What is Clarified Butter?

Most simply clarified butter is butter with the milk-solid proteins taken out.  These proteins are what cause the butter to burn at low temperatures. If you’re sautéing with high heat or for prolonged periods and don’t want the butter to burn you’ll need to use clarified butter.  It’s truly a simple procedure.

To Clarify Butter:

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom pot and let it sit for 15 minutes.

With a ladle, skim off the froth that has formed on top of the butter and discard.

Lift off the melted clear butterfat, the clarified butter, with a ladle, leaving the water contained in the butter, now useless, in the bottom of the pot.

Or Simpler yet:

Cook unsalted butter in a heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat until it froths, and the froth begins to settle.

As the froth settles, you’ll see white specks in the butter.  When they turn to brown and adhere to the bottom and sides of the pan  strain the butter through a paper towel, coffee filter, or fine mesh strainer into a bowl.