Cooking For Engineers

[Dilbert]

Memphis -

clarified butter is quite simply butter fat without solids.

the straining gets you 99% of the way there. addition of water actually serves to provide a place for the odd left ofter bits to settle. without the water at the bottom (of the bowl) any congealing solids would be inside what is the "floating" layer.

lemon butter: it's an emulsion. whip like crazy . . .

[Guest]

I put 1 pound unsalted butter in a small crock-pot on low with the lid secured . Within a few hours the solids are on top. The butter is in three layers. Top: solids foamy, if cooked longer it will become crispy; middle: butter oil, clear and golden; bottom: a watery whey like fluid (I drink that -- has a mild buttermilk like taste).

Spoon (skim) off the solids on top into a separate bowl, I give mine to my dogs (they especially like it when its crispy).

Using oven mitts, slowly pour the butter oil through a fine mesh strainer (like a tea strainer) into a heat safe container, glass is best. This will catch bits of solids that may have been missed after skimming. STOP pouring before the lowest layer of liquid, which is not yellow, infiltrates the ghee container.

Use or discard the liquid at the bottom. When the ghee (butter oil) has cooled, close the container tightly and enjoy the rich flavor ghee imparts to food.

The longer the butter is in the crock-pot, the more water will evaporate off. I sometimes start the process in the morning before leaving the house for the day and finish when I'm back in the evening. This process does not require being very attentive, just don't put it on high; it will burn.

One more thing: if you stir the contents of the crock-pot up, you have to give the mix time to resettle and separate out into the three layers before skimming off the solids and pouring off the ghee.

BentNote (Guest)

[infanati]

Como la grasa utilizada para cocinar, la mantequilla proporciona un sabor único y aroma a muchos platos. El problema con la mantequilla es que antes de llegar a su humo punto, los sólidos de leche se han ido Browning pasado a la combustión. Extracción de la sólidos de la leche y las impurezas que nos permite mantener la mayor parte del sabor de la, mientras que la mantequilla de poder cocinar a altas temperaturas. Mantequilla sin sólidos de la leche se llama mantequilla clarificada o elaboración de mantequilla (aunque algunos restaurantes sirven sólo mantequilla derretida establecido, mantequilla). El proceso de (aclaración de la mantequilla) es bastante simple.

Aclaración de la mantequilla es tan simple como mantequilla derretida y dejar que la leche sólidos se asienten o aumento de la grasa. Se debe impedir que tarda mientras se calienta la mantequilla, así que utilizar una sartén pesada que no tiene ningún tipo de puntos de acceso (ver Materiales común de utensilios de cocina para obtener más información sobre hotspots). Cuando se utiliza la mantequilla salada, es difícil de adivinar cuánto la sal se mantendrá en la mantequilla clarificada. Mucha de la sal se puede encontrar en los sólidos de leche, ya que se instala o espumas, pero el importe exacto ser diferente cada vez. Uso de mantequilla sin sal para eliminar cualquier incertidumbre (puede agregar sal a la mantequilla clarificada después de lograr la deseada salinidad).

Para que aproximadamente 3 / 4 taza de mantequilla clarificada, derretir una taza (225 g) de mantequilla en una cacerola pequeña (a 1-recipiente, se muestra en la imagen) a fuego lento. Con una cacerola bien, te puede dejar allí a fuego lento mientras se hace otra cosa y poco a poco la mantequilla se derrita. En cuanto el calor se derrite la mantequilla más rápido, pero los sólidos de la leche puede comenzar a grabar, así, resistir la tentación. En su lugar, usted puede cortar el la mantequilla en trozos para acelerar la fusión. Además, si usted no tiene un pequeño cacerola, lo mejor es utilizar más la mantequilla. Demasiado poco de mantequilla en una gran de diámetro pan hará difícil separar los sólidos de la grasa
posterior.

Cuando la mantequilla se derrita por completo, continúa calentando a fuego bajo. Algunos sólidos de leche se caen al fondo de la olla, mientras que otros se lugar como la espuma. Como los sólidos de leche llegan a la cima, se pueden desnatada apagado. (O bien, puede ser removido cuando la mantequilla se enfríe.)

En este punto, puede eliminar la mantequilla por el calor y la capa superior de descuento en todos la espuma. Deje que la mantequilla se enfríe un poco para permitir que varios de los sólidos se asienten y luego vierta o una cuchara la grasa aclaró, dejando el resto de la leche sólidos en la sartén.

Alternativamente, se vierte la mantequilla derretida caliente a través de una gasa para filtrar la espuma y sólidos que se han asentado, la captura de la mantequilla clarificada en un frasco.

O bien, vierta la mantequilla en un recipiente caliente, deje que se aparte, mientras que de enfriamiento y luego refrigerar. Después de que se ha solidificado, se puede fácilmente raspar la capa de espuma endurecida de la rigidez de mantequilla clarificada.

A pesar de mantequilla clarificada puro no tiene por qué ser de refrigeración, que recomendamos guardar la mantequilla clarificada en la nevera (un poco de leche sólidos puede estar aún presente y puede causar la mantequilla para ir rancio). Usar la mantequilla clarifi cada como lo haría el uso de mantequilla regular (una cucharada decucharada) en las recetas.

Robert Wolke, en Lo que Einstein le dijo a su Cook, sugiere el uso de la izquierda más de sólidos de leche para colmar las palomitas de maíz. Suena como una buena idea para mí! (También, Wolke menciona que no hay lactosa en la mantequilla clarificada, de modo que la lactosa personas sensibles deben ser capaces de disfrutar de mantequilla clarificada sin a los efectos incómodos a aquellos de nosotros que son intolerantes a la lactosa son bien conscientes.)

[99bonk]

I like to clarify butter in a double boiler - takes a little longer but no risk of burning. I use a conical paper filter (Melitta type) in a metal funnel and strain the clarified butter into a glass jar. I have found that Paul Newman's salsa jars are just the right size for the amount of clarified butter you get from melting a pound of regular butter.

[Pomegranate]

This is such a great site!
I was wondering if anyone had experience or read about adding herbs, medicinal or not, to clarified butter. I know the Indians add some stuff to their ghee while it cooks and Ayurvedic practitioners I believe add medicines into it. It's hard to find this info tho. If medicinal substances are added, when is the best time to add them: as the butter cooks or afterward after it cools and separates? Should the herbs be filtered out or not? What is the actual process of the butter oils extracting the medicines and how it is different from the water and alcohol extractions when making standard tinctures? I assume that the fat-soluble substances in herbs will naturally get into the butter, but what about the other ingredients: minerals, vitamins, proteins, etc? Will they all be lost with the water? What is the comparison of alcohol and oils as far as their solvent properties are concerned?

thanks a lot,
Helen

[Dilbert]

some flavor / "other" compounds are soluble in water, some in alcohol, some in fats/oils. which solutes in what is not a 'all for one and one for all' situation - some specific compound will be extracted faster / sooner / more / less better so than in another diluent.

research polar vs non-polar solvents, for starters.

by and large, medicinal or culinary, either you use the right solvent or you don't get the results you want.

how to . . . hot/cool . . . strain / don't strain . . .
the problem is not so much how to but an issue of safety.
anything that has been growing the dirt/soil has the potential to be contaminated with botulism spores.

short of using a pressure cooker to get the temp above 240'F - keeping / storing homemade extractions / diffusions is dicey business.

keep refrigerated, keep no longer than two weeks.

[Ralph]

I saw on youtube a guy making clarified butter. I tried it and its works great! Just take your melted and cooked butter, pour it when the temp is about 140 F into a ziplock bag. poke a hole in one corner of the bag, hang it on one of your upper kitchen cabinet handles; tie to the handle. The butter, fat and milk solids separate in a few minutes. Poke a hole in the bottom of the ziplock back, drain the bottom stuff onto a paper plate then place a container under to catch the good stuff then move the paper plate to catch the rest of the bad stuff. So simple and easy!

[Jim Cooley]

Ralph,

I love your idea!

Michael, ghee will last for years. Don't know why you think it needs to be pasteurized; but perhaps I misunderstood.

Jim

[gerardrjj]

There are several posts in the clarified butter article that ghee and clarified butter are the same thing and I can tell you that is no-where near the truth.
If clarified butter is to bread as ghee is to toast.

To make ghee you start out just the same as for clarified butter, but after the butter is all melted you continue warming the butter until all the water boils out of the bottom layer. The evaporation process will cause a foam-up.
After the foam subsides, you have no more liquid on the bottom of the pan, just milk solids. Keep heating.
You will get a second foaming even higher than the first. When the second foam subsides you are done, remove the pan from heat. Cool to a manageable temperature and skim the foam from the top, then pour off the butterfat. all that will remain in the pan are the caramelized solids from the pan bottom.
The butterfat itself will be golden brown, looking like it was toasted. It has a rich flavor that can not be achieved with any other fat I know.
I don't know how long ghee can last, in my house we keep it on the counter in a sealed glass dish and it never lasts more than about 2-3 months before it is used up, and it has never tasted rancid.
Unlike clarified butter, you'll want to go lightly when spreading ghee on toast or applying to other foods, it is a VERY rich taste that can overwhelm.