About Butter

About Butter (and Ghee)

Butter is the queen of fats.  It is delicious!  It is essential for French Cuisine and very important
in English and American cooking as well.
You can find butter either salted or unsalted.  Salted keeps better but unsalted gives the taste
and aroma of butter without adding salt which much of the time is advantageous.  When you
buy butter you will decide.
When butter is set out on the table for spreading on bread it should be set out an hour
beforehand so that it spreads easily.
When butter is heated quite hot it will scorch unless it has been clarified.  If clarified it has a
very high smoke point and thus is good for frying or rapid sautéeing.
Ghee or ghi is a form of clarified butter that is very common in India.  Ghee is usually described
as fermented but this is misleading.   It is fermented but only very lightly, as much European
butter is fermented, with only a faint and pleasing tangy flavor.  Ghee is also clarified and thus
not only has a high smoke point, it doesn't require refrigeration.  In India plain butter is hard to
find because it must be refrigerated.  Indian cooks think that's silly.  So do I.