Ghee (Clarified Butter)

[Suvir Saran]

Ghee is the purest form of fat made from butter. It is mentioned prominently in the ancient Hindu scriptures. These texts have been dates back to at least 5000BC.

Ghee is clarified butter made from the milk of cows and buffaloes in India. Ghee made from cows milk is called Bariya ghee (great ghee) or even Usli Ghee (real ghee)

In days past when refrigeration was not available, ghee was the way milk and butter were kept from spoiling.

Some Indians, break the norm and prefer using buffalo milk for it keeps the ghee from turning less and the end product is also lighter in color and less smelly.

[BettyK]

Nothing like ghee made from cows milk. I remember my mam used to make that way back when we

had fresh milk delivered to our door. Then she would make some paratha with that ghee - heaven!

Suvir, do you use ghee when making paratha?

I bought some vegetable ghee - tasteless Might be better off using clarified butter.

[Simon Majumdar]

Tarkas ( Sp?) made by frying bulb chillies, curry leaves and a little turmeric in ghee can be the most wonderful addition to an otherwise simple dhal.

I almost always make one to pour over the top just before serving

You can have so much variety. I sometimes use whole garlic cloves, slivers of fresh ginger and a little chilli fried in ghee and poured over casseroles just before serving.

S

[Suvir Saran]

Suvir, do you use ghee when making paratha?

I bought some vegetable ghee - tasteless    Might be better off using clarified butter.

Yes I love using ghee when making parathas, even pooris. What is wonderful about using ghee when making pooris (puffy bread) is that they will keep softer when they are cold. If you fry them in oil, they will get brittle as they cool.

Vegetable Ghee - I have never seen this, but it is my guess that this is noting but Dalda (Crisco like Indian fat). It is good for certain things, but nothing special. In fact everything that you need Dalda for, you can do with ghee and better.

Dalda has been a cheaper substitute for ghee. Ghee is not cheap in India. And so many cannot afford to use it for everything. Thus the use of this alternative.

[Suvir Saran]

Tarkas ( Sp?) made by frying bulb chillies, curry leaves and a little turmeric in ghee can be the most wonderful addition to an otherwise simple dhal.

Tarkas/tadkas/baghaar/chaunk - These are the "jaan (life)" of daals, as we would say in India.

Cannot agree with you more Simon about ghee transforming simple daals (lentils).

Some of the common ingredients that go into tarkas (tempered ghee) over daals are the following:

Whole dried chiles

fresh greenc chiles

cumin seeds

asafetida

curry leaves

onions

garlic

turmeric

cayenne

panch phoron

grated coconut

[vivin]

I grew up on home made ghee from buffalo milk. I might have tasted cow milk ghee - might not (how sad). Some of the dishes just do not taste the same without its use. Others, I could do without it (too heavy). Do you buy it in bottles? which brands. I tried Maya ghee when my parents visited last year. not bad, I think.

[Suvir Saran]

I grew up on home made ghee from buffalo milk. I might have tasted cow milk ghee - might not (how sad). Some of the dishes just do not taste the same without its use. Others, I could do without it (too heavy). Do you buy it in bottles? which brands. I tried Maya ghee when my parents visited last year. not bad, I think.

I use Maya as well. Excellent and keeps for years sitting in the pantry.

[Suvir Saran]

I grew up on home made ghee from buffalo milk. I might have tasted cow milk ghee - might not (how sad). Some of the dishes just do not taste the same without its use.

You may have been the luckier one. For buffalo milk ghee is richer and tastier to most. But only for the reverence attributed to cows, many place it at that much higher altar.

I love buffalo milk ghee for it has a lesser aroma and yet all the other properties associated with ghee. I am sure you could sense that from your cooking with Maya cows milk ghee. Whenever I use ghee, the entire apartment has a Ghee aroma for the longest time. But when I have used buffalo milk ghee, that is never the case.

[Aurora]

Would anyone be so kind as to provide a recipe for ghee? I would like to try it using buffalo milk. I have never used buffalo milk, and I suspect that I may have some diffuculty obtaining it at my local market. Is it an item that I could find at an Indian market?

[Suvir Saran]

Would anyone be so kind as to provide a recipe for ghee?  I would like to try it using buffalo milk.  I have never used buffalo milk, and I suspect that I may have some diffuculty obtaining it at my local market.  Is it an item that I could find at an Indian market?

You are asking for a lot.

Ghee is easiest to make from butter. If you can find buffalo milk butter, it would make it simple.

Ghee is made by first making yogurt from whole milk (buffalo or cow). This yogurt is then churned until the butter separates from the buttermilk. In India we use a ravi (a churner). They are usually made with wood or ceramic. Either is fine. It is not an easy task. I am sure one could use a kitchen aid or some electronic equipment. I have never made it from scratch this way in the US, so have no suggestion that would make it easier.

The butter you get from the yogurt is placed in a kadai (wok) and melted. Once it is melted and hot, it is simmered until a brown sediment settled down at the bottom of the kadai. The top is clear and what is called ghee. As you continue to simmer, froth will from on the kadai, discard this as you go on.

Cool the ghee just a little so as to make it easy to handle. Strain this into a sterilized glass jar. Use a very fine metal strainer. Cool the strained liquid and then cover and store. The liquid will begin to solidify as it cools. In most parts of the US, the ghee will harden quite a lot. But it is easy to melt it and also it keeps for years. The consistency of ghee is similar to that of margarine.

The sediment that you have left can be kept aside to use for making laddoos (fudge balls). I make the laddoos by adding some ground cardamom powder into the sediment and sugar and some almond flour. This is my one big reason to ever make ghee at home. But store bought ghee is just as good.

[Suvir Saran]

I most often use unsalted butter bought from the store to make ghee.

I melt the butter in a kadai and simmer for around 20-40 minutes, until the water in the butter has evaporated and the sediment has settled in the base.

For the rest, use the recipe above.

[Aurora]

...But store bought ghee is just as good.

OK. Point taken.

This could turn into a horrible disaster. For safe measure, I will head back up to Devon Ave.

[Suvir Saran]

On the thread about Brown Butter, I see mentioned some difference between Clarified Butter and Ghee.

What is that difference?

[Suvir Saran]

Recipes for each of them anyone?

[Fat Guy]

Ghee is the next step after clarified butter. It's simmered for a much longer time such that all or nearly all the moisture evaporates, and the remaining product starts moving towards the brown-butter direction. You can usually substitute one for the other, but ghee does have a nuttier taste and a higher smoke point.

[Brad S]

I can't add to what FG said, so I won't :)

But-- Beurre noisette (brown butter) is the foundation to many French ala minute pan sauces.IE Amondine, Menuire ETC

[Suzanne F]

Since I made the mention originally In addition to what FG and CC said:

About butter: butter is an emulsion of fat and water, with some milk solids. The water and solids are what causes butter to deteriorate (go rancid), and it is the presence of the milk solids that limits it as a frying medium. The milk solids can burn at relatively low cooking temperatures, giving an off-taste to the fat.

In the progression of hot, plain (that is, not compound) butters:

1. melted butter (beurre fondu). This is just, well, butter that has been melted. It still contains water and milk solids, which can be seen at the bottom of the container.

2. brown butter (beurre noisette) is butter that has been melted and cooked just to the point at which the milk solids are very lightly browned. See what CC said about this, above.

3. black butter (beurre noir) is cooked a little more than brown, but is not really black. If it gets to that point, throw it out and start again, because it will be bitter and inedible. Both brown and black butters are difficult to make because of the speed with which the butter can overcook, i.e., burn.

4. clarified butter, sometimes also called drawn butter, is butterfat and some water, without the milk. To make: melt butter over low heat, skim off the foam that rises to the top, then pour off the liquid fat, leaving the milky residue. Clarified butter is less flavorful, but it's better for frying than whole butter.

5. ghee is butter that has been cooked long enough over low heat for all the water to evaporate; the milk solids are left in during cooking to develop a nutty flavor. The cooked milk solids are discarded, and only the pure butterfat is saved. The absence of water inhibits the formation of butyric acid, a compound formed from fat and water, that is responsible for the smell and taste of rancidity. This is why ghee will keep without refrigeration.

with thanks to Shirley Corriher, Alan Davidson, Chef Frank Lima, and 40 years of cooking experience.

[Suvir Saran]

Since I made the mention originally    In addition to what FG and CC said:

About butter:  butter is an emulsion of fat and water, with some milk solids.  The water and solids are what causes butter to deteriorate (go rancid), and it is the presence of the milk solids that limits it as a frying medium.  The milk solids can burn at relatively low cooking temperatures, giving an off-taste to the fat.

In the progression of hot, plain (that is, not compound) butters: 

1.  melted butter (beurre fondu).  This is just, well, butter that has been melted.  It still contains water and milk solids, which can be seen at the bottom of the container.

2.  brown butter (beurre noisette) is butter that has been melted and cooked just to the point at which the milk solids are very lightly browned.  See what CC said about this, above.

3.  black butter (beurre noir) is cooked a little more than brown, but is not really black.  If it gets to that point, throw it out and start again, because it will be bitter and inedible.  Both brown and black butters are difficult to make because of the speed with which the butter can overcook, i.e., burn.

4.  clarified butter, sometimes also called drawn butter, is butterfat and some water, without the milk.  To make: melt butter over low heat, skim off the foam that rises to the top, then pour off the liquid fat, leaving the milky residue.  Clarified butter is less flavorful, but it's better for frying than whole butter.

5.  ghee is butter that has been cooked long enough over low heat for all the water to evaporate; the milk solids are left in during cooking to develop a nutty flavor.  The cooked milk solids are discarded, and only the pure butterfat is saved.  The absence of water inhibits the formation of butyric acid, a compound formed from fat and water, that is responsible for the smell and taste of rancidity.  This is why ghee will keep without refrigeration.

with thanks to Shirley Corriher, Alan Davidson, Chef Frank Lima, and 40 years of cooking experience.

Thanks SuzanneF! That was a very informative and thorough post.

[Elizabeth Ann]

I was in Williams-Sonoma yesterday and saw that they now have clarified plugras, 12 oz. for $10.00! Wow, one can make it for a fraction of that cost.

[Wilfrid]

Great stuff. Learnt some things there, quite quickly and painlessly.

[Suzanne F]

Yes, that's available commercially, too. I've seen it promoted at food shows in maybe gallon tubs (probably for not much more than WS charges for 12 oz!). Just another "time-and-labor-saver" for restaurants and home cooks who don't know how to make it, or are afraid to try. In other words, a rip-off. (I mean, ANYBODY can learn to make it. I've taught it to people who did not understand a word I was saying; but they watched, they learned, they could do it!) Ah well, American marketing

[Fat Guy]

Butter is one of the world's most super-delicious substances and is responsible for the great taste of so many recipes, yet when reduced to little rectangular bricks, wrapped in wax paper, and placed on supermarket shelves, it yields up few of its secrets. Many recipes call simply for "butter," and rarely does any recipe specify anything beyond "salted" or "unsalted" butter. Yet butter -- simply as a raw ingredient, without even getting into any issues of how to use it in cooking -- must be divided along three sets of lines in order to be understood and utilized, in addition to the helpful divisions of another kind that Suzanne presented:

1) There are two major styles of butter making: American (sweet) and European (cultured). American-style sweet butter is made from fresh cream and has a clean, straightforward, unobtrusive taste. European-style cultured butter is made from cream that has been allowed to culture -- usually overnight -- and has an assertive, multidimensional, almost sour-cream-like taste to it. The choice of which to use (and most large supermarkets now have at least one cultured butter available) makes a world of difference in the end product.

2) The choice of salted or unsalted butter is of vital importance because, of course, it affects how much salt needs to be added to the rest of the recipe. However, since there is almost no way to know how much salt really is in salted butter (specimens vary wildly), it is rarely advisable to use salted butter in cooking. Moreover, salted butter, because it keeps better (salt is a natural preservative), is usually held on supermarket shelves longer than sweet butter. Salted butter, however, is the superior condiment for bread -- but it's even better if you start with sweet butter and salt it yourself (not to mention all the other seasonings you can add to create what are called compound butters).

3) Different butters have different percentages of butterfat. Many people assume that, since butter comes from cream, it is 100 percent fat. Actually the number hovers closer to 80 percent, with the rest being water and other compounds. Just a couple of percentage points difference in fat content significantly changes the behavior of butter, as any French or American chef who has traveled to the other country can tell you (French butter usually has 2-3 percent more fat than American, although this gap is closing). Some supermarket butters, finally, are being labeled with their fat contents.

Butter is one of the most wonderful and luscious ingredients imaginable, yet it can turn against you quickly if not handled properly. Many home cooks have tremendous difficulty sautéing with butter, for example, because they either don't get it hot enough or they burn it. A basic understanding of the chemistry of butter and dairy fats in general, however, can help any cook work confidently with butter: By knowing the basics of what is going on at the molecular level, and by knowing what specific visual and auditory signals (you have to listen to butter) to be alert for as butter heats up, a cook can control butter precisely. And then the permutations become possible: Intentionally burning butter in a controlled manner in order to create brown butter and derivative sauces. Clarifying butter to separate it from its solids and therefore make it usable at higher temperatures without burning.

One way to learn about butter is to make some at home -- easily -- from cream purchased at the supermarket. Another way is to work on basic butter sauces (beurre blanc, for example) and build those into full recipes. Yet another way is to manipulate butter into compound butters by adding herbs and seasonings. Yet few cookbooks ever bother to illustrate these techniques, or to talk about butter at all.

[ngatti]

Thanks Steve. That was a generous post.

Nick

[Peter B Wolf]

Enlightenment is the completion of the day (and this one isn't even over yet).

Thank you, Suzanne!! and Steven!

Just like to add: "The other 'Butter';

like in "Pass the 'Butter', please" and you only visited some friends for dinner.

Or does it not need mention on this board? BTW, why are there people actually calling 'Margarine' "Butter"??

[Fat Guy]

I just love the delicious irony of the latest nutritional research on margarine and butter, which indicates that there are some strong arguments in favor of butter over margarine (though it does seem the new trans-fat-free margarines address the point). In any event, I think it's fair to say that butter taken in moderation is not harmful.