[cookinscool]

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?

 

[culinarian247]

Takes out the milk fats, too. And yes it does allow the butter to be utilized at a higher temperature.

 

[kylew]

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?

 

[miahoyhoy]

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

 

[barista]

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.

 

[kuan]

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

 

[barista]

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

 

[kuan]

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

Kuan

 

[kylew]

All squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares

 

[suzanne]

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?

 

[kuan]

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

 

[miahoyhoy]

Cheaper, but not necessarily better for you.
no proccessing please,
Jon

 

[kuan]

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

 

[w.debord]

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..

 

[miahoyhoy]

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

 

[suzanne]

Really? Wow, learn something every day. Thanks for the heads-up. :chef:

 

[kuan]

It's nothing new Jon. I've been reading these papers since the mid 80's. Do you not drain the oil before you deglaze the pan? How much do you think you actually ingest?

Kuan

 

[miahoyhoy]

Hi Kuan,
How about we just agree to disagree on this subject.
You say tomato and I say potato.
cool?
Jon

 

[kuan]

Jon,

First of all, if you were around 4 years ago around this time when butter was $4 a pound you would be raising prices more than $0.10 a plate. Maybe you were and you didn't for some reason, which brings me to my next point.

Second of all, even if you did raise prices $0.10 a plate your customers might go somewhere else. I'll repeat a small business lesson for you. Customers should not have to bear YOUR cost of doing business. True prices are set more by market demand than by your food cost.

You know what, do what you want. If you believe that eating minute quantities of free fatty acids will kill you then by all means don't do it. The problem is that overzealous health nuts use this information to spread fear among the general populous in order to further their irrational cause. The article you point to is titled to imply that for some reason the makers of margarine are out to fool the world. There is no margarine "hoax" as the article implies. Nobody is trying to kill us with tran-fats.

I cannot stress enough the importance of placing things in a proper context. Once again, you're not putting the stuff on a stick and eating it for dinner. If you're eating enough to make you worried then you should be worried about other things as well.

Kuan

 

[miahoyhoy]

I think Kuan needs a hug.
Jon