Clarified butter

1 batch

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 pounds Good butter (4 sticks) (sweet cream butter) unsalted

Directions

Place butter in a heavy saucepan and set the pan over low heat. Heat the butter, taking a look at it from time to time to make sure that it is not overheating, for 15 minutes; it will bubble and look foamy, evidence that its moisture is being cooked away. Continue to simmer the butter for 20 to 25 minutes in all, without disturbing it. It has been sufficiently clarified when the boiling action (caused by the evaporation of moisture) lessens and the foamy top crust begins to look dry. Do not let the butter get hot enough to even _think_ about getting brown during the clarification.

Remove butter from the heat and let it stand for 5 to 10 minutes to settle. Carefully skim off the top crust, reserving it, if you like, to season vegetables (it has abundant flavor). Carefully pour off the clear golden liquid into a completely dry jar or crock; stop pouring before the sediment in the bottom of the pot is disturbed.

(These good dregs, like the foam, can season vegetables, if you are of the waste-not persuasion.)

Cool clarified butter until it begins to congeal, cover it airtight, and refrigerate it. Keeps indefinitely in the refrigerator.

Yield: About 1½ cups.

Witty writes: "Butter that has been clarified is excellent for sauteing foods (unlike whole butter, it won't scorch readily), and it is also indispensable for sealing pots of meat or fish paste. If you clarify a pound or so of butter at a time, you will have a supply always at hand in the refrigerator." From "Fancy Pantry" by Helen Witty. New York: Workman Publishing Company, Inc., 1986. ISBN 0-89480-037-X. Pg. 315. Posted by Cathy Harned. From: Cathy Harned Date: 09-25-94

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