Food & Cooking Questions and Discussion Got a cooking question or something you want to discuss about food and cooking? This is the forum for you. Talk about anything related to food & cooking.


Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 10-08-2002, 10:57 PM
cookinscool's Avatar
cookinscool Offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Posts: 48
Chef clarified butter

HI,
At the hotel that I work at, we always use clarified butter. What is so special about it as opposed to regular butter. The clarrification takes out the whey right? is this done in order to raise the smoking point?
Reply With Quote


  #2  
Old 10-09-2002, 01:00 AM
culinarian247's Avatar
culinarian247 Offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Right Here
Posts: 439
Default

Takes out the milk fats, too. And yes it does allow the butter to be utilized at a higher temperature.
__________________
Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860)

M.E.A.T.
Mankind Enjoying Animal Tastiness
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 10-10-2002, 05:43 AM
KyleW's Avatar
KyleW Offline
Registered User
Culinary Experience: Home Chef
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: NYC, NY USA
Posts: 1,717
Default

Having no children to support, I have taken to buying clarified butter It's about $9/pound. How many pounds of butter would I need to end up with a pound of clarified butter?
__________________
At weddings, my Aunts would poke me in the ribs and cackle "You're next!". They stopped when I started doing the same to them at funerals.
www.kyleskitchen.net
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 10-10-2002, 06:06 AM
miahoyhoy's Avatar
miahoyhoy Offline
Registered User
Culinary Experience: Professional Chef
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Vermont, USA
Posts: 250
Default

Hi everyone,

Clarifying butter removes the water and the butter solids, not utter fat. That is what remains. Taking out the water and butter solids raises the smoke point considerably.
If you clarify your own butter you get about a 75% yeild. Thats 3/4 pound of clarified for 1 pound of whole.

Good day mate,
Jon
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 10-10-2002, 07:59 AM
barista's Avatar
barista Offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Singapore
Posts: 38
Question

From what I've read, ghee is supposed to be clarified butter but it has also been "cooked" a little longer to give it a more nutty taste. Are there any reasons why recipes call for clarified butter and not ghee? Can we substitute ghee for clarified butter or is clarifying your own butter a matter of knowing what you're getting? I'm puzzled.
__________________
K C

"Life is uncertain... eat dessert first."
Anon
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 10-10-2002, 11:28 AM
kuan's Avatar
kuan Offline
ChefTalk Moderator
Culinary Experience: Retired Chef
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 4,717
Default

Yes there are reasons why some recipes call for clarified butter and not ghee. It's because they're not Indian recipes! I worked for a chef once who loved to literally boil his butter to clarify it. For simple sauteing, there's not much difference actually whether you use clarified butter or even olive oil. I've used margarine before. Don't shoot me.

Kuan
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 10-10-2002, 11:35 AM
barista's Avatar
barista Offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Singapore
Posts: 38
Default

So ghee is a form of clarified butter, but clarified butter is not necessary ghee??
__________________
K C

"Life is uncertain... eat dessert first."
Anon
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 10-10-2002, 12:31 PM
kuan's Avatar
kuan Offline
ChefTalk Moderator
Culinary Experience: Retired Chef
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 4,717
Default

Bingo! And then there's vegetarian ghee...

Kuan
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 10-10-2002, 12:53 PM
KyleW's Avatar
KyleW Offline
Registered User
Culinary Experience: Home Chef
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: NYC, NY USA
Posts: 1,717
Default

Quote:
Originally posted by barista
So ghee is a form of clarified butter, but clarified butter is not necessary ghee??
All squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares
__________________
At weddings, my Aunts would poke me in the ribs and cackle "You're next!". They stopped when I started doing the same to them at funerals.
www.kyleskitchen.net
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 10-10-2002, 03:31 PM
Suzanne's Avatar
Suzanne Offline
ChefTalk Moderator
Culinary Experience: Professional Chef
 
Join Date: May 2001
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 4,027
Default

I can't imagine making hollandaise with melted whole butter.

And when I did pastry, as soon as I started using clarified butter to paint the phyllo dough, my baked blueberry "spring rolls" stopped exploding.

Since I haven't quite got the patience to make ghee, I use clarified butter in Indian recipes. Not quite as authentic, but it still tastes good (well, of course it will; it's BUTTER )

I wonder, is there any point to trying to make clarified margarine?
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 10-10-2002, 04:13 PM
kuan's Avatar
kuan Offline
ChefTalk Moderator
Culinary Experience: Retired Chef
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 4,717
Default

Margarine is cheaper than butter. If you use 5-6# a night the savings is worthit. That's for sauteeing of course. For Hollandaise nothing beats real butter.

Kuan
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 10-12-2002, 08:01 AM
miahoyhoy's Avatar
miahoyhoy Offline
Registered User
Culinary Experience: Professional Chef
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Vermont, USA
Posts: 250
Default

Cheaper, but not necessarily better for you.
no proccessing please,
Jon
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 10-12-2002, 08:05 AM
kuan's Avatar
kuan Offline
ChefTalk Moderator
Culinary Experience: Retired Chef
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 4,717
Default

Which is worse for you, 2 teaspoons of Margarine or a 1/4c of hollandaise? I did say for sauteing right? Small things like that can make the difference between paying your bills and going under.

Kuan

Last edited by kuan; 10-12-2002 at 08:07 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 10-12-2002, 08:30 AM
W.DeBord Offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 1,755
Default

Using the liquids in the butter make items stick in your pan. Like when frying with unclairafied butter you might be frying with water, not fat.
When baking, using spray pan releases that contain any other ingredients (other then fat like water) makes your cakes stick to the pan. Look at the label of your pan release....many list water as their first ingred..
__________________
"Bakers are born, not made. We are exacting people who delight in submitting ourselves to rules and formulas if it means achieving repeatable perfection", Rose Levy Beranbaum
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 10-13-2002, 12:07 PM
miahoyhoy's Avatar
miahoyhoy Offline
Registered User
Culinary Experience: Professional Chef
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Vermont, USA
Posts: 250
Default

Do what you must to survive I guess.
I'd raise the price of my dishes 10 cents before cooking or using anything that's been hydrogenized. Here's one example.
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/margarine.html
The truth is out there...
Jon
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks


Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
drawn butter vs. clarified butter? Live_to_cook Food & Cooking Questions and Discussion 32 11-17-2008 11:03 AM
Clarified butter D.luffy Food & Cooking Questions and Discussion 5 03-28-2008 02:22 PM
Clarified butter in Balkava? mudbug Pastries and Baking General 31 03-01-2008 02:28 AM
Clarified Butter? maxon8 Food & Cooking Questions and Discussion 9 06-28-2007 09:40 PM
CLARIFIED BUTTER(Ghee) larry ziegler Food & Cooking Questions and Discussion 3 03-02-2005 03:34 AM