Drawn Butter Recipe: How to Make Drawn Butter in 5 Minutes
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Dec 4, 2021 • 2 min read
You can use drawn butter for sautéing, add it to mashed potatoes, incorporate it into dessert recipes, or have it on hand for your next clam bake.
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What Is Drawn Butter?
Drawn butter is the end result of melting butter; however, there is some debate in the culinary world about what qualifies as drawn butter. Drawn butter might be just plain melted butter, milk solids and all; or melted butter might only qualify as drawn butter if it’s clarified butter. Either way, drawn butter is a common dipping sauce for steamed seafood like king crab legs, snow crab legs, clams, and lobster tails.
How to Clarify Drawn Butter
Clarified butter, also known as ghee, is drawn butter from which you have removed all the milk solids. It has a higher smoke point than drawn butter and other cooking oils like olive oil and remains in a more liquid state. Here is a step-by-step process for clarifying butter:
- Keep the drawn butter at a low heat. Melt butter at low heat in a small saucepan. As the butter melts, the milk solids rise to the top of the butter. If the butter boils, the milk solids disperse throughout the butterfat, making it hard to remove the solids and resulting in a cloudy appearance. Alternatively, you can do this in a slow cooker on the lowest setting possible or in a double boiler. These methods will help to prevent the butter from boiling.
- Skim the top. As the milk solids rise to the surface, they will form a foamy substance. To skim foam off the top of the butter, use a slotted spoon and carefully run it around the surface of the melted butter, making sure to only remove the milk solids and not the butterfat.
- Transfer the butter to another saucepan. To hold the clarified butter at a low temperature, carefully ladle the clear butter into the second small saucepan. Leave the milky-colored liquid at the bottom of the pan, as it should not appear in the final product. If any solids get through, you can run the clarified butter through a fine-mesh strainer that you’ve lined with cheesecloth.
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Drawn Butter Recipe
makes
1 cuptotal time
5 mincook time
5 minIngredients
- 1
Add the unsalted butter to a small saucepan over low heat. Alternatively, add the butter to a microwave-safe bowl.
- 2
For the stove method, cook the butter until it’s just melted but before it starts to brown. For the microwave method, microwave in 15-second increments until the butter fully melts.
- 3
Leave the butter sauce plain or add chives, garlic, and lemon juice for a more flavorful condiment.
Become a better chef with the MasterClass Annual Membership. Gain access to exclusive video lessons taught by the world’s best, including Mashama Bailey, Gabriela Cámara, Niki Nakayama, Chef Thomas Keller, Yotam Ottolenghi, Dominique Ansel, Gordon Ramsay, Alice Waters, and more.