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German Method of Clarifying and Preserving Fresh Butter

A method for clarifying and preserving fresh butter with onion.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 42,912 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

German Method of Clarifying and Preserving Fresh Butter

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Set a large clean tinned copper vessel on a trivet over a charcoal fire.

  2. Add the new butter in small portions before it takes on any bad taste.

  3. Add the onion to the butter.

Clarify

  1. Watch closely and skim as soon as it begins to boil.

  2. Reduce the heat to let it simmer for 5 minutes.

  3. If not removed immediately, extinguish the fire.

  4. Remove the onion and let the butter stand until impurities sink to the bottom.

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 + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 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
Melting separates the milk solids and water from the pure butterfat, which is the clarified product.
Onion
Adds aroma to the butter as it heats, and is removed before the butter is used.

The step that matters

Skim as soon as the butter begins to boil. Butter is mostly water and milk solids. Once it boils, those solids and foam rise and can scorch or cloud the fat if left in. Skimming at this point keeps the clarified butter clear and pure.

“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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