by Geraldine Duncann
Clarified butter is butter with the milk solids and water removed. What remains is pure fat. If kept in an air tight container it does not need to be refrigerated. It is the milk solids in butter that make it go rancid. One pound of butter will yield about eight or nine ounces of clarified butter, and a little less of ghee.
To make clarified butter or ghee, slowly melt one pound of unsalted butter in a heavy sauce pan. Allow to simmer gently until it bubbles. It begins to bubble as the water evaporates. Continue to simmer over a moderate until it is golden colored. As it bubbles skim of any milk solids that rise to the top. When it is golden it is ready to finish as clarified butter. Remove from the heat and allow to cool until solid. If the weather is warm, you may need to refrigerate it. Turn it out of the pan, and gently scrape off the milk solids from the bottom.
If you want to make ghee, continue cooking until the milk solids brown a bit. This gives ghee its characteristic dark gold color and nutty flavor. When cool enough to solidify, turn it out of the pot and gently scrape any impurities off the bottom, or while it is still liquid, you can pour it through a fine sieve.
Store in a sterilized glass container with a tight fitting lid. Properly made ghee does not need refrigeration.
Flavored Ghee:
Many cooks like to make flavored Ghee. To do this, simply add the flavoring agent to the pot with the butter and leave while the Ghee simmers. As for above, skim off any milk solids that rise to the top. When finished, pour through several layers of cheese cloth or a layer of muslin to remove the flavoring agent. Proceed as above.
Favorite flavoring agents are, garlic, fennel, annatto, basal, cardamom, chili, and mint.