Making Brown Butter
Beurre noisette â butter cooked until the water has boiled off and the milk solids turn golden and toasty. A trick learned from food writer Charles Pierce, fellow alum of La Varenne cooking school in Paris, to add depth of flavor to crĂȘpes.
Ingredients
| 100 g (7 tbsp) | unsalted butter |
Instructions
For most recipes, I not only melt the butter, but I cook it until the water has boiled off and the milk solids are starting to turn golden and take on a toasty flavor. At this stage, it's called beurre noisette in French ("hazelnut butter") or brown butter in English. I've been making my crĂȘpes this way since learning the trick from food writer and fellow alum of La Varenne cooking school in Paris, Charles Pierce. I think it's such a clever way to add a depth of flavor to the crĂȘpes.
- Melt 7 tbsp / 100 g of unsalted butter in a small saucepan or skillet over medium heat.
- Cook the butter, swirling the pan every few seconds, until all of the water inside the butter has sizzled off and the milk solids at the bottom of the pan begin to turn a pale golden color, 2 to 4 minutes.
- Continue cooking the butter until it turns golden brown and smells nutty and delicious, another few seconds.
- Immediately pour the brown butter into a bowl to stop the cooking. Let it cool to room temperature before using.
When you add the butter to your crĂȘpe recipe, be sure to include the delicious toasty brown milk solids. Makes about 6 tbsp / 90 ml brown butter.