Clarifying Fat
Ingredients
Directions
Recover fat from used frying fat
In a kettle, combine used fat with six times as much hot water.
Boil for 20 minutes, then pour into a large pan and cool in a cold place.
Once cold, remove the solid cake of fat from the surface.
Clarify butter
To clarify butter, heat it slowly in a stewpan until clear oil forms on top.
Pour off the clear substance and strain through cheesecloth.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Its fat is the product kept, and clarifying removes the milk solids and water that would otherwise burn or cloud it.
- Fat
- Used frying fat is the source of fat, which separates from the boiling water as a solid cake once cooled.
The step that matters
Heat the butter slowly. Butter is mostly fat with water and milk solids. Slow heating lets the water evaporate and the solids settle, leaving clear oil. High heat scorches the solids and darkens the fat.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
You might also like
Green Corn Pudding64 recipes
Cornmeal mush12 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.