Active No-Carber Forums

adwred · Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 12:03 am Post subject: Ghee

I posted this in the main forum, too, but thought I'd repeat it here for easy access:

Heat a pound or two of butter over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed saucepan until the butter's melted and foamy on top. Turn the heat off and let stand for about 10 or 15 minutes - it will separate into three layers - the foamy top, the clear bright yellow butterfat in the middle and the milky solids at the bottom.

Carefully skim the foam off the top with a skimmer or a slotted spoon. When it comes to the little bits and pieces at the end, I just use a tablespoon.

Then pour off the yellow liquid into a large mason jar, being careful to leave all the milk solids at the bottom, still in the saucepan. Once you get close to the milk solids, you can start using a spoon to collect the last bits of the clear yellow liquid. From a pound of butter, you'll get probably about 12 oz of ghee.

You can use either salted or unsalted butter - the salt just gets filtered out with the impurities and the milk solids.

I should add - sometimes the butter separates really easily and sometimes it will stay creamy and pale yellow for a long time. In cases like these, you need to simmer the butter after melting it on low heat (just barely bubbling) until the butterfat separates into a clear layer.

_________________
I'm a vegetable-eater by proxy. I make sure to get 5-10 servings of herbivore per day.

ReddyMcMeaty · The Boss Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 5776

I love you for allowing butter to come into my life again.
_________________
"Man lives on one quarter of what he eats. On the other three quarters lives his doctor."

adwred · Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 4:52 pm Post subject:

Haha - you're welcome! Have you made it yet? The smell of it alone is incredibly enticing. I actually was planning on doing the dairy-free thing without ghee, but broke down and made a batch just now. It's sitting in jars on my windowsill right now, cooling. Beautiful bright yellow liquid gold. Love

_________________
I'm a vegetable-eater by proxy. I make sure to get 5-10 servings of herbivore per day.

waywardsister · Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:24 am Post subject:

Ahh yes, the smell...so good! Don't you think it's kind of caramelly?

I strain mine through a cheesecloth-lined sieve and it seems to catch all the solids. This stuff has made my life soooo much better! Ghee, that is, not cheesecloth.
_________________
Wheat is murder.

Belamae · Newbie Joined: 29 Jul 2007 Posts: 8

I've made ghee for a little while now. My hubby and I are Casein intolerant and we found out that yes butter has the casein protein in it too. I strain mine though a cheesecloth covered sieve as well and it does fine.

The ghee seems to settle better on our stomachs then coconut oil. But, I also just finished my first rendering of suet. So, we'll be using that for our cooking and the ghee for topping our steaks.

Belamae

_________________

"You create your own universe as you go along" -Winston Churchill