Ditch The Pat Of Butter: Cook French Toast In This Nutty Alternative That Won't Burn

When making griddled breakfast items like pancakes, French toast, or even eggs, butter sounds like it would be the most delicious option to use as a cooking fat. Cooking in butter might seem like the best route to impart more fat and flavor, but unfortunately, it requires an extremely low heat and a lot of effort to keep the butter from burning. If you're hesitant to switch to oil and still want to get that great butter flavor, it's time to swap butter for ghee the next time you make French toast. 

When you think of ghee, Indian food might automatically come to mind, as the butter-derived product did originally come from India and is commonly used in Indian cooking. You may lump it in the general category of melted or clarified butter, but ghee is different than regular clarified butter. Ghee is a type of clarified butter in the sense that the water and milk proteins have been cooked out and strained out of the butter. What makes ghee different is that it simmers on the stove for a longer time and makes for a more concentrated clarified butter that's deeper in flavor and color than the typical clarified butter you get on the side of a lobster dish. 

With the water and milk proteins removed from the butter, ghee has a higher smoke point than butter (which is about 350 degrees Fahrenheit), ranging between 450 and 485 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature range is perfect for a hot skillet cooking slices of French toast. 

Using ghee rather than butter, using a 1:1 ratio, still allows for that delicious, rich, and nutty flavor of butter to permeate the slices of batter-dipped bread without the risk of burning, which can give French toast a rancid, acrid taste. Whether you're using our milk bread French toast recipe or riffing on your favorite childhood version, ghee will make the end product incredibly delicious.

While some people tout butter and oil as a decent combination to use in an attempt to thwart the burning of the milk solids in butter, it can be difficult to judge what ratio is best between the two fats so that it doesn't burn. Additionally, adding oil dilutes the exact butter taste you're trying to achieve. That's what makes ghee so ideal for the slow, medium-low heat cooking that gives slices of French toast their barely-crunch exteriors and tender interior. Once you've removed your perfectly golden brown French toast from the pan, amp it up with one of these sweet compound butters.