Cooking For Engineers

[Sæculorum]

Whenever I've needed clarified butter that doesn't need to be perfectly clarified (mostly for high, but not too high, temperature pan-frying), I just melt a stick of butter in the microwave and then refridgerate the result. The butter will still seperate and the refridgeration will make it quite easy to seperate the milk solids from the fat. If one uses a narrow bowl (or a small cup), the layers are sufficiently thick to make the process very quick and nearly as thorough as traditional processes.

[kayenne]

hmmm... i tend to use that melt and refrigerate method myself. but what i'm really interested in is where can we use the "refuse" or the milky solids leftover from clarifying butter? seems like such a waste to throw out. i'm considering its use for mashed potatoes and for enriching cream soups. what do you think?

[Guest]

In India, the butter used is generally prepared at home, accumulated over time (week or two) by converting whole milk to butter milk. While heating the butter a small twig of turmeric is added to impart a golden yellow colour.

[Mike H]

This is a nice technique. I haven't come across too many recipes calling for ghee, but I will use this method the next time.

[ulterior epicure]

Enjoyed learning out to simplify the process of clarifying butter!

Cheers.

http://www.ulteriorepicure.wordpress.com

[Tom in Aberdeen]

Wow all that work to clarify butter. Here's another way that has worked for me. 1, Melt the butter in microwave oven in a 1 quart pyrex measuring pitcher. 2. Pour the melted butter into a plastic container that has a good sealable lid. I favor cottage cheese tubs. 3. Put the liquid into the freezer chamber of your refrigerator for about an hour. 4. Remove the frozen mass from the container by running warm water over the out side of the tub. Note that the three layers of milk solids, clarified butter and protein glop are distinct. 5, Rinse the upper and lower layers with luke warm water. The clarified butter will not melt, but the mike solkds and the protein glop will just wash away with the salt, 6. Put the butter back in the tub, seal the tub with it's lid and the tub back into the freezer. Use it whenever needed; I have kept the frozen block up to 4 months.
Calrified butter is used because regular butter burns when heated.

[Mobo]

psyched by the idea of being able to separate the layers in this way. i'm only concerned that some toxic hydrocarbon chains from the plastic might be attracted to the warm lipids in the butter. what do you think? is there anyway a similar sep-funnel-inspired separation could be done with glass?

[GaryProtein]

The plastic bags are polyethylene, and the butter shouldn't be poured in until it cools. Besides, hot foods with fats are generally poured into plastic food storage bags. You are not subjecting the bags to the same heat as when you microwave a fatty beef stew leftover in a plastic container, which you shouldn't do anyway.

If you can hold the food in your hand (or mouth) that you are placing in the bags, there is no problem.

DON'T use a real sep funnel. I've been there and they are very hard to clean, and they clog at the stopcock. It isn't worth the appearance of finesse they can demonstrate when it comes time to clean them.

[gue0]

Clarifying butter is essentially the same as removing fat from stock, just pour the heated mixture into a container and let it cool. Place it in the freezer until the liquid is frozen. The resultant layers can be separated then with a knife. Using salted butter and/or adding salt will end up in the stock portion, so be careful if it is the stock you wish to remove the fat from. When making stock from roasted bones, I often wish to save both the stock (for soups and gravies) and the fat (for the roux).

[Guest]

[GaryProtein]

[Guest]

this is ridiculous. clarified butter is simple: just melt it, wait a minute or two (it will still be liquid if hot enough) then pour onto whatever you're making, stopping before reaching the impurities/proteins.

[Guest]

Hyacinth Bucket was reported to favor the usage of a solid silver Sauce Separator... alas, another article to polish and store.

[Guest]

Engineers . . . .! Just melt the butter, let cool in a gravy seperator and drain the solids. Simple solution from a CFO (we like numbers, but for different reasons!). This takes about 5 minutes and involves 2 pieces of equipment - great from a productivity standpoint.

[noahzark]

Gary Protien really nailed it. I cut the drain hole a ting bit too big. Water drained away so fast I lost some of the butter before I got the mason jar in place. I will always use this method. It rocks.