Clarified Butter

Clarified butter is not something that most "typical" American recipes call for.  It's literally butter that has been stripped of its milkfat and water, and what is left of it is the pretty golden butterfat.  I actually had no idea what this was until I started attempting to cook Indian food.  The recipes call for clarified butter, so I decided I should make some to see how feasible it is to make it myself.

I took unsalted butter and melted it in a small saucepan.

Then using a spoon, I skimmed off the white foam.  This does take a few minutes to do, but it's kind of a fun task.

See?

Skimming the foamy foam.

All done!

Okay, then I removed the butter from heat and let it sit.  In the meantime, I tried to figure out what I can use to strain the butter.

I ended up using a coffee filter tied to a mason jar with a rubber band.  AP science classes ftw!

Okay, then I poured the melted butter into the filter.

There.

It took a surprisingly long time for it to filter through.

Toward the end, I admit I got annoyed and punctured a teeny hole to facilitate the process.

Isn't it loverly?

The color of the butter is vibrant yellow, much yellower than the original stick form it came from.  This is because the milk fat has been skimmed off it.  The "sediment" that you see below isn't really sediment...it's because it took that long to filter it, the butter actually hardened at the bottom.

Now I have a few tablespoons of clarified butter all ready to use!  Score!