Ghee making question page 2

[BJK77]

I cook my ghee on medium heat until the milk solids turn dark golden brown - it gives the ghee a lovely carmel taste. Then I strain through a paper towel lined filter. Yummy!!

I did this by mistake and thought I burnt and ruined it. Thank God I didn't throw it away. The smell alone is divine!! Although mine is anything but clear - still ok to eat I assume? It definitely has a nice caramel smell. If it tastes as good as it smells, look out!

[cori93437]

I did this by mistake and thought I burnt and ruined it. Thank God I didn't throw it away. The smell alone is divine!! Although mine is anything but clear - still ok to eat I assume? It definitely has a nice caramel smell. If it tastes as good as it smells, look out!

Yeah, it's HEAVENLY... EAT it!
It won't be perfectly clear, like water clear... just clear of all the white surface stuff or browned solids from the bottom. Pure browned butter oil.

[jammies]

I did this by mistake and thought I burnt and ruined it. Thank God I didn't throw it away. The smell alone is divine!! Although mine is anything but clear - still ok to eat I assume? It definitely has a nice caramel smell. If it tastes as good as it smells, look out!

The first time I did this it was by mistake too. I went out to run an errand and completely forgot I had left the ghee on the stove cooking! I got back just before it was burned. But it has such a great caramel taste I really went crazy with it at first.
I was spreading it on dark chocolate like frosting - holy crap was it delicious

[jammies]

I'm curious, I tried to make clarified butter once and I don't know if it was the butter I used or I didn't heat it long enough, but it was very HARD even at room temperature. How malleable is your ghee? I couldn't refrigerate it because it was too hard to chip away at! It was still fairly buttery looking, maybe just a lighter yellow, so I think I didn't heat it long enough.

My house is pretty cold, and my ghee is always very hard and solid at room temp. I don't keep it in the fridge because it is like a brick then - I usually go through it quite fast.

It is fine to just clarify it and not heat it for long - it is more just a butter oil then rather than a true ghee, but there is nothing wrong with that if you prefer that taste.

[GingerYeti]

I been trying to perfect my ghee recipe. Living in Chile, there is no good option for cooking fat in the stores so I have taken to making ghee. Its fun though, so I don't mind.

The first couple of times I did it using a double boiler and it came out fine.

I then figured I could use the oven to get more consistent results with less attention from me, but the results I started to get were slushy. Anyone ever experience this? Time in the oven doesn't seem to matter much, meaning I have left batches in there that I am pretty sure have evaporated all the water and still came out slushy.

Just in case, I went back to a double boiler batch and this one too came out slushy. Could it be the brand of butter? The temp went up a few degrees, but it isn't "hot". I can't imagine it is hot enough to keep the ghee from solidifying.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[Terez]

I've only done it once, and I did it in the oven. Here's the recipe I used:
How to Make Ghee in the Oven

Mine came out like a clear oil with brown solids. I strained it through a coffee filter but that was a pain; it's too dense. Since then I've bought cheesecloth to use next time. I know a lot of folks here strain through a paper towel but I'm not comfortable with what the ghee might pick up from the paper towel (or what the stock might pick up, depending on what's being strained).

I keep it in the fridge and yes, I have to chip away at it.

Terez

[GingerYeti]

Terez, I found that recipe too and got some ideas from it.

I don't like to use coffee filters either. I have had good success with a handkerchief over a strainer.

I keep my ghee in the cupboard because it can keep for months at room temp but each batch only lasts a couple of weeks at my rate of consumption. I am a butter/ghee fiend.

Alas, the slushy ghee remains a mystery.

[Terez]

GingerYeti,

I envy you going through your ghee in a few weeks. My refrigerator is stocked with ghee, bacon grease, beef tallow and pork lard. I seem to be producing this stuff much faster than I use it. I'm constantly making bone stocks, and that keeps producing more beef tallow (mostly) but also some pork lard.

If I'd realized the rate at which I'd be making healthful saturated fats, I wouldn't have bothered making ghee! It's just that in the early days of being Primal I needed a fat that could take the heat to brown meats. (I wasn't making bone stock at first.)

I'm sure I'll figure it out as I go. How are you consuming the ghee, GingerYeti?

Terez

[GingerYeti]

Sounds like a "good" problem you have there. Mmmmm lard.

I use ghee as my primary cooking fat. In chile it is hard to find "good fats", so I just make ghee. I also eat spoonfulls of it as a snack.