If you are in the mood.... make GHEE, then inject it in the turkey...
How to Make Ghee
Prep 10 mins
Cook 15 mins
Total 25 mins
Author Wellness Mama
Yield 2 cups
Ghee is a traditional food that was considered sacred in some cultures. It is a form of clarified butter, made my separating the milk proteins from the pure healthy fats, creating a flavorful and delicious fat for cooking or on vegetables.
Ingredients
- 16 ounces (1 pound) of butter- preferably unsalted, organic and grassfed
- Equipment: A medium size saucepan, a fine wire mesh strainer, cheesecloth, a spoon, a 16-ounce or larger measuring cup, a clean jar for storage
Instructions
- Cut the butter into cubes and place in the saucepan.
- Heat the butter over medium heat until completely melted. Reduce to a simmer.
- Cook for about 10-15 minutes (this will vary based on how hot your stove is). During this time, the butter will go through several stages. It will foam, then bubble, then seem to almost stop bubbling and then foam again. When the second foam occurs, the ghee is done. At this point, the melted butter should be bright gold in color and there should be reddish brown pieces of milk solids at the bottom of the pan.
- Let cool slightly for 2-3 minutes and then slowly pour through the wire mesh strainer lined with several layers of cheesecloth. The small bits of milk protein are usually discarded, though a friend told me that her grandmother used to mix those with flour (or almond flour) and a small amount of honey to make a flavorful fudge-like treat.
- Ghee will last up to a month at room temperature or even longer in the fridge. I typically store mine in the fridge, just to me safe.
- Use as a cooking oil for stir frys, to top sweet potatoes, or melted on steamed/roasted vegetables. Ghee is much more flavorful than butter, so use sparingly!
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The Pioneer Woman....
Ghee is butter that has been processed to remove the milk solids. It’s basically butter oil.
Ghee can be a way for those with a
slight dairy sensitivity to enjoy the flavors of butter. The casein and whey proteins that cause a sensitivity are removed with the milk solids.
You know how butter tends to burn when you cook with too high of a heat? That’s because the milk solids overcook easily. When you remove those, the smoking point of butter goes way up: from about 350 degrees to 450 degrees or more.
Now, let’s dive in and make some ghee!
Start with the highest quality butter you can. Salted or unsalted will work, though some insist that the best ghee is made with unsalted butter. I’ve used both.
Put the butter in a saucepan. It will melt faster if you cut it up a bit first. Turn the heat to medium-low.
After the butter melts, it will start to bubble and separate. This has probably happened to you when you’ve melted butter for a recipe and forgot it on the stove for a bit. It’s just the whey from the butter floating to the surface.
Skim the whey off. You can either compost it, feed it to your animals, or (if you aren’t sensitive to dairy) save it and put it in mashed potatoes!
Continue to cook the butter until it turns clear and the milk solids sink to the bottom. You can stop at this point: you’ve made clarified butter!
Or you can continue to cook your butter to make ghee. You want to brown (not burn!) the milk solids on the bottom of the pan. This will give your ghee a nutty, butterscotch flavor.
Finished!
Let the ghee cool a bit and strain through cheesecloth, butter muslin, a paper towel, a coffee filter, or a clean tea towel. This ensures that you remove the last bits of the milk proteins.
Store covered at room temperature.
