Browning butter
Butter is about 80 percent fat and 16 percent water, plus a little milk protein and sugar. Over medium heat the water boils off with foam. Then the milk solids toast golden and smell nutty. About a minute later they burn.
Pour it out right away
A hot pan keeps cooking butter after you turn off the burner. As soon as the butter smells nutty and the specks look amber, pour it into a cool bowl and scrape in the brown bits. Those specks hold most of the flavor.
Test yourself
Questions from the interactive lesson, with the answer and the why.
What gives brown butter its nutty smell?
Milk solids toasting in the fat. Milk proteins and sugars go through browning reactions.
True or false: Smell and the color of the specks, not the clock, tell you when brown butter is done.
True. Timing varies with the heat and the pan, so use your nose and eyes.
What went wrong? You leave brown butter in the hot pan while you hunt for a bowl. It turns black and bitter.
The hot pan kept cooking the butter off the heat. Pour it into a cool bowl right away.
Fill the blank: Brown butter gets its flavor from toasted milk ___.
Brown butter gets its flavor from toasted milk solids. These proteins and sugars brown.
Why is a light-colored pan better for browning butter?
You can see the color change clearly. A dark pan hides the browning.
