CLARIFYING BUTTER
Like regular butter in sticks, clarified butter also coagulates in the refrigerator and at room temperature.
What we don’t know about butter is a lot more than figuring out how much is “a little butta’” that “won’t hurt.” It’s 15 percent water, to begin with, which makes it—along with extra virgin olive oil, another cooking fat surrounded by its own disinformation—a nearly useless oil with which to fry or sauté. But use them for that, we do.
This is a recipe for clarified” butter (what cooks in India, who use it extensively, call “ghee”). The directions for making it are the recipe. It removes the water and allows for high-temperature cooking (up to 485 degrees).
It’s also great for adding a deep, nearly nutty, real butter taste to dishes such as risotto, some pasta preparations, the finishing to filets of fish, steamed or roasted vegetables, or for deglazing a pan in order to sauce a chicken. And could there be anything truer and more delicious than melted clarified butter on a tub of fresh popcorn? Plus, it keeps for six months, refrigerated; for a year, frozen.
Just don’t use it in baking; that normally calls for the usual, water-and-fat butter.
Photo from Dan Dennis on unsplash.
RECIPE: Clarified Butter (Ghee)
From Daniel Gritzer, seriouseats.com; makes about 1 and 1/2 cups
Ingredient
1 pound unsalted butter, cubed
Directions
In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Continue to cook over medium-high heat; an even layer of white milk proteins will float to the surface. Bring to a boil; the milk proteins will become foamy. Lower heat to medium and continue to gently boil; the milk proteins will break apart. As the butter gently boils, the milk proteins will eventually sink to the bottom of the pot, and the boiling will begin to calm and then cease.
Once boiling has stopped, pour butter through a cheesecloth-lined strainer or a coffee filter into a heatproof container to remove browned milk solids. Let cool, then transfer to a sealed container and refrigerate until ready to use. Clarified butter should keep for at least 6 months in the refrigerator.