Clarified butter: one ingredient and no smoke until 250 degrees
Butter is almost 18 % water and milk proteins, and it is the proteins that scorch in a pan from around 150 °C, leaving black specks and a bitter taste. Clarifying removes both, leaving pure butterfat that does not start to smoke until roughly 230–250 °C. It is also virtually lactose free and keeps for months outside the fridge. Indian ghee is the same butter cooked a little longer, until the solids brown and give it a nutty aroma.
Your own work in that: 39 min.
- Melting 8 min
- Simmering 26 min
- Straining 5 min
- Cooling 120 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneMelt the butter slowly
Cube the butter and melt it in a heavy-bottomed pan over low heat, without stirring. It takes about 8 minutes. Low heat is essential here: over high heat the water boils off violently and splatters the proteins up the sides instead of letting them settle.
Ingredients: 500 g butter, 82 % fat
Heavy base, low heat, no stirringSkim the foam
As the butter begins to bubble gently, a layer of white foam forms on the surface — mostly whey proteins. Skim it off with a spoon and discard it. Keep going for 10 minutes, until no more foam forms and the surface clears.
TipMuslin will catch some of the foam, but the finest proteins pass through and cloud the jar. Skimming as you go gives the clearest butter.
White foam skimmed off, ten minutesCook until it falls silent
Continue over low heat another 10–12 minutes. The butter stops crackling and hissing — the sign that all the water has evaporated. The liquid turns clear and golden, with white milk solids settled on the bottom.
TipSound is a better indicator here than sight. While the butter crackles there is still water in it; silence means only fat remains.
Decide: clarified or ghee
For clarified butter, take it off now, while the sediment is still white. For ghee, cook another 3–4 minutes, until the solids brown and the butter smells of nuts and caramel. Watch it closely: brown to burnt is a minute.
White sediment is clarified, brown is gheeStrain through muslin
Line a sieve with double muslin and pour the butter through into a scalded, dry jar, without scraping the sediment. That last spoonful from the bottom holds the remaining protein and it is what shortens the product's life.
Double muslin; the sediment stays behindCool and seal
Leave the jar open until completely cool, usually about 2 hours — the butter sets and turns from clear gold to a smooth pale solid. Only then put the lid on. Sealed hot, steam condenses under the lid, and a drop of water is all mould needs.
Cool it open, then seal it
Before you start
How much you get
500 g of butter gives about 400 g of clarified. The loss is water and protein — normal, and a good illustration of how much of ordinary butter only gets in the way when you fry with it.
What to use it for
High-heat frying: steaks, pancakes, vegetables. It tastes of butter and takes heat like refined rapeseed oil. In North Indian cooking ghee is the everyday fat for many curries and dals.
How long it keeps
Three months at room temperature in a sealed jar kept in the dark, six months in the fridge. With no water and no protein there is nothing for bacteria to work on — over time the fat can only go rancid. Always use a clean, dry spoon.
Don't use salted butter
Salt does not dissolve in fat: it stays in the foam and sediment, which makes them foam more and scorch more easily. Some salt still ends up in the jar, and there is no telling how much — clarified salted butter can taste salty, which is a problem for pancakes or baking.