Stages of Ghee

I love having ghee (clarified butter) on hand for cooking with. It’s very easy to make at home. Makes enough to fill a pint jar.

1. In a medium saucepan, melt 4 sticks butter. Bring it to a very gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Stir often. (This is a good project to do while you are puttering around the kitchen, washing dishes or doing some leisurely prep work.) At first, the pan will have a pale blobby layer on the bottom, small bubbles rising through transparent melted butter, and swirls of white scum on the top.
2. The second stage will be much less scum, it will form small clumps and have lots of air bubbles. The bottom layer will be lots of tiny blobs (this is the remaining moisture content of the butter.)
3. Finally, all the solids will sink to the bottom and begin to brown, the moisture will be almost fully boiled off, leaving lots of bubbles on the surface but no more white scum.
4. When the solids are light golden brown, pour the contents of the saucepan through a fine mesh sieve into a glass 2-cup measure, then into a pint jar with a tight-fitting lid. (If it’s a wide mouth jar, you can pour through the sieve right into it.)

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Store in the fridge and use to cook Indian curry, rice pilaf, chicken, steak, fish, roasted vegetables, even popcorn.

(Note: many sources will advise straining through a coffee filter or cheesecloth. The coffee filter didn’t work for me, the liquid didn’t drain through it well. I don’t bother with cheesecloth… there is a tiny amount of browned solids at the bottom of the jar, but no big deal.)