How Clarified Butter Differs From Cultured Butter

At this point in history, most home cooks are now familiar with an abundance of cooking oil options, but you may not realize that the world of butter types is quite diverse, too, and clarified and cultured butter are two of the most unique options. Unlike recipes that might specifically call for olive oil or peanut oil, most involving butter just say "butter," maybe with the small caveat of it being unsalted. But anyone who has tried good Irish butter knows that not all butter is created the same. While European style butters like Irish ones often contain higher levels of fat, hence the amazing flavor, clarified and cultured butter take things one step farther and involve additional ways of cooking or preparing the butter to create a truly special product.

While both clarified and cultured butter are unique styles, the way they are each prepared creates butters with very different qualities and uses. The biggest one is that making cultured butter adds a lot of extra flavor to butter, while clarifying it actually makes butter's taste more mild. Beyond flavor, cultured butter's uses are not dissimilar from the way you would use standard sweet cream butter, but clarified butter is made for some distinct use cases, especially cooking at high heat, which most butter isn't good for. Clarified butter is also something that most people can make at home, while cultured butter is more of a professional endeavor. But you'll probably quickly realize that both deserve a place in any butter lover's kitchen.

Unlike most cooking oils and animal fats like beef tallow or lard, butter is not 100% fat. The percentage can vary, with the aforementioned European-style butters being higher, but most butter is between 80% and 90% fat, with the rest being water and milk solids. While the milk solids (also referred to as milk proteins) add a nice dairy flavor to butter, they also present a problem. They lower butter's smoke point because they burn a lot faster than the fat portion of butter. Clarified butter is made to solve this and make butter more suitable for high-heat cooking methods, like searing.

The butter clarification process is relatively simple (just follow Ina Garten's advice). Butter is simmered over medium-low heat until the milk solids separate from the fat, then they are skimmed off and strained out to remove them. The heat also evaporates the water. The result is a more clear "clarified" butter that is all or mostly fat. If you've ever made it, Indian ghee is a form of clarified butter, but one that has been cooked longer to brown before cooling.

Because you are removing the milk solids, clarified butter will have a more mild flavor, but its smoke point will be as high as 450 degrees Fahrenheit. It will also have a much longer shelf life, lasting up to a year in the fridge. And while mild, it will still have a distinct butter flavor, so it's great for adding a rich taste to sauteed dishes and stir-frys.

Cultured butter actually comes from altering the cream that butter is made from. Normally, butter is created by churning cream to separate out the butter from the buttermilk. For cultured butter, live bacteria is added to the cream first, and the cream is left to ferment, similar to how yogurt is made. The cream ferments overnight, which alters the flavor and thickens it. Once the cream has fermented, it is then churned into butter, just like the standard stuff.

The fermentation process makes cultured butter much more flavorful than normal cream butter. It's tangy and has more complex tasting notes in addition to the dairy flavors. It also leaves the butter with a higher percentage of fat, further improving the taste. And while it won't be as good for high-heat cooking as clarified butter, the higher fat ratio also means a higher smoke point. The one downside is that live cultures can mean a shorter shelf life, so keep an eye on the expiration date and keep it cold as much as possible.

Cultured butter's best use might just be spreading it on bread, where its deep flavor will really shine. It's also great in any baked goods where the flavor of butter is central to the recipe. Think pie crust and butter cookies. But truly, cultured butter is usable anywhere butter is, so cook eggs with it or butter baste steak, whatever you want to do with it; it's basically just a more intense butter, which everyone can find a use for.