To Clarify Fat
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the fat into small pieces.
Place the pieces in a stewpan with enough cold water to cover them completely.
Clarify
Boil without a lid until all the water has evaporated, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
Allow the clarified fat to cool slightly.
Strain the fat through a sieve into a basin.
Store and use
Once completely cool, the fat will form a cake that can be used for frying or as a substitute for butter in cooking.
Always strain fat after frying to remove any food particles.
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
- Fat scraps
- Melted fat is the source of the clarified fat that the dish yields.
- Cold water
- Water is boiled off, leaving clean fat behind and preventing the fat from burning early.
The step that matters
Boil until all the water has evaporated. Any water left in the fat can cause spattering and shorten storage life, while stirring prevents the milk solids from scorching on the pan base. Stopping too early leaves the fat cloudy and unstable.
“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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