Definition

Noun: * Brown butter: A culinary preparation made by cooking butter until its milk solids toast, resulting in a nutty aroma and flavor, and often seasoned with acidic ingredients like vinegar or lemon juice and capers.

Usage

Brown butter is used as a flavorful sauce or finishing element in cooking. It is not typically spread like regular butter but is drizzled over or incorporated into dishes. * The chef drizzled the brown butter over the roasted fish. * For the sauce, you first need to make a brown butter with lemon juice.

Advanced Usage

• "To brown butter" (verb phrase): The process of making brown butter.
  • Be careful not to burn it when you brown the butter.
• Brown butter is a key component in classic French sauces like (hazelnut butter) and (black butter), which may include seasonings like vinegar or capers.

Variants and Related Words

• Beurre noisette (n): The French term for brown butter, literally meaning "hazelnut butter," referring to its color and nutty flavor.
• Clarified butter (n): Butter that has had its milk solids and water removed, which is the starting point for making brown butter more stable, though traditional brown butter is made directly from whole butter.

Synonyms

• Beurre noisette: The direct French synonym.
• Nut brown butter: A descriptive synonym emphasizing the color and flavor.

Notes on Different Meanings

The term "brown butter" specifically refers to the cooked, seasoned sauce. It is distinct from: * Whole butter: Regular, uncooked butter. * Browned butter (as a descriptive phrase): Can sometimes refer more generally to butter that has been cooked to a brown color, without the specific seasoning implication of the culinary term "brown butter."

Noun

1. clarified butter browned slowly and seasoned with vinegar or lemon juice and capers