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How to make clarified butter for crab leg dipping

 

Clarified butter, the bright yellow, clean liquid butterfat, has several uses when you are cooking with crab meat. It retains the richness of the butter while giving a smoke factor of 1000. Upscale restaurants will always use it as dipping butter, usually infused with herbs, when they are serving crab or lobster.

I use it a lot when I’m frying up crab cakes because it doesn’t burn as easily as regular butter, yet you still get all the yummy buttery flavors. The smoke point of regular butter is roughly 350* F yet when you clarify the butter you can fry with it at temperatures 450* F and higher without the burning.

It also works well when preparing buttery sauces such as hollandaise and béarnaise sauce.

How to prepare:

Melt the desired amount of unsalted butter in a heavy pan over low heat. (I like to clarify a lot of butter at once so I always have some on hand.)

You will notice right away that the butter will start to bubble and foam. The foam is the water in the butter evaporating and the white residue is the milk solids separating from the butterfat.

Use a spoon to skim the foam and milk solids, and put them in a container to be saved. (These are still good to use, for popcorn etc.) Continue to let the butter gently be heated while you skim the foam and milk solids. Do so until you are left with only a clear yellow liquid. This is the clarified butter.

Remove the pan from the heat. Once the liquid is cooled put it in a sealed container to keep it in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

This form of butter will last a lot longer than the regular butter without spoiling. So make a lot and use it when needed.

 

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How to Make Clarified Butter
 
 
Clarified butter, the bright yellow, clean liquid butterfat, has several uses when you are cooking with crab meat.
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: Condiment
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