Brown butter: the five-minute trick that makes autumn taste nutty
Beurre noisette is just butter cooked a little longer. Here is what happens in the pan, when to stop, and where to spoon it, from swede to pear crumble.
If I could teach you only one small thing this autumn, it would be brown butter. The French call it beurre noisette, hazelnut butter, because of its colour and smell. It takes one ingredient, one pan and about five minutes, and it turns plain vegetables, pasta and desserts into something people ask about.
It is also the easiest thing in the world to burn, so let me walk you through it slowly.
What is happening in the pan
Butter is about 80 per cent fat. The rest is mostly water plus a small amount of milk solids: proteins and milk sugar. When you melt butter and keep heating it, the water boils off first. That is the foaming and crackling you hear. Once the water has gone, the temperature in the pan climbs, and the milk solids sink to the bottom and start to toast. Their sugars and proteins react and brown, the same family of reactions that colours bread crust and seared meat. That is where the nutty, toffee-like flavour comes from.
So brown butter is really toasted milk solids suspended in clarified butter. Keep those little brown flecks. They are the flavour.
How to make it
- Pan: use a light-coloured stainless steel or enamel pan. In a dark or non-stick pan you cannot see the colour change, and you will overshoot.
- Amount: start with at least 75 g. Very small amounts brown unevenly and burn fast.
- Heat: medium. Cut the butter into pieces so it melts evenly, and swirl the pan now and then.
- Listen: it will foam and sputter loudly. As the water cooks off, the noise gets quieter. That quiet is your signal to pay attention.
- Watch and smell: the foam settles, specks appear on the bottom and turn from pale gold to amber. It smells of toasted hazelnuts and caramel.
- Stop: when the specks are the colour of a hazelnut skin, pour it straight into a cold bowl, scraping in every fleck.
When to stop: The pan keeps cooking the butter after you take it off the heat. Pour it out a few seconds before you think it is ready. If it smells bitter or the specks are black, it has burned. Start again; there is no rescuing it.
Guide: pan sauces
Where to use it: savoury
Brown butter with crisp sage is the classic dressing for pumpkin ravioli in northern Italy, and it is perfect on these big pasta shells with butternut squash and walnuts. Roots love it too: roast swede until golden, then glaze it with brown butter and chilli honey. Or brush it between the slices of hasselback potatoes so the edges crisp up and taste of hazelnuts.
Recipe: butternut squash pasta shells with brown butter and walnuts
Recipe: chilli honey roasted swede with brown butter and dukkah
Recipe: hasselback potatoes with brown butter and vasterbotten
For fish, make it the French way: once the butter is brown, add a squeeze of lemon and a spoon of capers, and spoon it over pan-fried cod or plaice. The lemon stops the cooking and makes an instant sauce.
Where to use it: sweet
In baking, swap melted butter for brown butter in cookies, financiers, sponge cakes and crumble toppings. Because the water has cooked off, the butter weighs a little less afterwards. For crisp things like crumble that is a bonus. In a cake, you can add a tablespoon of water or milk to the batter to make up for it. Let the butter cool to room temperature before you cream it with sugar, or chill it until it sets again.
My favourite this month is a pear crumble with cardamom and ginger, where the oats are tossed in brown butter before they go in the oven. The topping tastes like toasted biscuits.
Recipe: chai spiced pear crumble with brown butter oats
Listen to the butter. When it goes quiet, it is about to tell you something.
Brown butter keeps in a jar in the fridge for a week or so. Make a double batch on Sunday and you have a little flavour bomb ready for every weeknight.
