Clarify Butter

To clarify butter, first melt unsalted butter slowly in a pan. Simmer over low heat, without stirring, until the milk solids have separated and sink to the bottom. Other impurities will rise to the surface, while the butterfat in the middle layer becomes very clear.

Remove the pan from the heat and skim off the foam with a spoon.
Then carefully ladle the clarified butterfat into a separate container. Be careful to leave the solids behind. One pound of butter will yield approximately 12 ounces of clarified butter.

While clarified butter doesn't have as much flavours as whole butter, it does have a higher smoke point--making it useful for saut?--because the milk solids, which scorch easily, have been removed.

Also, without milk solids butter won't spoil as quickly. In the days before refrigeration, cooks in India perfected a special clarifying process that significantly prolongs freshness. This highly clarified butter is called ghee.