How to Make Clarified Butter

A lot of recipes call for clarified butter, which is basically butter without the butter solids or water. It’s just the oil and it has a high smoke point, so it’s a tasty oil for sautéing and frying. It’s pretty easy to make. Here’s how:

1. Put butter in a saucepot. How many sticks depends on how much clarified butter you want.

2. Slowly bring to simmer.

3. Simmer for about 15 minutes.

4. Some milk solids will rise to the top. Skim those with a spoon and discard.

5. Pour oil through a chinoise or strainer, leaving the solids behind. The oil is the clarified butter.

Clarified butter keeps well in the refrigerator for at least as long as regular butter.

Clarified butter is great for high-temp cooking. On the other end of the temperature range, truffle oil loses much of its flavor when added to heat. So, use truffle oil as a finishing oil.