How to make ghee with your own hands.
Ghee, or ghee, is a former butter, but without casein and lactose. If you melt our favorite butter with a conditional fat content of 82%, then everything that is not butter will precipitate or burn, and we will get incredible caramel oil at the end. The smell of baked milk and no smoke or burning even if you fry over high heat.
And ghee is also kept at room temperature and does not disappear - it is understandable why it may have been invented in India. According to Ayurveda, unlike other oils that clog the liver, ghee gives it strength. And ghee also increases the sharpness of the mind, which is also not bad. You can read more about the beneficial properties of ghee from an official point of view, for example, here.
Ghee and ghee are very similar things. The only excellent student is in the cooking time. Ghee is considered ready as soon as the butter and protein structures are separated from each other. Ghee should simmer over low heat for an hour or longer, until the protein precipitate caramelizes, giving the oil a deep golden brown color and nutty caramel flavor.
That is, if you just want to get rid of excess casein and lactose, you can do it in 15 minutes and you will get ghee. This won't make the oil bad. But it will not become caramel-nutty. If you simmer on the stove or in the oven for a couple of hours - only then you get ghee.
The options for using ghee are endless. In general, the same as that of regular butter. You can make different armored drinks, from coffee to broth, fry everything on it - from steaks and mushrooms to scrambled eggs, make fat bombs and add them to pates without regret.
Moreover, ghee, like butter, can be flavored. Garlic or hot peppers, truffle salt or vanilla extract - whatever the fantasy suggests. The last time I made some truffle oil - I just had a jar of truffle salt with the last leftovers, I poured some of the oil into it and stirred it with salt. It smells incredible! If making garlic or pepper oil, add garlic or chopped hot peppers at the very beginning of melting the oil and remove from the pan with a slotted spoon after 10 minutes.
Ghee i best cooked in large quantities at once, much like dumplings in childhood. Try to choose the best butter, if possible, from grass-fed cows. Usually I buy 4-5 packs of butter, 200-250 grams each, and this amount is enough for a long time.
How to make homemade ghee:
Take a thick-walled saucepan and fill it halfway with chopped unsalted butter (the best you can find). Usually I immediately cook from 4-5 packs of butter.
Melt the butter over low heat and heat until froth starts to collect on top.
Place the oil in an oven preheated to about 150 degrees, in a saucepan without a lid. The oil should be slightly agitated and occasionally gurgle, not remaining completely still, but also not boiling. Usually my oven takes about 1.5-2 hours for the butter to become caramelized, count at least 30-40 minutes for every 500 g of butter.
Let the oil cool, collect the burnt pieces of oil from the surface with a slotted spoon or spoon and pour it over the jar, being careful not to disturb the sediment (it is useful for homemade condensed milk!).
To be sure, you can filter the oil through thin gauze or a sieve (at least through a coffee filter), but I always very carefully pour the oil over clean glass jars and so on.