EMERGENCY BROWN BUTTER
Buttermilk pork chops with brown butter mash
FEATURE, RECIPES AND FOOD STYLING POLLYANNA COUPLAND PHOTOGRAPHS INDIA WHILEY-MORTON
How to freeze it Butter freezes well, so it doesn’t hurt to keep some in the freezer. Once it’s cooled to a softened texture, stir well to distribute the caramelised solids evenly, then spoon into a log shape on some baking paper and roll up into a sausage. It’ll keep frozen for up to 2 months and you can slice off portions as needed:
Easy pasta sauce Add 50g to a tin of tomatoes and half an onion and simmer for ½ hour. Discard the onion and stir into pasta for a rich, tangy sauce.
Brown butter garlic bread Defrost a good chunk of butter, then stir in 2 grated garlic cloves and some chopped herbs. Slice a baguette at 5cm intervals almost all the way through, then spread the cut sides with the butter and cook in a hot oven.
WHAT IS BROWN BUTTER?
Better scrambled eggs Melt some brown butter in a pan, then add whisked eggs for a brilliant breakfast favourite.
It’s simply butter that’s been heated until it turns brown and becomes speckled with golden flecks. Doing this gives butter a strong nutty aroma – the French call it beurre noisette (hazelnut butter).
Tasty pastry Use instead of regular butter: grate it from frozen into the flour – as it’s cold it won’t turn greasy.
To dig into the science of it, butter is made up of around 80% fat (which is why it tastes so good!), 15-20% water and 1-2% milk solids. When making brown butter, you’re heating it until the amino acids (proteins) in the milk solids turn brown due to a process known as the Maillard reaction – it’s not strictly caramelisation (that happens to sugars at a slightly higher temperature), but it’s similar. It gives a toasted flavour and golden hue, and it happens when you brown a steak, make toast or crisp chicken skin. While that’s happening the water evaporates, so you’ll lose 15-20 per cent of the original weight.
ENOUGH THEORY... HOW DO YOU MAKE IT?
Simply dice butter (to speed up the melting process), throw it in a pan over a medium heat and wait for the magic to happen… Here are the stages you’ll reach en route to brown butter heaven:
1 Clumping stage As the butter melts and the water it contains starts to boil, the white milk solids will separate from the fat and float to the top in clumps. If you were to sieve out the milk solids at this stage, you’d be left with clarified butter. Without the burnable milk solids, clarified butter has a higher smoke point. This is particularly useful when tempering whole spices and is one of the reasons why ghee (which is lightly fermented clarified butter) is widely used in Indian cooking.
2 Foaming stage Once the water has evaporated, the bubbles will reduce in size but grow in volume. This is the foaming stage: you need to stir often to stop the solids from catching and burning. The bubbles may obscure your view of the caramelisation; if so, periodically lift the pan off the heat and leave the foam to die down so you can keep an eye on the colour. You can stop anywhere between a light tan-brown to a deep amber, but bear in mind that the darker the colour, the more toffee-like the flavour. Don’t let the butter darken further otherwise it will taste bitter and burnt.
3 Final stage When you’re happy with the colour of the browned butter, pour it into a clean container to stop the cooking process. Some recipes ask you to strain the browned solids out of the butter. I prefer to keep them in for maximum flavour, but straining the butter will reward you with a crystal clear liquid.
WHAT DO I DO WITH IT?