Recipe: Browned Butter

2007_12_10-Butter Last Thanksgiving an uncle brought two small bowls of creamy brown butter, speckled and flecked like quail eggs. We had never seen butter like this, and the taste came as something of a revelation.

It possessed the rich nuttiness of dark caramel, without the sweetness. It tasted roasted and full of warmth - cool on the tongue, like regular butter, but with a full flavor that had hints of walnuts, burnt sugar, and toasted bread. It was utterly delicious. We had to stop ourselves from eating it with a spoon.

Turns out this is really a simple thing: cook down a stick of butter until it's brown. Combine with another stick of butter, salt to your taste, and whip. Put on everything.

Click for step-by-step photos and recipe...

Browned Butter
about 3/4 cup

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste

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• Cut both sticks into small cubes. Set one stick aside in a heatproof bowl.

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• Melt one stick in a cast iron or heavy skillet.

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• Let it melt over medium heat and cook until the bubbling foam subsides and brown flecks appear on the top. The butter will look rather unappetizing - foamy and scummy on top. (Don't be fooled - it's delicious.) When the butter has turned dark brown, take off the heat.

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• Let cool for a few minutes, then pour over the other stick of butter. Refrigerate immediately.

• When cool, add salt and whip in a food processor or with a mixer until creamy and smooth.

Comments (11)

my mom uses brown butter in place of regular butter in her fruit tart crusts. minus the salt.

Wow - that sounds great. Does she combine it with another stick like I do here, or does she use only browned butter?

"Don't be fooled-it's delicious."

That's too funny!

Good technique by combining it with whole butter to create a compound butter. The cooled brown butter on it's own would be to hard and waxy and separated.

Try it with fresh trout filets, thyme, golden raisins and little squeeze of lemon.

Ooh, the trout sounds incredible. I recently mastered a blue cheese and grit souffle that would pair with a brown butter trout perfectly. Thanks for dinner ideas.

My favorite slow cooked dish is pot roast with potatoes and carrots.

We use a similiar version of this every time we make popcorn... we just do the browned butter part and pour it over plain popped popcorn and then salt it... delish! I never thought to combine it with another stick to use as a spread-- genius!

faith,

she just uses the browned butter. i'll forward a recipe to you and you can check it out if you'd like.

my (new) favorite use for brown butter - as a sauce for egg noodles and feta cheese. the new ultimate comfort food in my house.

I brown my butter in an enameled skillet so I can monitor the color better.

thanks faith, this sounds great. i think i'll roast a chicken with brown butter this weekend...

I am literally dribbling saliva down my chin.... why is butter so freaking delicious? Salt and butter, and popcorn, and bread, and steak, and veg, oooh, and garlic, and onions and Rice and potatoes....droooooool. It's not quite lunchtime yet and so every possible butter/food combination is making my head go crazy.