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To Clarify Butter
Place half pound good butter in a small, enamelled saucepan, then place the pan into another pan containing boiling water and let stand on the corner of the range until thoroughly melted; skim it well, then strain through a fine cloth into a bowl; keep in a moderate temperature and use as required.
A double-boiler method for clarified butter, gentler and slower than the direct-heat approach most cooks use now. The whole point is to melt without simmering, so the milk solids separate cleanly rather than browning.
- The hinge: no direct heatThe butter never touches the flame. Set a bowl or small pan over barely simmering water and let it melt undisturbed until, as the recipe says, it is thoroughly melted, so the layers separate into foam on top, gold in the middle, and milky sediment below.
- "The corner of the range"On a coal range the corner was the coolest zone, used for holding things warm. On a modern hob that means the lowest setting, or the water bath left off the heat once boiling.
- Enamelled saucepanProbably specified because bare iron and unlined copper were avoided for delicate fats. Any stainless, glass or enamelled vessel works; the material matters less than the size, as a small deep pan gives cleaner layers than a wide shallow one.
- Skimming and strainingSkim the white foam first, then pour off the clear fat and stop before the milky sediment at the bottom follows. A cloth-lined strainer catches what the ladle misses; damp the cloth so it does not absorb the fat.
- YieldHalf a pound of butter gives roughly 6 fl oz (about 3/4 cup) of clarified butter. The loss is water and milk solids, around 20 percent by weight.
- "A moderate temperature" for storageHere it means an ambient temperature rather than an oven setting: warm enough to stay soft and pourable for use, not hot. With the milk solids removed the butter keeps longer than fresh butter, and refrigeration in a sealed jar is the sensible modern default.
- What it is forClarified butter's smoke point is generally given as somewhere around 400-450F against roughly 300-350F for whole butter, which is why it suits sautéing and basting. It will not work where the recipe depends on butter's water and milk solids, as in a beurre blanc.
Clarifying butter solved a storage problem before refrigeration: the milk solids and water in fresh butter are what turn it rancid, and removing them yields a fat that keeps for months in a covered crock. The same technique is long established in kitchens across Europe and South Asia. In a professional kitchen, a bowl of clarified butter sat in the warm part of the range all day and went into everything from sautéed fish to hollandaise. The double-boiler method given here is the fussier one.