Ghee

[Bribie G]

Ghee is now my main cooking fat. Dead easy to make if you have a slow cooker.

I scored an ancient crockpot from an op shop and it's perfect for a litre and a half of ghee that will last me for around six weeks.

Butter consists of the fat, which is what we want, plus proteins and other solids and water.

Put six sticks of unsalted butter in the crockpot and heat for about six hours, with the lid slightly ajar to allow steam to escape.



Eventually, as it simmers, the house will fill with the lovely nutty savoury smell of the ghee, and the "impurities" will have turned into brown flakes that sink to the bottom of the crock. Ladle the clear clean ghee off the trub.



The ghee itself has a wonderful nutty and toasty flavour. Can be just kept in the pantry for up to 2 months. Tastes like butter on steroids.



The trub at the bottom is almost orgasmic when drizzled onto slices of Turkish bread and fried off in a heavy skillet. :icon_drool2: :icon_drool2: :icon_drool2: :icon_drool2:

 

[tazman1967]

Im hearing you dude, I love my Indian cooking, Ghee rocks...
Nice high temp point, and dont mind the flavour.

 

[Bribie G]

sorry about the delay guys, accidentally posted before the photos.

 

[doon]

Does it need to be cooked for 6 hours. I was just looking at videos on youtube and they do it on stove in about 30 mins?

 

[bum]

It is just clarified butter.

Length of boil changes flavour and colour. Depends what you're after.

 

[Bribie G]

Yes you can do it quickly but need to keep an eye on it constantly. If the "trub" burns it's ruined with a bitter taste. Using a slow cooker it's set and forget - mostly.

edit: it's not just an Asian thing, the French do it and then let the whole thing cool down and whip the trub into the butter : "beurre noisette" used in some sauces and pastries.

 

[Edak]

Holy moly that's a lot of fat! How many heart attacks are you trying to induce?

 

[pk.sax]

There is another slow way that'd make this, bit more energy efficient.... I do this if I'm feeling like making it fresh and just do this in the bottom of the pot I'm going to use to cook whatever else in and just add ingredients on top.

Starts with cream. Find the best cream you can, usually double dollop. Let this de-hydrate in the fridge for a few days/week. Pour into pan/pot and the ghee will almost instantly start separating from the protein. The idea is to remove the moisture so the separation can happen.

Mum used to skim the cream off the milk (post boil & cool down - home pasteurization) every day and keep it aside. A week on, the collected cream was churned into butter - removing a lot of water, obviously. A week on from there the butter starts tasting just a little sour, in it goes into a pot and is boiled to clarify and separate.

Ghee can be kept un-refridgerated for years. It won't spoil, as long as it's ghee. Stored in a clear jar, it's almost athe most accurate indicator of the onset of cold weather when it starts to turn solid. And of summer as it melts

 

[Phillo]

:icon_drool2: I've been cooking Indian food for years, but never made anything with ghee. Bout time to change that methinks.

Thanks BG.

 

[Bribie G]

Practicalfool, I'm sure that's how the Indians actually make ghee because the tinned stuff from the Asian grocers has a slight rancid flavour, which they like. Disappears when you cook with it.

Holy moly that's a lot of fat! How many heart attacks are you trying to induce?

<soapbox>

Butter is a good fat - coronary heart disease was uncommon until the 1950s onward when much of the cattle herd had been wiped out during the War, the USA was awash with cheap grains and so the West got converted by the likes of Monsanto to industrial oils and margarines and everything suddenly had to be 95% fat free.

All my rellies lived into their 90s apart from reasons in the following list - and yes life expectancy was a lot lower in those days ON AVERAGE due to things like

the Second World War,
poor OH&S in the workplace,
infectious diseases,
almost universal smoking,
general exposure to carcinogens - benzine, asbestos, toluene etc widely used in industry and even in the home
high rates of traffic accidents etc etc.

Butter never killed anyone. In fact the recent introduction of vegetable ghee in India has caused a lot of poor people to switch over from the real stuff and CHD is now becoming apparent in that population

</soapbox>


Edit: <anecdote>
When I was 7 I found a little bottle of olive oil in the medicine cabinet used for ear wax softening. I drank it and Mam rushed me off to the doctor who said not to worry, I would probably pass it the next day. Got a nice tea that night, sausages and chips fried in the lard pan. </anecdote>

 

[pommiebloke]

Holy moly that's a lot of fat! How many heart attacks are you trying to induce?

Think that's bad? I'm from Devon originally and this is a traditional part of a Devonshire Cream Tea where I come from.

However, I agree with Bribie G. Proof below:

 

[Bribie G]

Haha brilliant, I've posted that pic on my Primal Forum, should give them a giggle.

 

[pk.sax]

Hehe.

Well, that hydrogenated fat is a curse. It was alright to use oil, straight up vegetable oil has its benefits. The hydrogenated margarine and 'dalda' - vegetable ghee though is just utter crap. And unhealthy to boot. People would ladle more of that crap into their food thinking it is healthy and safe while it is utterly harmful. It doesn't taste as good, has worse shelf life, no therapeutic benefits.

Last time I visited India, went to eat somewhere and they'd give you some butter to put in your dal makhani. The dude gave us cubes of margarine. We had to protest and tell them it is not butter. Get the real deal.

Btw, ghee, depending in the source of the milk can have a bit of character. I grew up with buffalo milk, butter, ghee. That stuff is white. The butter is stark white. Cow milk butter and ghee have that yellow tinge and that difference in flavour. The white butter has that sweet and slightly rancid flavour I think you talk of. It is much sweeter than cow milk butter but with that tinge of sourness. Nothing more delicious...

 

[Bribie G]

Wouldn't it be great if there was a buffalo dairy industry in Australia, however they are just a feral pest here :unsure:

 

[pk.sax]

Need more wogs....... :icon_drool2:

 

[Rowy]

Think that's bad? I'm from Devon originally and this is a traditional part of a Devonshire Cream Tea where I come from.

However, I agree with Bribie G. Proof below:

Christ I have a thing for Nigella!

 

[browndog]

Christ I have a thing for Nigella!

Rowy, check out Rachel Khoo, The little french restaurant on SBS.


Back on topic, so what about the cholesterol free oils? are they not better for you than clarified butter?

 

[Rowy]

Rowy, check out Rachel Khoo, The little french restaurant on SBS.

277713_rachel-khoo-3.jpg.cache.jpg

Back on topic, so what about the cholesterol free oils? are they not better for you than clarified butter?

Oh yes!

 

[dammag]

I remember my grandfather eating jam and cream on bread most nights and eating plenty of oily chops, full cream milk. They used to have a farm. Didn't make him fat and he lasted a long time.

I think real food in moderation is a good way to stay healthy. Experts change their opinions regularly but people have been on these diets for a long time.

We don't have margarine in this house and I cook with plenty of oil. In fact I am making Indian tonight and am making spiced oil that I will be using by the "chef's spoon" full

Along with butter on the naan.

Beer is good for you too BTW :chug:

 

[Bribie G]

Without cholesterol you die - the body makes most of its cholesterol which is needed for cell walls (sound familiar? anyone for olive oil in the wort?)

HDL cholesterol is the good one. If you eat cholesterol the body switches off cholesterol production and excrete the excess in the bile, which is why weighlifters and bodybuilders who eat 20 dozen eggs a week usually have good cholesterol levels.

The problem with veg oils is that they have lipids in them that aren't really what we were evolved to eat and they get "mistakenly" incorporated into membranes - for example it's now thought that veg oils could be responsible for the "epidemic" of macular degeneration - don't talk about MD, Mrs has to go in for another Lucentis injection into the eyeball tomorrow :huh:

edit: there's good veg oils as well, the culprits are the "seed oils" such as Canola, Sunflower, Corn Oil etc that got mass produced over the last half century. I do use a fair bit of extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil. Favourite mid afternoon snack is a tomato chopped up, a tin of humble sardines tipped over the top and the whole lot drowned in the extra virgin. :icon_drool2: