Bread
This little section includes a few ways to support Blackstack by pledging to the importance of a standalone Black literacy publishing house. Think of it as your turn to shake the jar, because the butter still has to be made.
Engaging with the words helps other Black writers find their way home in these Substack streets.
Consider becoming a Paid Subscriber or Zine Club member to help Blackstack be recognized on the platform as a Bestseller, again helping other Black writers find their way home.
Help keep the print press operating through our Collectors’ Memberships:
Support our annual print magazine fundraiser: https://www.theblackstack.org/product/blackstack-magazine-issue-one/16?cs=true&cst=custom
Keep Black Recipes newsletter series alive, submit your unpublished work: https://forms.gle/SNUcwbaVmkxqpnXJ7
See y’all on Wednesday for a new Black Reads newsletter!
xoxo,
Jacquie
love this
I read this after posting new work today for the first time in a few weeks. It’s like you saw into my soul! Thank you for this gorgeous piece! 🥰