"Ian Hoare" > wrote in message
...
> Salut/Hi Peter Dy,
>
> le/on Wed, 01 Oct 2003 07:20:30 GMT, tu disais/you said:-
>
> >I made ghee for the first time today, following Julie Sahni's recipe.
When
> >done and when transferring the ghee from the pot to a container, she says
to
> >make sure the browned milk solids remain behind, suggesting that one even
> >use cheesecloth to strain them out. How important is that? Why?
>
> Actually, with care you can just decant from off the top. what _I_ do is
to
> skim off froth and then leave to settle a few minutes before decanting
> carefully. I can get a 99.5% pure ghee, and that's close enough for me.
>
> The importance is that the milk solids burn at a relatively low
> temperature, so if you leave them in, you rish getting a burnt taste to
> your dishes. The French do the same thing sometimes, they call it
> "clarified butter". They do it for two reasons, one to raise frying temp,
> t'other if they want to seal a dish with clarified butter, the process
> makes the fat water free, so it seals perfectly, preserving what is
> underneath from risk of infection.


Thanks, Ian. I had decanted from the top, pouring it into cheesecloth. The
ghee had such a hard time getting through, that I ditched the cloth, and
just decanted straight. I noticed a few flecks of brown pour out, but I
guess it is no big deal now -- not enough to burn. 98% pure, I'd say.

Peter