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  #1   ^
Old Fri, Mar-29-19, 00:38
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Demi Demi is offline
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Default Why you should be using ghee in your cooking

Quote:
From The Telegraph
London, UK
28 March, 2019


Why ghee was in the Oscars goodie bags, and how you should be using the fat in your cooking

Olivia Colman didn’t merely walk away with an Academy Award at the Oscars this year – she also carried home a jar of gourmet ghee. Yes, inside the famously lavish goody bags handed out to winners, nestled among the luxury face creams and five-star holidays, was 250g of clarified butter.

It’s testament to ghee’s rise from humble staple of the Indian kitchen to an achingly fashionable ingredient that it was considered worthy to bestow upon A-list Hollywood celebs. Embraced by the wellness set for being (virtually) lactose-free and brimming with supposed health benefits – complexion enhancer through to all-round nutrient bomb – more chefs are cottoning on to ghee as a useful and flavourful ingredient.

Nazia Aibani, founder of Gourmet Ghee, the New York company whose black truffle-scented ghee took pride of place in the Oscar ‘swag bags’, claims that a constellation of stars are now fans of the stuff. In LA’s trendiest coffee shops ghee is being added to ‘bulletproof coffee’, the paleo diet-friendly mixture of coffee, butter and oil hailed as a liquid superfood-come-breakfast replacement.

And the trend isn’t confined to California. In West London, Farm Girl is among the growing number of UK cafes stirring unctuous teaspoonfuls of ghee into coffee, and also serving it as a butter alternative. Espresso-flavoured ghee on toasted hazelnut and fig loaf is nibbled by lactose-averse customers at Farm Girl. “We originally tried the spread with butter but preferred the taste of ghee,” says a spokeswoman. “It’s slowly growing in popularity and I think as more people try to eliminate lactose from their diets, they are leaning towards options such as ghee.”

So, what exactly is ghee? It’s a type of clarified butter, traditionally made from buffalo milk but more often these days from cow’s milk. Standard clarified butter is cooked until all the water evaporates out and the milk solids separate, which are then strained away. Ghee, however, is cooked low and long until the milk solids caramelise, resulting in a golden unguent with a rich, nutty favour. Ghee doesn’t turn rancid like butter due to the absence of moisture and milk solids and can therefore be stored at room temperature. And because it has one of the highest smoke points of any culinary oil or fat, it’s ideal for high-temperature cooking, like frying.

There is some confusion about ghee’s properties. Some websites state that ghee is vegan (it’s not, being an animal product) and also wrongly claim it’s suitable for people who can’t tolerate dairy. Technically, ghee can still contain traces of lactose and the milk protein casein, making it unsuitable for people who are hypersensitive to cow’s milk (check with your doctor if this is a concern). The claimed health benefits are also controversial. In Ayurveda, the ancient natural healing system of India, ghee is revered for its medicinal and rejuvenating qualities. While it does contain vitamins A, D and E, ghee is also 100 per cent butterfat, mostly made up of saturated fats. Saturated fats are no longer considered the dietary demons they once were, but official health advice still states we should limit our intake to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Chef and food writer Roopa Gulati, who has eaten and cooked with ghee since she was a child, is bemused by its rise as a trendy ingredient. “For me, ghee is all about taste and aroma,” she says. “I couldn’t imagine not having ghee in the kitchen, but I can’t see myself stirring a spoonful into my coffee anytime soon.” Gulati explains ghee has been used in the northern states of India and Pakistan, and in vegetarian households in central and Western India, for thousands of years. More stable than butter, it’s particularly suitable for India’s hot climate, but more than that, it’s utterly delicious. “I remember mum taking a spoonful of ghee and dropping it on a puffed chapati, hot from the ‘tawa’ (griddle). It would also be used for cooking parathas and frying masalas.”

She urges home cooks to make their own ghee (see recipe below), as some mass-produced versions can taste unpleasant. If you do prefer ready-made, she recommends the Hook and Son brand, produced by dairy farmers in East Sussex from organic butter made with raw, whole milk (available from London’s Borough Market and online at hookandson.co.uk). Award-winning Happy Butter ghee, also made with organic grass-fed milk in Devon, is available in plain and turmeric-infused versions (available at Ocado, some health food stores and online at happybutter.co.uk).

Traditionally, ghee has been used generously in British-style Indian curries, which might explain its reputation as making food overly greasy and oily. But Nisha Katona, CEO and founder of the Mowgli chain of healthy Indian street food restaurants, says there are better ways to appreciate ghee than drowning curries in it. In order to keep the amount of saturated fat on her menu down, she reserves ghee for a few particular dishes where its flavour can really shine. The hugely popular Mowgli bacon sandwich features ghee smothered on bloomer bread, which is topped with bacon and spritely spiced chutneys and sauces. “Ghee gives you that instant really deep umami, a base note that’s almost the flavour of roasted meat,” Katona says. “The layer of flavour you get from ghee is completely unique.”

Katona is also a fan of frying fish in ghee because it delivers a wonderfully crispy skin and an extra flavour dimension. “There are certain ingredients that give fish real ‘land legs’,” she says. “In India, things like turmeric, which is a ground fruit, give fish a kind of meaty flavour and that is what ghee does, too. Ghee is the purest essence of animal, and cooking fish in it takes away the fresh rawness of the sea and the fish becomes meatier.”

Ramael Scully, head chef and co-owner of Scully St James’s in London, is also a fan of ghee because it adds a slightly fermented taste to dishes. It works beautifully with potatoes: he suggests sautéing onions, garlic, yellow mustard seeds, a few curry leaves and turmeric in ghee before folding in par-boiled potatoes. “The potatoes split, spreading the funky flavour of ghee into them.” He also uses ghee to make chickpea pancakes – in the batter as well as to fry them – for extra flavour. “I cook the ghee with red onions and caraway seeds, leave overnight at room temperature, then drizzle into the pancake mix ahead of making,” he says. “Ghee can add a lot to the overall taste of a dish.” If Olivia Colman needs any tips on how to use her jar, he’ll know where to come.

Roopa Gulati's ghee recipe

MAKES

190g

INGREDIENTS

250g unsalted butter

METHOD

Heat the butter in a small sturdy pan and cook over a low heat without stirring for until the milk solids start to brown and becomes golden – about 15 minutes.

Turn the heat off and leave the pan undisturbed for a few minutes.

Line a metal sieve with muslin or strong kitchen paper and put it over a bowl.

Pour in the melted butter, taking care to leave the milky solids in the pan.

Leave the ghee to drip into the bowl.



https://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-an...ng-fat-cooking/
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  #2   ^
Old Fri, Mar-29-19, 02:35
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s93uv3h s93uv3h is offline
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Default

I love ghee! Especially when I saute my sunchokes. Get mine from fatworks - last one I got was grass feed goat milk ghee.

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