I attempted to clarify butter for the first time. Based on the picture, I think there is to many solids in it. Is this butter clarified correctly ?
Here is what I did:
I’ve never clarified butter before, but that looks kind of what like ghee looks like in my local store - kind of grainy with some oily/liquid bits. As I understand, clarified butter and ghee are both made up of a mix of fats that have varying melting points. When allowed to slowly cool, the ones with a higher melting point will solidify first, eventually leaving some of the fats that are liquid at room temperature.
To remedy that, you can re-melt everything, mix it well, then cool it in the fridge to have it cool homogeneously, without a chance for it to separate. When brought back to room temperature, it will stay well-mixed for the most part.
To clarify butter you should melt it at low heat, not boiling. If you brown the milk solids you're making ghee, the flavor is going to be more nutty.
Let the butter simmer gently, and the milk solids will rise to the top, forming a foam. The water will sink to the bottom. You want the middle layer, the butterfat.
Skim off the foam and pour the clear butterfat into a container, leaving the water and milk solids behind.
You could also melt the butter (in cubes) in the microwave, without stirring. Cool it down in the fridge and the layers will be separated.
And apparently you could also add cornstarch (1 ½ tsp for each ½ lb of butter) once the butter starts to simmer, keep simmering until the mixture stops foaming, and strain this through a coffee filter or cheesecloth: the cornstarch will separate the solids and the resulting liquid is the clarified butter.
We do clarify butter frequently - and... most of the other answers are very different from how we do it.
Least for us, we let the butter melt, and the foam form, and continue heating at medium heat until the foam starts to settle. No need to stir, just keep the heat low, and trust the process. Let it sink to the bottom. You want a golden coloured liquid, with a brown sediment at the bottom.
Adding a spig or two of curry leaf or moringa is optional. We do it, and it makes the smell even more glorious.
Decant the liquid. It'll recrystalise later but warmed up it will melt back into a liquid.
The water content should boil off, we're claifying not distilling.
While many commercial ghees are 'solid' - this isn't really part of the process. They're clarified 'less' for shelf life, and you'd want to re-melt it down anyway. You want a GOLDEN LIQUID, not a solid.
