What is Clarified Butter???

[rinsav]

My Mom called me up over the weekend to ask what clarified butter is. She figured I would know cause I enjoy cooking so much, hang out on this board all the time, etc. I was embarrassed to tell her that I had no idea.:o I don't even know that I've heard of it! I told her I would ask all of you though. I know you guys will know. So, what the heck is it? She says it's an ingredient in a recipe she found for banana upside down cake.

Thanks!
Rindi

[rinsav]

Oops, I forgot to also ask what she can substitute for it. Thanks!

[Terrytx]

from epicurious

clarified butter
[KLEHR-ih-fide]
Also called drawn butter , this is unsalted butter that has been slowly melted, thereby evaporating most of the water and separating the milk solids (which sink to the bottom of the pan) from the golden liquid on the surface. After any foam is skimmed off the top, the clear (clarified) butter is poured or skimmed off the milky residue and used in cooking. Because the milk solids (which make butter burn when used for frying) have been removed, clarified butter has a higher SMOKE POINT than regular butter and therefore may be used to cook at higher temperatures. Additionally, the lack of milk solids prevents clarified butter from becoming rancid as quickly as regular butter. It also means that the butter won't have as rich a flavor. GHEE is an East Indian form of highly clarified butter.

[beacooker]

Clarified butter is something you make yourself. You just take regular butter, melt it on the stove, and skim off all the foamy stuff. I imagine you could just use regular butter, skipping the clarifying step. Not that I have ever done so. For that matter, I have never clarified butter, either. :)

[tbb113]

If she makes the cake, I want a review! It was in the Parade section of the Sunday paper and it sure did look good :D

[Leisa M]

Originally posted by beacooker
Clarified butter is something you make yourself. You just take regular butter, melt it on the stove, and skim off all the foamy stuff. I imagine you could just use regular butter, skipping the clarifying step. Not that I have ever done so. For that matter, I have never clarified butter, either. :)

I have skipped the clairfying step and done just fine. But I was not making a cake.

[beacooker]

I should add that if she were to sub the regular butter, it should probably be melted butter.

[funniegrrl]

Clarified butter is very common in Indian cooking. You can buy pre-clarified butter known as ghee in some international markets, and supermarkets with good ethnic food sections. The point of clarifying butter is that you will have a product that is 100% fat. American butter is about 20% "other stuff" -- milk solids and water. So, if a recipe calls for, say, 1/2 cup clarified butter, it needs 1/2 cup (4 liquid ounces) pure liquid fat. One-half cup of melted butter would be only about 3.25 ounces of fat and 0.75 ounces other stuff, and using this instead of clarified would change the texture of the cake. If she's really determined to substitute, then she'll want to use vegetable oil, although the flavor won't be the same.

Clarifying butter is not hard to do -- as someone has already said, you just melt the butter in a pan, skim off any foam that collects on the surface, then slowly pour the fat off into another dish, leaving the milk solids behind.

[tbb113]

Here is the recipe that I think Rindi's mom is referring to.

3 small to medium-sized bananas
2 cups sugar
4 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 cup clarified butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 325. Halve bananas lengthwise, then crosswise.
2. In a saucepan, combine 1 cup sugar with about 2 tbsp water (so the mixture looks like damp sand). Melt over high heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until the sugar caramelizes. When the caramel is dark amber, add the butter and stir to combine. Pour mixture immediately into an 8-inch cake pan. Arrange the bananas in the caramel, cut-side down.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In a mixer, using the whisk attachment, combine the remaining sugar and the clarified butter. With the mixer on low, add the eggs, one at a time. Add the buttermilk and vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the batter a third at a time. Pour the batter over the banans and bake until the cake springs back and begins to pull away from the sides, about 50 minutes. Allow the cake to cool for 5 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature

Serves 12. Per serving 330 calories, 54 g carbs, 3g protein, 13g fat, 65 mg cholestrol