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Have you ever browned butter?
It’s an easy way to take a recipe that relies on butter up a notch in flavor. Just by cooking the butter a little past the melting point results in the milk solids in the butter browning, and creating a wonderfully nutty aroma.
It’s fun to do with butter-based sauces (check out these scallops in a brown butter caper sauce), baked goods that call for melted butter (like these brown butter chocolate chunk cookies), or with vegetables such as winter squash that you sauté in butter.
Just be sure to keep your eye on it while cooking; it’s pretty easy to go from browned to burnt!
What do you like to make with browned butter? Let us know in the comments.
How to brown butter
How to Make Brown Butter
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter
Method
1 Melt the butter: Heat a thick-bottomed skillet on medium heat. Add the butter (if you slice it, it will melt more evenly) whisking frequently. Continue to cook the butter.
2 Watch for brown specs and nutty aroma: Once melted the butter will foam up a bit, then subside. Watch carefully as lightly browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan. Smell the butter; it should have a nutty aroma.
3 Remove from heat and pour into a bowl to stop the butter from cooking further and perhaps burning.
It's pretty easy to overcook browned butter and go from brown to burnt. If the butter starts to blacken, I suggest dumping it and starting over (something I've had to do on occasion), unless you want beurre noir which has a different taste than nutty brown butter.
If you want to make sage brown butter sauce, add some fresh sage leaves to the butter once it has melted. Allow the butter to brown and remove from heat.
Use browned butter immediately or store covered in the refrigerator for future use.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
How to Make Brown Butter
Thinking about adding brown butter to my salmon. Any suggestions?
Yes–my suggestion is to do it!
You could adapt the sauce from this recipe (has hazelnuts and shallots and lemon zest) or this recipe (has white wine, capers, and lemon zest). Enjoy your time cooking and your wonderful salmon.
Traditionally served in eastern Canada with freshly boiled lobster, alongside homemade potato salad, corn on the cob, homemade coleslaw and brown bread Rolls. We have this (in England) every Christmas Eve, just as a reminder to my now grown up children of part of their heritage! And it tastes good!!
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Serve pasta simply with the brown butter and finely grated mizithra cheese, a match made in heaven!
I added chopped garlic and yellow squash, then whole wheat spaghetti and topped with grated Parmesan. A quick, easy and delicious vegetarian dinner! Will use for many more things. Didn’t realize how easy it would be. Thank you!
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I use it to make a Cabernet Sauce for lamb
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What a great idea Susan!