Clarified Goodness!

I've officially decided that I have kitchen gadget lust. I keep finding various kitchen items that I want and don't have the space for. For instance, I had to have a new crock pot for my birthday, wanted a waffle iron and a spirulizer for Christmas. Currently, I'm drooling over a boning knife (for my quest to debone a chicken), a meat cleaver (for my eventual butchering...?), a meat grinder (so I can make my own ground meat combos and to break down leaf fat/suet to make lard/tallow), a soda stream (I've become obsessed with sparkling water lately) and a sous vide (which is very expensive at $450 and will probably never get). Granted, the one thing I really want is a giant chest freezer for my basement, so I can buy a 1/4 or 1/2 a cow. I also know some local farms that sell 1/2 or whole pastured pigs and lambs. It's a fair investment up front, but ends up being cheaper in the long run... Not to mention that you won't have to buy meat again for a long time.

Sorry to start off with a long tangent there, but it's been on my mind for a while. I've decided that this week I was going to try my hand at a recipe that I've been meaning to make for a while: ghee. Essentially, it's just clarified butter. It makes for a really nice cooking fat and has very few dairy proteins remaining after the clarifying process, which makes it more tolerable for those with casein or lactose sensitivities.

 Ghee

Ingredients:

• butter, preferably from grass-fed dairy

Method:

• Place the butter into a sauce pan or pot and let it melt over low heat. Let the melted butter simmer. Eventually, you'll see the milk fats float to the surface and start to foam.

• Skim off the milk solids and let the oil continue to simmer until the remaining milk particles sink, turn golden brown, and there are few bubbles rising to the surface.

• Remove the pot from heat and let it cool. Then, strain it through a cheesecloth or a small mesh sieve into a clean glass jar.

• You can put your newly created ghee into the fridge. Use it as you would butter or oil.

This recipe was a cinch to make. This is namely because there's only one ingredient and you just have to keep an eye on the pot. FYI, eggs taste really awesome when they're fried in this stuff! Ghee would also taste good with any veggies you might saute, or even use it as a topping for some grilled goodies.