THE BERGAMOT KITCHEN

23. GOAT GHEE WIZ

Is this a great kitchen color or what? Can’t wait to see what comes of it. This goat ghee is a great start.

Whether from cow or goat, having a pound or two of homemade clarified butter, ghee or brown butter is as easy as turning on the TV and takes a hell of a lot less time. Actually it’s so simple you can do both at the same time.

It gives a cooker the tremendous advantage of an extraordinary flavorful fat with a high temperature tolerance which turns a skillet from a conventional tool in an extraordinary instrument.

Commercially available ghee and clarified butter, is to my palate, thoroughly disgusting and revolting. Once I learned how to do this at home, I’m never without it. Never!

You owe it to yourself to do this. You will be forever grateful and it will sit side by side with your other “indispensables”. Easy garlic (essay1) and pesto (essay 2). This is so important and so simple.

Excellent goat butter: Meyenberg Goat Milk Butter

This is the hardest part. Cut the butter into smaller pieces and put them in a pan.

Put on medium heat until it begins to bubble. Doesn’t take very long. Depending on the quantity you are making, turn the flame to low or simmer and walk away. 

Actually, until you get the hang of it, don’t go to the beach or take a hike. You need to pay some attention to it as it develops.

Note: This is a small pan because I’m just doing a small batch. Usually I do four pounds which requires a larger pot. I prefer wider and shallow rather than narrow and tall. It’s about evaporation and I want as much surface area as possible.

I allowed about two hours of simmering (slow bubbling) to get to where I’m going here. You will notice that things are beginning to caramelize (turn brown). This is just about the state of color I’m after for the ghee.

Note: Clarified butter, ghee and brown butter is the pure fat left after the milk solids have evaporated.

Ghee is the same as clarified but picks up some additional flavor and color through caramelization. It’s just a matter of some additional time on the stove – and paying attention towards the end of the process.

Brown butter is ghee taken to a high octane caramelization. It’s a little tricky because it needs to get to the right place without going over the edge and becoming bitter. The trick with brown butter is that the heat needs to be stopped BEFORE it reaches the correct level of doneness. The caramelization process will continue after the pan has been removed from the stove and you don’t want it to scorch.

There will be three levels of stuff in the pan. Some of the solids will sink and some will float. The good stuff is in-between. Periodically, I skim off the foam as it helps to promote evaporation.

It’s has arrived at the level of caramelization I’m after so now it’s ready to process. I’m going to set my fine mesh strainer on top of my glass pyrex bowl with a pour spout and lay some folded cheese cloth over the top and then let the temperature come down so it’s not too hot to deal with.

After it cools some, I can pour the liquid through the cheese cloth.

In case there are unintended particles in the butter, I like to set a small tea strainer over my storage jars when filling.

Looks like this. Lucky you. It will solidify once in the fridge. This goat ghee will turn white. Do a fried egg in this and you’ll never go back. Life changing!

MORE BERGAMOT KITCHEN ESSAYS

23. goat ghee wiz

24. what a fermentation

25. mystery thighs & basmati

26. basmati outrageous

27. not your granny’s egg salad

28. salsa roja @ 35k

29. huevos, salsa & cerveza

Thanks for visiting with me.

Paul V’Soske

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