Brown butter

Brown butter, beurre noisette in French, is obtained by heating clarified butter until amber colouring of the whey proteins, which develops a roasted hazelnut aroma. The cooking temperature sits between 120 and 140 degrees Celsius. Brown butter coats fish meuniere, ravioli, fresh pasta and butter desserts. The cooking window is narrow: undercooked, the butter remains milky and bland; overcooked, it turns to black butter with disagreeable bitterness. Mastery of brown butter signals the finesse of a fish station (Source: Auguste Escoffier, Le Guide culinaire, 1903).