What Is Clarified Butter Used For

Antiseptic butter is the gilded glory we e'er have stashed in the fridge. Information technology's purer than butter-butter and has a bold richness and a clean end, with none of the muted milkiness of some traditional butters. Plus, it has a high smoke point, making it the better selection for loftier temp cooking.

What is it?

Butter is an emulsion of fat, water, and milk solids. The clarifying process splits upwardly the trio then nosotros tin can stop 3rd-wheeling and get direct to the magnificent fat. By slowly heating butter, you separate it into 3 layers: foam (which is the h2o evaporating), the sunshine-xanthous clarified butter (which is the fatty), and the white milk solids. The goal is to remove the water and strain out the solids (usually using a cheesecloth), thereby creating a richer and purer fatty that's more shelf-stable, too. Clarified butter is intensely luscious, with a nutty, toasty aroma that breaks free from the heavy murkiness of the original product.

So what'southward the deviation between clarified butter and ghee?

Ghee is a form of clarified butter that has been used in cooking and medicine in Bharat for millennia. Rather than only separate out the water and milk solids, ghee-making goes further: The butter is cooked longer, until all of the water is gone and the milk solids brown and sink to the lesser of the pan. This gives ghee an even richer, nuttier flavor than clarified butter.

Clarified butter is fantastic in scrambled eggs.

Photo by Alex Lau

What information technology's good for?

Because clarified butter is free from the milk solids that burn and smoke during cooking, it has a higher smoke signal than regular butter (upwards of 450° F), making information technology a high temp hero. That means you tin go a pure butter flavor in hot applications—similar when you're pan-frying, roasting, or searing—because you don't have to worry about the butter burning. And considering information technology tastes nuttier and more than concentrated, antiseptic butter makes for a final drizzle that'southward super flavorful rather than but rich.

This liquid gilt also makes the simplest recipes look super professional and taste a little, well, extra: Effort using antiseptic butter to make scrambled eggs, popcorn, or crispy fried potatoes even more irresistible. Employ it to fry up leftover rice, toast spices, or brand incredibly crispy hash browns.

And, finally, because there isn't any pesky lactose floating around, clarified butter lasts longer than butter—up to two months in the fridge (ghee doesn't need to be refrigerated at all). But in one case you offset experimenting with all of its delicious applications, we doubt you'll be able to keep it around that long anyway.