making ghee

ghee = clarified butter.

the "recipe" is from my mother, with today's learning from me:

melt 1 kilo of butter in a deep pot. i learnt that it's best to put all the sticks in at once, into a COLD deep pot. stick the lid on and then leave on a very gentle heat.

there will be white froth on top; you should keep removing it with a spoon. don't lean over the pot to look it, because that stuff boils with height. i mean gloopy bits kept on splashing in the air when bubbles of boil would burst. if this is too opaque for you, consider that if i hadn't been wearing glasses at the time, i would have a butterly burnt eyeball right now. so stand a little bit away from the pot.

it might take sometime until the melted butter looks all clear (you can see the bottom of the pot). this, in fact, is an example of what it should look like (after i had turned the heat off):


and this was the discarded white froth. as you can see, it kindof looks like egg white that's on its way to becoming a meringue. the yellow stuff is some ghee that didn't want to be eaten by me:



at this point, you leave it until it has cooled, then you can pour it into a container. i used two salsa jars that didn't smell too much like salsa, but it was only really one-and-a-bit jarsful:



be mindful that the stuff at the bottom of the pot doesn't mix with the clear ghee, because it should be thrown away with the rest of the meringue mixture*. this is what it looked like:



* note: not actually meringue, since the sole ingredient in this ghee is buttah.

okay, and that's the end!



here are some external links:

this website basically says what i've said, above, in terms of prep, but it also has its origins.

wikipedia talks about the ayurvedic properties of ghee, which is why i made it and am going to eat it, and also mentions a hymn to ghee!

i'm noticing that a lot of the links, including practical ayurveda, say to use Unsalted Butter. which i did not. hmmm.

and a sunny, cheery kitchen website here talks about the good stuff that's in ghee.



are you thinking what i'm thinking?

Gee, Let's Go Have Some Ghee!*

* i have a feeling i'm going to regret this in the morning.