Brown Butter

What is brown butter?

Have you ever heard of the Maillard reaction? I hadn't either until recently. But we see it all the time. You know that nice browning you look for on perfectly cooked steak? Or how you bake cookies until they are golden brown. Or even that crunchy outside layer of a roasted marshmallow. These are all examples of the Maillard reaction in action. Explained more scientifically, it is a chemical reaction that takes place between amino acids and sugars that occurs when cooked. It gives food a brown color and a distinct flavor.

Now that you've got some new scientific knowledge in your brain, brown butter should be easy to understand. Basically, it is butter that has undergone the Maillard reaction. You could say it is cooked until it's one step away from being burned. But all you really need to know is that it's delicious and not difficult to make! When you make it, you start to see the butter turn to a nice caramelly brown color, and then your whole kitchen starts to smell like a nutty-toffee-buttery heaven.

Why make brown butter?

Besides making your kitchen smell like a nutty-toffee-buttery heaven? One could argue that there's not a huge need for brown butter. Why not just use regular butter. That's a fair point. Regular butter is already delicious, so you might not see any reason to change it. But, trust me when I say, if you like butter, brown butter will blow your mind! I think it's best to use in dessert recipes. Next time you're making a batch of cookies that calls for butter, try kicking your ordinary butter up a notch. In fact, if you want to try your hand at baking with brown butter, I created a recipe for brown butter cookies! The idea was to remove the chocolate chips and any other flavors until you're left with just the brown butter, on full display. Give this recipe a try, it's perfect for brown butter beginners!

How do you make brown butter?

It's really not hard, you just have to be careful not to burn it. There's a fine line between browning and burning, but if you follow the directions below, you'll be fine!

1. Take one stick of butter and cut it into tablespoons (eight pieces). You probably want to use refrigerated butter so it's easier to cut into pieces.

2. Place your butter in a pan and turn your stove to medium heat.

NOTE: The one and only Tasty taught me a helpful trick: use a light-colored pan to make it easier to see the color of the butter.

3. The butter will begin to melt. Start stirring. Here's a hint: You're not gonna stop stirring until it's done. Plan accordingly.

4. The butter will melt completely and begin to bubble. Keep stirring.

5. After a minute or two (or maybe a little longer), you will start to notice the butter darkening in color. Keep stirring.

6. Stir until the butter has reached a nice golden-brown color. Then remove from heat. Pour the brown butter into a heat-safe container, such as a glass tupperware or ceramic bowl.

7. Stir an ice cube into the brown butter. The butter has lost some water during its time on the stove, so the ice cube adds some water back in while also cooling it down.

There you have it! I hope you enjoy making brown butter and finding creative ways to use it. If you liked this article, please consider leaving a tip below or sharing on social media to support the creation of more foodie articles.

~Bon Appetite~