How to Brown Butter

Published on Wednesday, August 9, 2006, by The CHOW Editorial Team / Edit Post

Brown butter is butter that’s heated until its milk solids turn brown. Use a stainless-steel pan; the butter sticks to aluminum. Whatever you do, don’t use a black-bottomed pan, because you won’t be able see what’s happening to the butter. Any heat will work, but medium is what we recommend. Some people like to strain out the specks, but we don’t; that’s what makes brown butter brown butter.

Three Shades of Butter

Watch the butter closely. When you’ve got the shade you’re looking for, pull the pan from the heat and dip the bottom into a waiting bowl or sink filled with water to arrest the cooking. Otherwise, make sure you pull the pan before the butter achieves the right color, because it will continue to brown for another minute or so in a hot pan.

If you think you went too far and made your butter too brown, don’t throw it away; now you’ve got beurre noir, another sauce—not the one you were aiming for, of course, but good nonetheless. With lemon juice, capers, and parsley, it’s perfect on fish.

NOT BROWN ENOUGH

JUST RIGHT

TOO BROWN

While You’re at It

Brown butter (called beurre noisette in French) is a versatile ingredient:
  • With lemon and parsley, you’ve got a variation on beurre meuniere, a fine sauce for fish.
  • Instead of vegetable oil, use brown butter as the emulsifying fat in a vinaigrette; with balsamic vinegar, it makes a nice sauce for fish, chicken, or vegetables.

Photographs by Maren Caruso

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POST A COMMENT |9 Comments

COMMENT

  • If your brown butter gets too dark, I suggest you throw it away.
    "Beurre noir" is not used anymore in French cooking (and restaurants) as it's been proven to be carcinogen.
    I still have vivid memories of my grandmother's "raie au beurre noir" though...

  • How much more detail do you need in excess of pictures, and recommended heat setting along with descriptions of what to do to avoid cooking it too long, and even a recipe if you have? LOL

  • I've made clarified butter. That is, I've attempted, failed and finally perfected the process. I felt pride in this. One night, a friend of mine at CIA NY sent me a list of recipes from school to look through (a big no no), and as I went through the indian recipes, a particular word was repeated: "ghee". I called a friend (indian) and she told me it's just claified butter, and furthermore, IT...+READ

    I've made clarified butter. That is, I've attempted, failed and finally perfected the process. I felt pride in this. One night, a friend of mine at CIA NY sent me a list of recipes from school to look through (a big no no), and as I went through the indian recipes, a particular word was repeated: "ghee". I called a friend (indian) and she told me it's just claified butter, and furthermore, IT COMES IN A JAR! SO! Find an indian grocer nearby, and just buy some! I know! I felt stupid too!-COLLAPSE

  • I make my clarified butter in a pyrex dish in the microwave, covered with a saucer. On my old microwave it worked perfectly on the defrost setting for about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. On my new microwave I haven't perfected the settings yet.

    The white foam was easy to skim off and the solids stayed down on the bottom. Depending on your tolerance for waste, you can get it close to perfectly clear

  • A temperature and approximate time as well as basic measurements for stated time would be nice, folks!

    Basiaclly, all this tells me is "To brown butter, borwn it till it's borwn."

    C'mon, a little more detail!

  • To make ghee, you first need to brown the butter (as it is depicted above). As soon as the butter has hit the right point, remove it from the heat so that it doesn't continue to cook. Start clarifying the butter by skimming all the white foam (which you can see in the photos above) off of the surface. Next, decant the butterfat by pouring it into a separate container and leaving behind all the...+READ

    To make ghee, you first need to brown the butter (as it is depicted above). As soon as the butter has hit the right point, remove it from the heat so that it doesn't continue to cook. Start clarifying the butter by skimming all the white foam (which you can see in the photos above) off of the surface. Next, decant the butterfat by pouring it into a separate container and leaving behind all the water and milk solids. The clarified butter should look clear like cooking oil and can now be used to cook at a higher temperature than when it was whole butter.

    Oh, and one last thing. Make sure to use unsalted butter when making clarified butter. Let's just say you don't want to go through all this trouble only to end up with a salt lick.-COLLAPSE

  • It would be great to see this again as a video, just showing the butter pass through the different stages. Also, could someone elaborate on how to clarify the butter to make ghee?

  • good question, haapi. ghee is brown butter (what we discuss above) that is then clarified. to clarify butter means to remove all the milk solids (that white foamy stuff you see on the surface) and water from the butterfat. once this is done it is actually possible to cook butter at a higher temperature than if it were whole butter.

  • what's the difference between this and ghee?