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To Convert Butter Into Ghee

A method for clarifying butter into ghee using optional leaves and peppercorns.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and lime are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 30% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,339 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

To Convert Butter Into Ghee

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Simmer the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

  2. If the butter is rancid, add a spray of drumstick leaves or a few lime leaves.

  3. To check if it's done, dip a wooden pin into the melted butter, light it, and if it gives a clear flame, it's ready.

  4. Strain the melted butter through a coarse muslin into a clean, dry jar.

  5. If storing for a while, add some peppercorns.

  6. Cork the jar when the ghee is completely cool.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + limetop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Its milk solids and water are cooked off, leaving pure fat that gives ghee its rich flavour.

The step that matters

Checking that the ghee is done. Water in the butter must fully evaporate and the milk solids must toast slightly before straining. Ghee pulled off the heat too early can spoil sooner because remaining water and solids are left behind, while over-cooking can scorch and darken the flavour. The wooden pin flame test helps judge when the water is gone.

“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.

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