Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Browned Butter

I just ate the unhealthiest dinner ever. But it was sooo good! Jake is my master chef and he knows how much I like the brown butter & mizithra cheese pasta from the Spaghetti Factory so he decided to make it for me... with a twist by adding bacon. Mmmm!! Have you ever had browned butter? It it WAY better than just regular, melted butter, with extra flavors and almost a sweet nuttiness to it. If you've never had it you have to try it. It's completely unheathy so have it in small doses. But here is a recipe taken from this page:

Cut up a pound of unsalted butter into small pieces, and put into a large, cold saucepan. Turn the burner to medium, and let the butter melt, swirling or stirring it occasionally. One pound of brown butter should take about 15-20 minutes to reach the right point. The butter will start to foam, and the milk solids will sink to the bottom before they turn brown, so keep an eye on it and stir frequently, so that it doesn't burn.

It's done when the mixture begins to turn golden and a release a nutty aroma. At this point, it will turn from golden to black very quickly (and black means bitter), so you'll want to transfer it immediately to your clean, shallow bowl, as it will keep cooking in the pan even after you take it off the heat. Let the butter cool down, then cover well and refrigerate. Brown butter loses about 25 percent of water weight as it cooks, so you'll be left with 75 percent of what you started with. Plan accordingly when measuring for recipes.

When ready to use, you'll need to let the butter soften slightly, but a small ice cream scoop works well to remove it from the bowl.

It's actually pretty easy, and if you make a lot and save it like the recipe suggests, just substitute it for normal baking, cooking, spreading on toast, etc. (Although making smaller quantities at a time helps you to not overindulge). :) If you try it, let me know what you think!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love love love anything pasta or remotedly pasta. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I am going to attempt to make it for Friday night dinner. Wish me luck:)

Snickerdoodle Champagne said...

I'm sure it will be great! Let me know how it turns out! :)