Why burning butter is a good thing
Butter makes it better. But browned butter makes it even better. Here’s why. Annabel Smith reports. Sweet ideas Savoury ideas
Burnt butter’s roasty-toasty flavour profile is just right for these chilly autumn evenings. Rich and obviously buttery, it can be used in cakes, as a sauce for pasta, greens and Euro dumplings, or to baste white fish. Many recipes describe the colour as ‘‘nut brown’’ – hence the alternative term, beurre noisette (hazelnut butter). As this name suggests, burnt butter has a nutty aroma and flavour, but there aren’t any nuts involved.
Taking the process of clarifying butter, gently heating it to separate the fat from the milk solids, burnt butter goes one step further. The butter is melted, then it becomes foamy, before eventually darkening to a golden brown – this will take at least five minutes.
You can push it from a medium-brown to a darker brown, but the milk solids may burn and turn bitter, so be sure to discard those. As with making caramel, you want to be on the right side of bitter, so proceed with caution.
Separate the solids (which become ‘‘burnt’’) by straining the melted butter through a fine sieve or cheesecloth. If using a small saucepan, the solids will collect at the base, and you can carefully pour the liquid into a bowl in a steady, thin stream, leaving the darker, gritty flecks undisturbed.
Some recipes recommend using a light coloured saucepan so you can watch for the colour change, however you can also use your nose.
Again, as the ‘‘nut butter’’ name suggests, when ready, it should smell like toasted nuts or caramel. The foam factor can make it difficult to check the colour. Briefly lift the pan from the heat, wait until the foam subsides, check for colour, then return to heat if it’s not quite there. It helps to gently swirl the pan a few times during cooking to ensure the butter melts evenly.
Cool slightly before adding to cake batters, such as traditional friands. It can also be used to flavour chocolate chip cookies; added after the initial creaming of the butter and sugar.
Burnt butter is also the base of possibly the easiest
Makes: 24
■ 30g hazelnuts
■ 150g unsalted butter
■ 75g flour
■ 2 eggs
■ 75g caster sugar
■ teaspoon baking powder
■ Icing sugar to dust (optional)
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Spread the hazelnuts in an even layer over a baking try. Bake for 8-10 minutes, stirring once, or until the nuts are just golden and smelling toasted. To remove the skins, place the roasted nuts in a clean tea towel and rub vigorously until the skins come loose. Shake or blow the loosened skins away, and continue rubbing the nuts until they are free from skins. Place the nuts in a food processor and grind finely. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Brush the Madeleine pans with some of the melted butter and dust with a little of the flour.
Continue to cook the remaining melted butter until it becomes golden brown – this will take about 2 minutes – then remove from the heat and stop the cooking process by pouring the butter into a cold bowl or putting the saucepan in a sinkful of cold water and leaving to cool.
pasta sauce ever – just plop a knob of unsalted butter in a pan over medium heat.
Now for the flavourings: use it to crisp-up sage or thyme leaves – both lovely with pumpkin and/or pasta
– or throw in a handful of sliced leeks early on for sweetness; roughly chopped toasted, skinned hazelnuts for extra nuttiness; a sprinkling of chilli flakes towards the end for kick; or remove from the heat and lift it with a squeeze of lemon to temper the richness.
As Stephanie Alexander writes in The Cook’s Companion: ‘‘Hot noisette butter, literally ‘hazelnut’ butter, can be spooned over pasta, brains, fish, liver or whatever.
‘‘Add a dash of lemon juice and some
Beat the eggs and sugar together with an electric beater for about 5 minutes or until very thick and pale. In a separate bowl, sift the flour and baking powder together then stir in the ground hazelnuts. Gently fold half the flour mixture into the egg mixture and then half the burnt butter. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture and burnt butter. Set aside for 15 minutes.
Spoon the mixture into the moulds so each is about three-quarters full. Bake for 10 minutes or until risen. Remove from the oven and dust with icing sugar if desired.