Brown Butter

Directions

1. 1
   Put a pound of softened butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat and wait for the butter to melt entirely as you stir how and then. Whisk in a cup of instant nonfat milk powder (to enhance flavor - it is not traditionally an ingredient in brown butter). Raise the heat to medium, whisking constantly. The butter begins to bubble and hiss; after all the water has boiled away, turn down the heat. Now the temperature will rise quickly to 250 deg F, whereupon the butter and the solids in it will begin turning a richer golden color, then a golden brown, a dark brown, and finally black, as the heady scents of toffee and butterscotch fill the room. Remove from the heat as soon as the milk solids have gotten very dark brown; the goal is to avoid the black state, which tastes mainly burned. Immediately pour the butter into a large bowl, preferably of metal, to stop the cooking. Fill a larger bowl with 2 or 3 pounds of ice and add cold water to about 2 inches from the rim. Float the smaller bowl in the ice water. With a whisk, stir the butter slowly until it begins to thicken, then whip vigorously until the butter becomes too stiff to mix further. Scrape the brown butter into a smaller bowl, cover, refrigerate.