Clarified Butter (Ghee)

[johnnytheboy]

After watching the shrimping things on hugh f the other night, i made the clarified butter the way he did on the show, however i was reading up about it and it said you had boil off the water, but i never brought it to the boil!!! its this imperative as i have a huge big tub of Ghee in the fridge now, it has all the spices in it so i don't really want to as boil it in case i burn the spices, but then i dont really want it all to go to waste, i guess i could sieve them out?

 

[British Red]

It won't spoil very fast in the fridge....but if you do it well and can it properly it will last a long time - even unrefrigerated. I have a tutorial somewhere I did for another site if you like (as part of a series on Indian cookery)

Red

 

[Toddy]

BR's right about the ghee lasting a long time, but what you have made is what our 'grandmothers' called 'clarified butter'.

It basically is butter that won't burn when you cook with it rather than stuff that won't go rancid in a hot climate.

It used to be sold in packs like ordinary butter, the last lot I saw and bought was from the European butter mountain about ten years ago, it was being sold at half the price of ordinary butter too

Since it has no added salt best just keep it in the fridge and it ought to be fine.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[johnnytheboy]

Whats the difference between ghee and clarified butter, have i went wrong somewhere?

Is ghee clarified butter but boiled to get rid of the water and all the other business?

 

[Toddy]

Pretty much

Clarified butter just has the curdy bits strained out while it's all hot and melted or just allowed to set and the top skimmed. It doesn't take very long to do, while ghee needs boiled, simmered, and strained/ skimmed too.

If BR has a tutorial I'm sure he'll show how to make proper ghee.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[British Red]

Pretty much - here's how I do Ghee

Indian Cooking is fantastic "one pot" type cooking - plus a lot of the extras lend themselves to Dutch Ovens, skillets etc. Chutneys can be made in advance and taken in small jars for a real feast when out and about.

If anyone is interested I thought a series of "from scratch" pictorials on making some "curry" might be interesting.

First up Ghee (or clarified butter). Ghee is a staple part of Indian cooking. It also keeps well unrefrigerated so is very useful for outdoor purposes.

Take a pound of (unsalted) butter and place in a saucepan

Gently melt the butter

Once the butter has melted, simmer gently for 20 minutes

At the end of 20 minutes a great deal of water will have been driven off and the solids will separate

Take the butter off the heat and leave it to cool. Whilst its cooling put some jars (a couple of 8oz jars per pound) to warm in the oven

Now we need to strain out the solids from the ghee. I do it with some muslin wrapped over a tea strainer.

Pour the cooling ghee through the strainer into the warm jars

Seal tightly and leave to cool

There we are - the first of our components

Red

HTH Red

 

[Calculon]

Great pictorial. I'm going to make some in the week. I love curries.

Got a good Lamb or Chicken Phall recipe?

Calc

 

[British Red]

Calc - I've got loads - from home made Naan through to how to make Garam Masala

Allwith photo tutorials too

Not really Bushcraft though I guess

(Although I've been known to do it on the campfire)

Red

 

[Calculon]

Calc - I've got loads - from home made Naan through to how to make Garam Masala

Allwith photo tutorials too

Not really Bushcraft though I guess

(Although I've been known to do it on the campfire)

Red

We need a campfire curries section!

I'd like a traditional Lamb Vindaloo / Phall recipe & I can substitute the ordinary chilli powder with my ground Bhut Jolokia. I love Indian food kebab kori, shami kebab & spinach bhajees mmmmmm......

Calc

 

[British Red]

One of the best books to try is "The Curry Secret" - a small book that describes in detail how to pre-prepare bases so that you can knock up a great curry in about 10 minutes from a standing start

Well worth the investment!


Happy to post up a few pictorials if the Mods don't mind?


Red

 

[Toddy]

Go for it
Your tutorials are always an interesting read

Neil_1 did two brilliant curries for the Mods at the Moot last year..........they raved about the goat one while I sat and quietly relished my veggie one
It's good food when you're out is curry

Maybe not it you're hunting or tracking right enough

cheers,
Toddy

 

[johnnytheboy]

BR it would be great to see the tutorials if you have them!!!

 

[woodstock]

After watching the shrimping things on hugh f the other night, i made the clarified butter the way he did on the show, however i was reading up about it and it said you had boil off the water, but i never brought it to the boil!!! its this imperative as i have a huge big tub of Ghee in the fridge now, it has all the spices in it so i don't really want to as boil it in case i burn the spices, but then i dont really want it all to go to waste, i guess i could sieve them out?

Very few indians use ghee now most use a vegetable oil I still use ghee on the odd occasion but it is very high in unsaturated fat which is not very good for the arteries so I tend not to use it as much as i did

 

[rik_uk3]

Very few indians use ghee now most use a vegetable oil I still use ghee on the odd occasion but it is very high in unsaturated fat which is not very good for the arteries so I tend not to use it as much as i did

Do a google search 'Is ghee bad for you' and you may be surprised at what you find.

Its OK to eat butter too these days

 

[EdS]

best curry book I've come across. Excellent and varied recipes, well written and a lots of history and background. A good read jsut as a book let alone for the recipes:

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=4266519