COOKING WITH BUTTER

September 26, 2006
Show #513

Butter is quite possibly the most ubiquitous ingredient in the kitchen after salt. It lends flavor and texture to sauces, provides a toasty, nutty flavor to fried foods, gracefully melts into a warm piece of bread and adds a luxurious richness to pastries. Below are a few recipes you can use when cooking with butter.

Clarifying Butter:

The goal in clarifying butter is to remove all of the water and milk solids present in the butter and isolate the pure milk fat.

Place a pound of butter in a sauce pan. Heat over medium heat until the butter begins to boil. When the boiling has stopped, in other words, all of the water has been released by evaporation, turn off the heat. Allow the butter to cool to room temp. With a spoon, skim off the layer of dry whey protein that has formed on top. Decant the liquid fat off of the protein solids in the bottom of the pan. This liquid fat can be used for frying foods or as a dipping sauce for lobster or shrimp.

Beurre Noisette

Beurre Noisette is the French term for "brown butter" or literally "hazelnut butter". Unsalted butter is cooked in a pan over medium heat until it turns a golden brown. Pour the butter into a container and store in the refrigerator. The resulting butter has a nutty flavor.

Beurre Blanc

Beurre Blanc is one of the classic French sauces that goes well with a variety of fish.

2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon black pepper corns
4 shallots, chopped
1/2 cup Ver Jus or Champagne vinegar
1 cup dry white wine (for Beurre Rouge, substitute red wine)
1 lb butter, cut into cubes and kept cold until use

1.            In a sauce pan over med-high heat boil all of the ingredients except the butter until most of the liquid has evaporated.

2.            Stir in the cold butter one piece at a time over low heat until all has been incorporated.

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