Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Butter, Clarified.— Melt some butter in a perfectly clean saucepan; remove the scum, &c., which will rise to the top, and let it stand by the side of the fire for all impurities to sink to the bottom. Strain it carefully through a sieve, leaving the sediment at the bottom of the saucepan. Butter should be clarified before it is used to cover potted meats, (fee. When it is hot it may be used instead of olive-oil, and is liked better than oil by many cooks, both for salads and for other purposes. Time to melt, about three minutes. Butter, Clarified (another way). — Dissolve the butter before the fire, and have ready a clean jar in which to pour it. There is much waste in straining clarified butter, and this is not necessary if it be stirred once or twice whilst melting, then allowed to stand and carefully thrown into the jar, so as to leave the sediment behind. Tie it down securely to keep it from the air. Butter, Creamed. —To reduce butter to cream beat it in a bowl with the hand in a contrary direction to that observed in making cream into butter. Any water or milk must be thrown off. Time, from fifteen to twenty minutes. Butter, Fairy. — Blanch and pound two ounces of sweet almonds, adding a little orangeflower water. Wash a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and beat it to a paste with six yolks of hard boiled eggs, a little grated lemonpeel, and sifted loaf sugar. Mix all together with a wooden spoon, and work it through a colander. Serve it, on biscuit soaked in wine, piled up very high. Probable cost, without wine, Is. 6d. ^ Butter for Cold Dish.es.— Pound the following ingredients in a mortar, and reduce them to a smooth paste : — One clove of garlic, six hard boiled yolks of eggs, a sj^oonful of capers, and a seasoning of mace and allspice ; moisten with a little tarragon -vinegar and a glassful of salad-oil, and then add eight ounces of butter, with spinach -juice enough to make the butter green. Pound all till very smooth, and set it on ice to get firm, when it may be used for the decoration of cold meats, fish, salads, &c. Probable cost, Is. 8d. to 2s., according to the price of butter. Butter, Melted. — Mix a little flour with a quarter of a pound of butter. Put it, -wath a wine-glassful of water, into a saucepan, stir one way until melted, and when thick and only just boiled, it is ready. A superior melted butter may be made by using cream instead of water, and leaving out the floui\ It should not be allowed to boil. BUT (S7) BUT Butter, Melted (another way). — Take a piece of butter the size of a hen's egg, cut it into three or four slices, and work in as much of a dessert-spoonful of flour as the butter will take up. Put this into a saucepan with threequarters of a pint of cold water, keep stirring in one direction as the butter melts, and dust in what remains of the flour. When they are well mixed, smooth, and the sauce boils up, it is ready for serving. Or the lump of butter may be simply put in the saucepan with cold water, gradually dusting in the flour as it warms and melts. This rough-and-ready way requires careful management to prevent the flour from gathering into knots. Good melted butter, even if smooth, should not be too thick or pasty'. It vnll acquire that condition by being kept waiting too long at the side of the stove.