Here we go again. I wonder if I will ever be able to bake something without having a step go horribly wrong or dropping something on the floor.
Yesterday I was trying to make those Brown Butter Madeleines I mentioned in my other post. I read through the directions at least twice. I got all ingredients ready to go. Saucepan and butter in hand, I started to brown my butter.
Note to self: DO NOT HAVE TV ON WHILE BROWNING BUTTER
I had to brown my butter not one, not two but three, three! times! That’s the kind of dufus baker I am. Another baking tip when it comes to butter browning … seconds count. Seriously. I found that out in attempt #2.
The recipe did say that it would take about twenty minutes, and with medium heat – and NO swirling, stirring, nada! Maybe my stove runs a little high, but it sure as heck wasn’t anything close to twenty minutes before the bottom started to get black and small wisps of smoke started to rise up. I stuck my nose in and asked myself, “Is that a nutty aroma? It doesn’t smell nutty to me. It smells burnt.”
Look, I’m new to this whole thing. I didn’t even know you could brown butter. So after this first botched attempt I decided to see if I could find some detailed directions. There just had to be something I was missing (besides being somewhat neglectful, though it still wasn’t twenty minutes, it wasn’t even ten I tell you, not even close!) I went through every baking book that I own looking for some precise information on the apparent art of browning butter and found next to nothing.
Cookwise
So, my beloved tomes of knowledge were all a let down. Even Martha left me in the lurch. The closest thing I found to what I should be doing was in Nancy Silverton’s Pastries from the La Brea Bakery
In a medium saucepan over high heat, begin to melt the butter. Swirl the pan to ensure the butter cooks evenly and doesn’t bun. It will bubble somewhat vigorously as it browns. Continue cooking 3 to 5 minutes until the bubbles subside and the liquid is dark brown with a nutty, toasty aroma.
Ah-ha! SWIRLING. What a novel idea. So on to attempt #2. Everything was going like gangbusters. I started it on a lower heat, constantly swirling. The butter was slowly but surely starting to take on a deeper and deeper honey color hue. But that cursed TV distracted me. I don’t even know what it was, but I stepped away from the stove for not more than three seconds, I swear! And while I could still actually smell a hint of that legendary nutty aroma, it had already begun to be marred by the three seconds I had given it to burn.
So lesson #1 was swirling. Great technique, and really made a difference the second time. I think I’ve learned the secret to browning butter. Well, that and paying attention. Yes, lesson #2 … you must pay attention. The third, thank the power of Grayskull (yep, I was a fan of He-Man, but She-Ra was my fav. Now you can guess how old I am), and final time I tried to brown this butter was at last a success. I swirled constantly and even stirred with a spoon once in a while for good measure. While the old adage that a watched pot never boils may be true, it TOTALLY does not apply here. I kept a watchful eye and actually experienced the moment when the butter began to give off the ever ellusive “nutty aroma” … it does, I promise.
After all that what do I have to say about browned butter? IT ROCKS! I swear this stuff is the most awesome … the … the … Just use it. I’m not all that confident with my ability to come up with my own recipes yet, but I think this would be awesome in some kind of chocolate chip cookie. I’m going to have to tinker. Maybe there’s a recipe out there. I want to use this stuff on everything.
I realize that this epic tale of the quest to brown butter may be laughable to all you veteran bakers (and maybe some, hopefully not all, novices) but I’m happy because I did learn something on this adventure and discovered one of the flavors that makes life worth living.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
YAY! I am glad to have discovered you too! I thoroughly enjoyed this post (and a few below that I’m going on to next!). I found this experiment really helpful actually–I’ve never browned butter before but feel like I am better prepared now that I have read this!
I seriously love your blog. Your artwork is the best! I was just going to asked if you were on Etsy, but I checked and saw that you were. Too cute!
I’m glad that you found this helpful. What’s sad is that this actually wasn’t an “experiment” – I was really trying to bake a recipe (HA!) But hey, this is how we learn. I’m so happy that this was a help because that’s a big reason why I started this blog. I hope to help others avoid my pitfalls.
I love brown butter anything!! But my favorite is frosting on spice cake or caramel cake or on cookies. It really is awesome, I could eat brown butter frosting strait for breakfast, lunch and dinner!!!
Reeni,
Don’t be so cruel. Go ahead and tempt me with brown butter frosting without directing me to a recipe. That sounds like something that would be perfect on a pumpkin cupcake. Now I just need a pumpkin cupcake recipe. So much to bake, so little time!
Is the butter supposed to foam? And then is the foam supposed to disappear? Because as I swirled the pan (according to Julia Child’s directions), I had milk fat that wouldn’t disappear. It browned all right, and smelled nutty, and I agree with you that it is one of the best foods ever, but I didn’t think I was supposed to have clumps of milk solids in there.
Lynda,
I am so, so, SO sorry for not getting back to your question in a timely manner. If you’ve manage to have the patience to take a look at some of my other posts in my blog (specifically in June 09), you may have gained some understanding as to the delay. There’s no real excuse for it, but I’ve just been away from my computer for the last months. Anyways, I hope you can forgive me, and I hope you did find some answers to your questions in the meantime.
If not, then if I could give you some more info and reassurance. From what you’re telling me, it sounds like you did everything perfectly. As to the foaming, yes. And depending on the level of heat, you may get some snaps and crackles as you brown the butter. The lower the heat, the less crackles, AND the longer it will take, BUT the easier it is to brown instead of burn. Sometimes I get a bit impatient and turn the heat higher and it foams, snaps, and crackles like crazy. The foam of course impedes getting a visual on how brown the butter is, so I urge you to be patient and brown it on a lower heat, something like a medium-low (you don’t want it completely low, otherwise I don’t think it will brown).
As far as foam disappearing, I do think it dissipates as you brown it. As I recall though, I think it will need to sit for a bit for the foam to completely disappear. One way or the other, foam or no foam, as long as you get that nutty aroma you’re all set to go. Swirling is key, at least from my experience. This helps inhibit the crazy crackling regardless of how high the heat is, and helps preventing the butter from going from browned to burned too quickly.
And finally, seeing milk solids are perfectly normal. In fact it wouldn’t be normal if you didn’t. According to Michael Ruhlman
, “Butter becomes brown when it’s cooked till the water evaporates and the milk solids, which separate from the clear butterfat, can turn brown.” The solids are separating, not necessarily evaporating, so you should expect to see brown colored solids in your pan. If they’ve turned black, that’s a sign that you’ve burned your butter. From my own experience, all is not lost as long as it still smells nutty. You have to use your own judgment, but again, be careful. You walk a fine line when browning butter, but it is so, so worth it.
Again, I’m sorry for the delay, and I hope that this helps you in some way, albeit belatedly.
Take care,
Aimee
can browned butter be frozen, if so, how long can it be frozen for? Can you use it in cakes?
Lorraine,
First, thanks for stopping by! Great question! Well, from my travels you can freeze butter, so I would imagine that freezing brown butter wouldn’t be an issue either. So freeze away. That said, you should keep a couple of things in mind when freezing this as well as other things, like dough, that bakers would like to keep on hand. While it’s doubtful that the butter will ever go rancid if frozen, it may pick up flavors/odors from anything else you have in your freezer unless you WRAP IT TIGHTLY. Also, it will lose moisture in the freezer, so I wouldn’t recommend keeping it there longer than a couple of months.
Yes you can use it in cakes. However, it’s not a one to one substitution. I decided to go to the authority on this one and according to Rose Levy Beranbaum, “Butter is only 81% fat. The rest is milk solids and about 15.5 water. So you’ll need to add water and decrease the amount of clarified butter. Best to do it by weight.” That answer left me a little perplexed as I hadn’t mentioned “clarified” butter and I asked for some clarification for substituting actual solid butter but haven’t received any as of yet from Rose. Someone did mention, “I have tried just substituting clarified ghee and/or plugra for regular butter in pound cake recipes and they have NOT turned out well. I think the water content of the regular butter is missing and they were heavy and ‘fallen’ looking in the middle no matter how long they baked.”
So, it would be a little precarious changing recipes that only call for regular butter. If you’re pretty comfortable changing things up in your baking and own a scale, have at it. Otherwise what I would do is try to find a recipe that already has brown butter going for it. Personally, I’m not afraid of experimenting and a scale has been in my possession since Christmas of 2010 *thanks Mom!*. With Rose’s specifications it’d be interesting to explore the possibilities. I hope this helps!
That sliding Home About etc menu on the left is about the MOST annoying thing ever. Please make it stay at the top of the page! Otherwise, thanks very much for some butter advice! -Amy J
Amy, Thanks for your advice. While it looked pretty good on my gy-normous screen, I had a sinking suspicion that it probably would be problematic for people with smaller screens. It has taken me over a month to deal with this issue. I knew what I wanted it to look like and after many a late night of searching I finally took the plunge and coded my own menu, not to toot my own horn but I’m so proud of myself because I am so NOT a coder. I’m thrilled that I was able to get it to look like the way I had initially planned, even if I’m not sure about the “feng shui” of it all and my own design skills. Anyways, thanks again and glad to be of help in the realm of your butter concerns!