"W" > wrote in message
...
> I make my own Indian Ghee from grassfed butter, using these instructions:
> http://thehealthyfoodie.com/homemade-ghee/
>
> I have done this maybe 15 times, always successfully, and I end up with a
> golden honey color. Today I tried a new local butter, and I ran into
> disaster and need to try to understand what happened.
>
> Normally what happens is in the last five minutes, the butter starts to
give
> off a burning smell and the milk solids sink to the bottom of the pan.
You
> pour this over a good filter and what gets through is a pure fat without
the
> dairy proteins (purified butter).
>
> Today, the ghee turned black, almost like a cup of coffee. Normally what
I
> see happen is that the milk solids burn off and separate from the ghee.
> This happened this time, but in addition it looks like the ghee itself has
> been burned, maybe ruined. I am typically cooking the ghee at under
> boiling temperatures for water, so I don't see how this is even possible.
> Purified butter has a smoke point of 450 degrees and I am not cooking at
> anywhere close to that temperature.
>
> Half of me is wondering if the butter still has dairy solids bound into it
> and needs to be cooked even longer to burn these off. The other half of
me
> thinks maybe the butter I am using (Strauss Family Creamery) has some
> characteristic that makes it difficult to use for ghee:
> http://strausfamilycreamery.com/products/organic-butter
> and I have ruined the batch.
>
> I don't understand how ghee could end up black and looking and smelling
> burned. Does anyone have a theory about what went wrong here, and is
there
> anything that can be done at this point?

I think we have a user error (mine).

I did not fully understand that a vat of fat at a relatively low heat
setting will continue to gain heat and get quite a lot hotter than a saute
with food would (for comparison). I tried using a slightly higher heat
setting, and I think I reached a smoke point for the fat and turned it dark.
The milk solids certainly burned, but those always burn and sink to the
bottom.

The ghee tastes "smoky" but does not taste bad. What do others think?
Should I try to use it? I would normally worry about carcinogens in a fat,
but this is pure saturated fat so it should be very stable chemically.
Most of that burned taste may actually be the milk solids that somehow
emulsified into the butter at high temperature. I'm not sure.

Does anyone sell a good temperature alarm that I can attach to the side of
my burning vat of fat and have it go off when I exceed some threshold (e.g.,
350F)?

--
W