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

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.