Nutty brown butter and a fixed 'split' Hollandaise!

Brown butter, basically caramelized, is difficult to do well. The point between nutty, sweet, caramel coloured butter and a bitter, dark, burnt mess is so quick that to take your eyes off it for a moment or to wait just that second too long is to ruin it. I erred on the side of caution today and with a bit of (semi) beginner's luck, caught it at just the right moment. The solids all fell to the bottom leaving a clarified butter underneath with the colour of amber and a froth that developed on top. This panicked me slightly. Was this right? Patience proved everything would be okay as the butter seemed to meld together as it cooled and eventually formed one solid, uniformed coloured mass. I used it with a stir-fry of bok choy, mushrooms, cabbage and bacon with some pistachios thrown in to add some crunch. To be honest, the butter was sort of lost, adding a subtle buttery flavour  and the stir fry being by no means a good vehicle for its true character. I have some left so next time I can try it with something simpler, such as on toast or with one vegetable.

First stage, simply melt about 3/4 cup of butter in a heavy saucepan until it starts to turn brown. Maybe simply is not the word to be used here, it's one of those things that seems so simple but with a little lapse in concentration can go horrifically wrong, so, DON"T TAKE YOUR EYES OFF IT!

It should start to separate into clear, clarified butter (this is the same technique to make Ghee, that mainstay fat of Indian cooking, find instructions here) and the milk solids which start to form. It should start to foam too.

Okay, that's brown enough thanks. Amber is your goal, not chocolate, at this stage. Aiming for browner in my experience is taking it just that little bit too far and then, whoops, it's burnt.

Like a molten amber sun.

Stir fry of baby bok choy, back bacon, mushrooms and cabbage fried in a little oil and seasoned with a little salt and 1 tsp brown butter.

 

The remaining butter, stored in the fridge for another use.
 

Now, a dilemma. To share this little triumph with you is to admit something that some readers would consider tantamount to criminal. I used a packet of Hollandaise mix to make my cauliflower cheese. I am a bad person. 

In truth, we all use these little conveniences whenever possible, it's okay, don't feel bad.  This particular packet mix is pretty fine. Nice flavour and usually nice texture that never fails to stand up to rigorous mixing, beating, strong lights or too much liquid. Usually, I say, until last night. Why this splitting happened I don't know. I have used this umpteen times before with no problems. Whatever happened, I found myself pretty gleeful secretly, as this gave me good fodder for this very blog. (Am I getting obsessed?)

I decided to try one of the techniques to 'save' the sauce I first mentioned in my Bearnaise post. It worked perfectly. The technique is to pour 2 tbsp hot water in a bowl and mix your split sauce into it. It emulsifies right before your eyes like magic, although, like magic, there is a scientific reason which escapes me right now, something to research perhaps.

In the bowl above is the split sauce and the bowl underneath contains the hot water and the sauce being saved.

Perfect Hollandaise reformed to it's former glory.

The cauliflower cheese. One whole head of cauliflower, boiled until tender in a large pan of salted water then drained well and left in the pan with a lid to dry for 10 minutes. Smothered liberally with a miraculous Hollandaise sauce and sprinkled judiciously with lots of fine Double Gloucester cheese. Baked in the oven at 400oF for 30 minutes until brown, crispy and with meltingly soft cauliflower beneath. So, a good result overall, a technique tried and conquered and a brown butter to be used another day.