Clarifying butter

[zarhooie]

Clarified butter has a wide variety of uses. I usually use it for making middle eastern desserts, but it can also be used when eating lobster (you dip the meat in it). It's not a commonly used thing in other cuisines, but if you want to make paklava or anything using filo dough, you're going to want to have this one in your skill set.


Things needed (stuff):
sauce pan
wooden spoon
either a shallow tablespoon (like you eat with) or a silicone brush or something
A paper towel

Things needed (food):
4 sticks unsalted butter (you can use less, just use a smaller sauce pan)

How-to:
First, you put the butter in the pan. Using low heat, melt the butter. Stir it around once in a while, but try not to agitate it too much. Just keep it from burning.


Once the butter is melted, it'll look something like this:

Note how it is cloudy. You will notice some foam starting to form on the top of the butter. Using your shallow spoon or brush, start to gently move all the foam over to one side of the pan.


Be patient and take your time. If you can, start scooping bits of foam out and throwing them away into the trash. Use your paper towel to wipe your spoon clean before you put it back into the butter. You want to get rid of as much of that foam as possible, but you may not be able to get it all.

Eventually, all the foam will be gone. VERY VERY CAREFULLY pour the clear part of the butter into another pan or bowl. I prefer pan because I like to reheat it while I'm working with it and a pan is an easy way to do that. There'll be some thick opaque white stuff at the bottom. You do NOT want that to mix in with the clear stuff, though if it does it is not the end of the world. Just try to be careful and not get any in. You should eventually end up with something that looks like this:



Reasons to clarify butter:
-it gets rid of the milk solids
-has a "cleaner" taste
-doesn't mix with other flavors much, allowing a clearer flavor pallate to develop
-cooks at higher temps without burning or smoking

Thus endeth the lesson.

-Kat

Comments

[gchick]

Lovely instructions, but one quick correction -- clarified butter is one of the main cooking fats in South Asian cuisine, for all the reasons you cite, plus the fact that it doesn't require refrigeration.

Yum.

[zarhooie]

So noted! Thanks for the heads up; I don't do south asian stuff often.

[smoochagator]

Good to know. Thanks!

[kinetikatrue]

Actually, I've found that clarified butter is wonderful for frying eggs/making omelettes, as well, and I always like eggs better when I remember to do them that way. Feel like this was advice I read somewhere, but I've been using the trick for over a decade and can no longer remember where.