Sunday, May 15, 2011

How to Make Clarified Butter

Grocery store butter often burns in the pan and gives to dishes a bad spotty look. To prevent butter from burning you need to use "clarified" butter. Clarified Butter can be bought in any grocery store but is cheaper to make it at home and very easy. Grocery store butter is made of three components: Casein, Butter Fat, and Water. Your goal in making the clarified butter is to separate the butter fat and to eliminate the casein and the water. The casein is the solid part of butter that burns at lower temperature. When frying burnt casein will give the dishes a bad spotty look.

Place the butter in a saucepan on medium heat. 
Slowly let the butter melt.
 
After the butter is melt and still warm, remove the whitish casein that floats on the surface carefully with a spoon, and discard it.

 After you have removed all the casein...

 ... pour the clarified butter in a bowl. Do not pour completely all the liquid. The  water has separated from the butter and still sits in the bottom.


Pour the rest of the clarified butter in a clear glass. You will see the water in the bottom of the glass, and you will be able to easily recover all the clarified butter and discard the water.