Gee, I like Ghee

We can all agree that “it’s better with butter”, but what butter’s better? Well, it can depend. Just your basic butter (even if you splurge for some fancy, French, high fat butter) will get you pretty far, but there are some big drawbacks, or at least room for improvement. I know what you’re thinking– how do you improve on butter?? Well there’re 3 better butters that will boost baking, block burning, and bolster your bite.

Clarified Butter (Liquid Gold)

If you’ve ever been making breakfast and thrown butter in a pan you’ll know that by the time you get done flipping the bacon and pouring the OJ, you’ve got smoke coming off a pool of scorched black butter. That burned flavor will ruin eggs faster than dumping ketchup all over them. That’s because the smoke point of butter is significantly lower than most other fat at 200°F. What makes it so low is all the milk solids in the butter. If you take them out, the smoke point of the pure fat (clarified butter) can go up to 485°F witch is higher than almost any other cooking oils. Most people have heard of clarified butter because what would lobster be without a tiny metal shot glass filled with this golden magic that always seems to run out too fast. But this stuff is way more versatile than just a lobster dip. Literally anything you’re pan frying or sautéing, drizzling over popcorn, or just about anything you use butter for, you can use clarified butter and make it better.

To make, all you need to do is put a bunch of butter in a saucepan over medium heat until the milk fat sinks to the bottom and the water evaporates off. Then, you pour through some cheesecloth.

Ghee (O-M-Ghee!)

Ghee, clarified butters close cousin… well, they are more alike than that, more like siblings… they are actually made from the exact same ingredients and almost the same process, so I guess more like twins. Except that ghee originated and is used mostly in Indian cooking and clarified butter originated about 1000 years before in China and is now used all over the world. So, it’s whatever you call it when twins are born 1000 years apart with different parents. Whatever the case, the only real difference between the two is that ghee is cooked a bit longer. After all the water evaporates off, you let the milk

solids toast just a bit, which gives it a nuttier, better buttery flavor. But whatever you use clarified butter for, you could easily use ghee instead. I actually prefer it for things like building a sauce (makes a mean hollandaise) or even just spreading it on toast.

Brown Butter (Once you go brown, you won’t put it down)

I don’t know why brown butter isn’t more popular than it is. If ghee and clarified butter are twins, brown butter is more like a cousin—but a super cool cousin, you know the one that everyone is going to like better than you once they meet them. Because once you try brown butter, you’re never going to want anything else. The big difference between the others and brown butter is that you keep all the milk solids. But what makes this beautiful bronzed butter better is that you literally caramelize the milk fat and create the most spectacular toasted nutty flavor you could imagine. This stuff is best used in any baked goods, or sauces that don’t cook at high temps for too long otherwise you run the risk of burning, because it’s already been brought so close to the burning point, you don’t want to push it over the edge. My favorite use is to heat with some sage and toss with cooked gnocchi.

To make, just take butter, heat on medium until the milk solids separate and the water cooks off. Then, take it just to the point before burning, about 15 minutes longer, to toast the milk solids then reserve.