Worked in a restaurant and the customer insisted on clarified butter. The cook skimmed out some from a pot of just melted butter. The customer said it was the best he ever had. There are people who can tastes differences and there are people who need to be annoying snobs.
Milk/cream is a mostly-water solution with fats suspended in it (and, if it’s not homogenized, the fat will separate and float to the top. But if it IS homogenized, the fat globules are too small to separate out and even if it’s not, you still don’t get perfect separation but wind up with cream that has a fair amount of water.) Butter is a mostly-fat solution with water “suspended” in it but when at room temperature or colder, it’s too solid for the water to separate out.
If you melt the butter and then let it separate out and skim it off, you get just the fats and fat-soluble substances with no water or or water-soluble substances. Rendered fats, like used in suet cakes, is the same idea, where you take the fats from beef and cook them down and then let it cool. The water in the fat will separate out and you take the fat part and then melt it again to be able to mix in bird seed or otherwise use it for whatever.
allen@home over 3 years ago
Sounds like a good answer.
Digital Frog over 3 years ago
Ghee whiz, it was just a question…
eromlig over 3 years ago
It’s formerly esoteric butter. Duh…
Liverlips McCracken Premium Member over 3 years ago
Translation: “Get out of my kitchen, you troglodyte food hole. If I need you, I will call you.”
JoanHelen over 3 years ago
It is sometimes used in baking when unsalted butter is required. It is sometimes used in cooking Hindu food.
Ubintold over 3 years ago
That certainly clarifies things for me.
NeedaChuckle Premium Member over 3 years ago
Worked in a restaurant and the customer insisted on clarified butter. The cook skimmed out some from a pot of just melted butter. The customer said it was the best he ever had. There are people who can tastes differences and there are people who need to be annoying snobs.
KFischer1 over 3 years ago
You melt butter and let the solids settle. You then skim off the clear part off the top. That’s the clarified butter.
pathamil over 3 years ago
And the other reindeer shouted out with Ghee (cause they were clearly trying to butter him up…)
Gameguy49 Premium Member over 3 years ago
Clarified butter is the only thing that makes lobster worth eating.
Zen-of-Zinfandel over 3 years ago
Honey…I shrunk the kids.
DCBakerEsq over 3 years ago
Ever since “The Sausage Factory Incident,” the less I know about food the better.
christelisbetty over 3 years ago
I don’t know why they just don’t call it seperated butter.
WCraft Premium Member over 3 years ago
Well – she certainly clarified that issue.
Jeffin Premium Member over 3 years ago
Now Ghee out of here! Clear enough?
prabbit237 over 3 years ago
Milk/cream is a mostly-water solution with fats suspended in it (and, if it’s not homogenized, the fat will separate and float to the top. But if it IS homogenized, the fat globules are too small to separate out and even if it’s not, you still don’t get perfect separation but wind up with cream that has a fair amount of water.) Butter is a mostly-fat solution with water “suspended” in it but when at room temperature or colder, it’s too solid for the water to separate out.
If you melt the butter and then let it separate out and skim it off, you get just the fats and fat-soluble substances with no water or or water-soluble substances. Rendered fats, like used in suet cakes, is the same idea, where you take the fats from beef and cook them down and then let it cool. The water in the fat will separate out and you take the fat part and then melt it again to be able to mix in bird seed or otherwise use it for whatever.