Ghee - Samneh - Clarified Butter

As a fat used for cooking, butter provides a unique flavor and aroma to many dishes. The problem with butter is that before you get to its smoke point, the milk solids have gone past browning to burning. Removing the milk solids and impurities allows us to retain much of the flavor of butter while being able to cook at higher temperatures. Butter without milk solids is called clarified butter or drawn butter (although some restaurants serve just melted butter as drawn butter). The process (clarifying butter) is quite simple.

Clarifying butter is as simple as melting butter and letting the milk solids settle or rise out of the fat. Care should be taken not to burn the butter while heating it, so use a heavy pan that doesn't have any hotspots (see Common Materials of Cookware for more information on hotspots). When using salted butter, it is difficult to guess how much salt will remain in the clarified butter. A lot of the salt can be found in the milk solids as it settles or foams up, but the exact amount will be different every time. Use unsalted butter to remove any uncertainty (you can add salt to the clarified butter later to achieve the desired saltiness).

To make approximately 3/4 cup of clarified butter, melt one cup (225 g) of butter in a small saucepan (a 1-quart saucepan is shown in the picture) over low heat. With a good saucepan, you can just leave it there over low heat while doing something else and the butter will slowly melt. Turning up the heat will melt the butter faster, but the milk solids may begin to burn, so, resist the temptation. Instead, you can cut up the butter into pieces to speed up melting. Also, if you don't have a small saucepan, it may be best to use more butter. Too little butter in a large diameter pan will make it difficult to separate the solids from the fat later.

When the butter has completely melted, continue to heat it over low heat. Some milk solids will drop to the bottom of the pan while others will rise as foam. As the milk solids rise to the top, they can be skimmed off. (Or, it can be removed when the butter cools.)

At this point you can remove the butter from the heat and skim off all the foam. Let the butter cool a bit to let more of the solids settle and then pour or spoon out the clarified fat, leaving the remaining milk solids in the pan.

Alternatively, pour the hot melted butter through cheesecloth to filter out the foam and solids that have settled, catching the clarified butter in a jar.

Or, pour the hot butter into a container, allow it to separate while cooling and then refrigerate. After it has solidified, you can easily scrape off the hardened foam from the stiff clarified butter layer.

Although pure clarified butter does not need to be refrigeration, I recommend you store your clarified butter in the refrigerator (some milk solids may still be present and may cause the butter to go rancid). Use the clarified butter as you would use regular butter (tablespoon for tablespoon) in recipes.

Robert Wolke, in What Einstein Told His Cook, suggests using the left over milk solids for topping popcorn. Sounds like a good idea to me! (Also, Wolke mentions that no lactose is in clarified butter, so lactose-sensitive individuals should be able to enjoy clarified butter without the uncomfortable effects those of us who are lactose intolerant are well aware of.)


Ghee vs. Clarified Butter
What is the difference between Ghee & Clarified butter?
Ghee and Clarified Butter are used interchangeably. You usually hear it referred to as Ghee in indian dishes and Clarified Butter in western dishes.

Traditionally ghee is made with milk (buffalo and sometimes cow) that has been allowed to develop some sourness before churning into butter. This provides more flavor to the butter. The butter is then melted and water completely cooked off. Many recipes for clarified butter do not call for the complete evaporation of water in the butter.
So, I would say that ghee is a type of clarified butter, but not all clarified butter is ghee. (Cooking For Engineers)


Ghee is the classic shortening of India and the Middle East. In the Middle East it is called samneh. Simple to make and it keeps forever. When the solids are removed from butter, it keeps longer even in the hot climate of India and the Middle East.
Many Middle Eastern recipes call for Ghee, which is easy to make for yourself.

Homemade GHEE

Recipe 1:
450 g unsalted butter
Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over moderate heat. Increase heat and bring butter to a boil. When surface is completely covered with foam stir butter gently and reduce heat to the lowest possible setting.

Simmer uncovered and undisturbed for 45 minutes, or until milk solids in bottom of pan have turned golden brown and butter on top is transparent.

Strain butter through a sieve lined with linen or four layers of cheesecloth. If there are any solids in the ghee, no matter how small, strain it again until it is perfectly clear. Pour ghee into a glass jar and seal tightly.

This recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups, and may be kept at room temperature for several months, or almost indefinitely refrigerated.
It will congeal if refrigerated, and so must be warmed before using if liquid ghee is called for. (inmamaskitchen.com)


Recipe 2:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup margarine

Combine margarine and butter in a pot and let simmer, until it is transparent.
Must carefully pay attention to this while on stove, so that it doesnt scorch.
Let cool.
You may want to pour through a cheesecloth, although its not necessary.
Store in a clean container. (touregypt.net)