Recipe: How to Make Clarified Butter (or Ghee)

HOW TO MAKE CLARIFIED BUTTER (OR GHEE)

There are a number of variations on the procedure for making clarified butter, but the end result or goal is always the same: to eliminate the milk solids, which cause the butter to burn and spit when frying or sauteing foods at higher temperatures.

Note: Clarified butter is available in Asian or Indian markets under its Indian name, ghee.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter

Cut the butter into 1/2-inch slices and place it in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Allow the butter to melt and then come to a boil; this should take about 5 minutes. Skim off any foam that rises to the top. The butter should sizzle and crackle; throughout the process, make sure the heat is never so high that the bottom of the pan starts to brown or blacken. Lower the heat to keep the butter at a slow, steady boil for another 15 minutes, continuing to skim any surface foam. The bubbles in the butter will become smaller and smaller, ultimately the size of a pinhead. Allow any residual milk solids to settle to the bottom of the pan.

Carefully pour off the pure, clear, oily butterfat into a holding container, leaving all solids behind. (At this point, you can pass it through a tea strainer or other fine-mesh strainer just to be sure it's completely clear.) Allow the clarified butter to cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Excerpted from Geoffrey Zakarian's Town/Country by Geoffrey Zakarian with David Gibbons Photographs by Quentin Bacon
Copyright 2006 by Geoffrey Zakarian with David Gibbons Photographs by Quentin Bacon. Excerpted by permission of Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.