Seasonal Pantry: Butter in all its golden goodness
The popularity of ghee is on the rise in the United States and, like so many things that are suddenly in the spotlight, there is a lot of misinformation about it.
In recent months, I have read that ghee is an excellent butter substitute and that it has none of the “cow parts” that make butter offensive to many. Some claim it will keep you thin, solve digestive issues, feed your brain, cure arthritis, lower cholesterol and, when blended with coconut oil and rubbed into your scalp, stimulate the growth of your hair.
It is much, much better, so many sources tell us, than butter.
Say what?
Make no mistake: Ghee is butter, 100 percent pure butter. And, like butter, it can be made with the milk of cows, goats, sheep, buffalo and, presumably, camels. Where there's milk, there can be butter, and where there is butter, there can be ghee.
The simplest way to describe ghee is that it is clarified butter, though comparing it to buerre noisette, or brown butter, is more accurate. Brown butter is clarified butter that remains on the heat until it takes on a golden hue and gives off a nutty aroma similar to that of hazelnuts, hence its French moniker. Brown butter is typically made after the impurities and milk solids of clarified butter have been removed. Ghee is cooked until those solids and impurities are themselves toasted. The results are nearly identical, with some ghee being a bit more toasty than some brown butter.
Most supermarkets these days stock at least two brands of ghee, typically in the dairy case near the butter. It's fairly pricey, compared to butter that has not been clarified. Its cost is one reason to make it at home but there is another, arguably more important reason, to make it yourself.
The North Bay, especially Marin and Sonoma counties, produce some of the highest quality milk in the country. Most butter is traded via the Chicago Mercantile and shipped first to enormous warehouses in the Midwest before it is distributed. Commercial ghee does not name the source of its product. When you are lucky enough to live in this remarkable agricultural region, it makes sense to rely upon its finest products. When you make it yourself, your ghee has a smaller carbon footprint than ghee that has traveled a distance, as all commercial ghee I've found has.
When milk solids, water and other impurities are removed from butter, it is shelf stable for much longer than fresh butter; it will last months instead of days or weeks. This stability is one of the main reasons ghee has been used on the Indian subcontinent for centuries. Fresh butter quickly goes rancid in hot weather; ghee will last much longer, even when not refrigerated.
Some ghee is made from cream that has been fermented, either by sitting at room temperature for several hours or by the addition of a small amount of yogurt several hours before it is churned into butter. When you see “European-style butter” on a label - Clover is now making it - that's what it means. This butter and the ghee made from it has a deliciously tart characteristic.
Clarified butter in all its forms has a high smoke point, as it is the impurities that burn, not the fat itself. It is ideal for sautéing fish, chicken and a wide array of vegetables.
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This is the basic way to clarify butter, which means, simply, that you are removing everything that isn't butterfat. If you use it frequently - two or three times a week, let's say - you should double the recipe.
Clarified Butter
Makes not quite ½ cup, easily doubled or tripled
1 stick (4 ounces) local butter
Put the butter into a small saucepan and set over medium heat. When the butter is fully melted, turn off the heat. Use a thin spoon to remove any impurities on the surface of the butter.
When the bottom of the pan has a thin white film, decant the clarified butter into a heat-proof container, leaving the milk solids behind.
Use as needed and store, covered, in the refrigerator.
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You can make brown butter on the fly; just let clarified butter turn golden brown in the sauté pan before adding other ingredients. If you use it frequently, you might want to keep it on hand.
Beurre Noisette, aka Brown Butter
Makes not quite ½ cup, easily doubled or tripled
- Scant ½ cup, approximately, clarified butter
Put the clarified butter in a small saucepan set over low heat. Simmer very gently until the butter takes on a deep golden hue and gives off the scent of hazelnuts.
Remove from the heat, let cool slightly and pour into a heat-proof container.
Use as needed and store, covered, in the refrigerator.
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Ghee is essential in Indian cuisines and has also been used in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries. These days, it is touted as a superfood, with nearly magical properties attributed to it. It is, simply, butter, which is so good for human health that it can be considered a health food or, perhaps, even a superfood. But that applies to all butter, not just ghee. For the best quality, be sure to make it using butter from grass-fed animals. It is at its most delicious when it is made with European-style (i.e., fermented ) butter.
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