Recipe for clarified butter
>Clarified butter is almost indispensable in, for example, a Sauce Bearnaise, and therefore I have experimented a lot with it.
People who know me or follow my recipes know that I often make this delightful sauce in many different ways.
However, it is common that the sauce becomes thicker if you use clarified butter instead of butter that still has its whey. I believe it is said that 15% of the butter is liquid.
It is, however, possible to make the sauce without clarifying it beforehand, as you can see in the video below:
For a long time, I struggled with straining/pouring out the whey (the white sediments) when I had melted my butter. I have tried countless strainers/cheesecloth/muslin without success.
But after many attempts, I have now found the perfect way(s) to clarify my butter. Of course, I will share it with you here.
Clarified Butter
Equipment
- Pot Method 1
- Sous Vide Method 2
Ingredients
- 1 package Butter the quantity is not crucial here
Instructions
Method 1
- Put the butter in a pot and turn it to a relatively high heat (11 out of 14 on my stove). If you want to melt the butter faster, just cut it into smaller pieces before putting it in the pot.
- Once the butter is melted, pour it into a bag.
- Use 2 clothespins to hang the bag at an angle (as I show in my top picture) in, for example, the refrigerator. As the butter solidifies, the liquid/whey will settle at the bottom.
- As soon as the butter is firm, you can do the following: 1) cut a hole in the bottom where the whey is, and it will drain out of the bag. 2) Use a bag clip to seal in the whey, so you can easily remove the butter itself.
- The butter is now clarified and ready to use.
- You might have thought that I wouldn't use my beloved sous vide for this, but of course, I have a variant for it as well:
- Put the butter in a vacuum bag and seal it.
- Melt the butter in the water bath at about 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit). The temperature is not that important; you can easily melt it at 50 or 80 degrees Celsius (176 degrees Fahrenheit).
- As soon as all the butter is melted, remove the bag from the water bath and hang it at an angle in the fridge with 1-2 clothespins.
- As soon as the butter has solidified, you can cut a hole in the bottom/corner with the whey, so it can be discarded.
- Enjoy.