Brown butter refers to butter that is heated quickly in a sauté pan until the milk solids just turn golden brown; it is then used immediately for cooking. It is a delicate operation because if heated a few seconds too long, the butter solids turn black and an unpleasant bitter taste is all you have to work with. Brown butter has developed a cultlike following and is now made specifically to be used as a flavoring agent in nontraditional recipes from sweet to savory. While we were working on ideas for increasing our output of brown butter, Michael Laiskonis, pastry chef at Le Bernardin, blogged about his experiments with brown butter. He shared a technique of reducing heavy cream until it separated into clarified butter and milk solids. This led to a discussion in the blog comments about the best way to extract the most milk solids from dairy and how to get the best yield of brown butter solids to play with. The discussion culminated with a tip from Cory Barrett, the pastry chef at Cleveland’s Lola Bistro. He suggested using nonfat dry milk to increase the yield of caramelized milk solids, and recommended letting them brown slowly in butter, then steeping them overnight to increase the butter flavor. This is why we love the Internet. It brings like-minded people together. Thanks to Michael and Cory, we now have access to a new approach, which yields a bounty of brown butter solids to be integrated into innumerable dishes. For our brown butter solids, we melted 2 sticks (224 grams) of unsalted butter and added 1 cup (80 grams) of nonfat milk powder. One of our favorite uses for brown butter is this ice cream. Just wait until you taste it.
This pasta has some really big energy about it. It’s so extra, it’s the type of thing you should be eating in your bikini while drinking a magnum of rosé, not in Hebden Bridge (or wherever you live), but on a beach on Mykonos.
Among the top tier of sauces is Indonesian satay sauce, because it is the embodiment of joy and life. In fact, this sauce is also trustworthy and highly respectful of whatever it comes into contact with—perhaps it is, in fact, the perfect friend?
Turn humble onions into this thrifty yet luxe pasta dinner.
I should address the awkward truth that I don’t use butter here but cream instead. You could, if you’re a stickler for tradition (and not a heretic like me), add a big slab of butter to the finished curry.
Caramelized onions, melty Gruyère, and a deeply savory broth deliver the kind of comfort that doesn’t need improving.
A dash of cocoa powder adds depth and richness to the broth of this easy turkey chili.
Put these out at a gathering, and we guarantee you’ll be hearing rave reviews for a long time.
This is what I call a fridge-eater recipe. The key here is getting a nice sear on the sausage and cooking the tomato down until it coats the sausage and vegetables well.