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I've found a good way to handle the smoke point is to heat butter and mix it with a cooking oil with a higher smoke point; in my experience this raises the smok
by zaarn 7y ago
I've found a good way to handle the smoke point is to heat butter and mix it with a cooking oil with a higher smoke point; in my experience this raises the smoke point of the butter a lot without giving up the taste.
- mikequinlan 7y agoNot true. https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/09/does-mixing-oil-and-butter-really-alter-the-smoke-point.html https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/09/does-mixing-oil-and-butt...
- ceejayoz 7y agoThank you for posting this! The "butter plus oil has a higher smoke point" theory is like building a house that's half tungsten and half wood and claiming it can't catch fire.
- bentpins 7y agoMaybe if you had the wood half be encased in a tungsten shell?
- zaarn 7y agoWell, my experience is different.
- ceejayoz 7y ago"Nuh uh!" isn't evidence.
- bookofjoe 7y agoI was amazed to see that the smoke point of butter — 302°F — increases to 482° when clarified. How to make clarified butter: https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/08/how-to-clarify-butter.html https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/08/how-to-clarify-butter.ht...
- adrianmonk 7y agoYou can also just buy ghee at the grocery store. (Although I might try clarifying it myself since ghee is probably 5 times as expensive.)
- mikekchar 7y agoButter is an interesting product because it's made from churning the cream. When you initially get the butter solidifying, it has a lot of whey trapped in it. When you make ghee, you are getting only the fat from the butter -- so you have none of the water and none of the whey proteins. This means that your yield of ghee is often much lower weight than the original butter. You can actually buy butter with almost no water left in it -- but it's also about 5 times the price ;-). I have some cultured butter that I use sometimes and it's actually a bit frustrating because it doesn't foam like cheap butter will -- because there is no water left in the butter. Anyway, while you will probably same some money making your own ghee, you'll probably be surprised at how low the yield will be if you don't start with super expensive butter to begin with.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- mirimir 7y agoFor foaming, and to check the temperature, just flick in a little water.
- fencepost 7y agoYou should be able to get a decent idea of expected output and fat percentage by looking at the nutrition label and doing a bit of math. US butter is typically 80% fat, European ones may be 82-84% but if sold in the US might also just be using the brand name and US percentages. A nice primer: https://www.tastecooking.com/all-about-butter/ https://www.tastecooking.com/all-about-butter/ Regarding the "always unsalted" advice in there, I've seen discussion from high level cooks in the past few years of "just get salted; it keeps better and when we actually tested recipes it made no difference."
- jfaat 7y agoI find it’s best to cook with the high smoke point oil, then finish with butter in the warm pan
- SEJeff 7y agoOr just use Avocado oil which actually has a high smoke point and imparts a mild buttery flavor on what you’re searing. Science also disagrees with your anecdote: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20910748 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20910748 Source: I cook a lot of stuff via Sous Vide and love some of that fancy Mailard Reaction via a proper high smoke point oil and a cast iron skillet.
- jb_s 7y agoIf I'm doing steak with butter I start with avocado oil for a maximum temp initial sear, turn the heat off, and then add butter garlic and aromatics. With enough butter (always a good thing) the pan is cooled enough by the melting butter that the butter doesn't burn. Adding butter at the start, regardless of other oils, still imparts acrid flavours.