Melted butter, one of the quickest and easiest sauces known to man, was also one of the first to be entombed in the Pantheon of Deliciousness when fat was purged from the land.
So, too, brown butter, the dark and nutty relative of the golden salve, was buried out of the reach of most Americans who know that within fat lurks flavor. In brownness, there is often crispness or richness.
In France, brown butter is the elegant-sounding beurre noisette, and it is often combined simply with capers in a sauce for skate, a fish that is delicious but still a hard sell in the United States (substitute scallops or another white fish); and calves' brains, another dish not at the local McDonald's.
Nonetheless, when winter rolls around, chefs in Northern California who know a good thing when they taste it put brown butter dishes on their menus.
They know that a little brown butter goes a lot farther flavorwise than its equivalent portion merely melted.
Brown butter often shows up imbued with sage as a sauce for pasta. Aram Chakerian, chef at Piatti in Palo Alto, Calif., has ravioli with butternut squash and mascarpone cheese bathed with sage brown butter on his menu right now.
At Thanksgiving, Los Angeles chefs Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton brown butter, chill it and spread it beneath the skin of their turkey to keep it moister and add flavor. It adds distinction to steamed cauliflower and other vegetables.
Because brown butter has a fuller taste than plain melted butter, Mr. Chakerian says, you can use less. Even so, he's noticed that diners purportedly in search of lower-fat dishes will often shun brown butter or simple butter sauces in favor of ones composed of cream. In general, Mr. Chakerian says, many dishes with cream sauces have four times the fat of one with butter or brown butter.
Brown butter gets its character when its milk solids (proteins) caramelize during heating. The result is a nearly nutty flavor and a luscious color. For his butternut pasta dish -- as well as for a veal-filled tortellini dish served with Asiago cheese and sage brown butter -- Mr. Chakerian strains out the milk solids to make a neater presentation. But it is the milk solids that give the brown butter its flavor.
Those tiny brown nibs are a glorious addition to Spago pastry chef Mary Bergin's brown butter apple-cranberry pie, included in her new book, "Spago Desserts" (Random House, $27.50).
"I like to use brown butter as opposed to melted butter because it has a ton more flavor. And in the recipe, the combination of brown butter and vanilla bean is very complementary," Ms. Bergin says.
She cautions to watch the pan carefully or you will quickly get burned butter, a bitter thing.
Oh, and don't think you can make brown butter out of some low-to-no-fat spread. Ms. Bergin's tried it and it doesn't work. "The milk solids just foam up."
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In this pasta recipe, adapted from "The Supper Book" by Marion Cunningham (Knopf, $22), consider tossing a few sage leaves into the melting butter to add an herby flavor. An even simpler way to go: A friend remembers his mother grating Cheddar cheese over hot cooked pasta. When she poured brown butter over it and tossed the pasta, the cheese melted and made a delicious sauce.
Pasta with Mushrooms and Brown Butter
Serves 4
1 cup coarse white bread crumbs
1/2 pound medium-size pasta seashells
1 cup beef, chicken or vegetable broth (see note)
1/2 pound cultivated white mushrooms or a mixture of wild and white, wiped clean and sliced (see note)
4 tablespoons ( 1/2 stick) unsalted butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Stir in pasta and cook 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are tender but not overcooked.
Meanwhile, heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread bread crumbs on a cookie sheet and toast them, checking often because they burn easily. Stir until they are golden brown and evenly toasted. Remove and set aside. Turn oven off.
Heat broth in a large saute pan. Add mushrooms and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until they darken a little and soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove to a large serving bowl. Add cooked, drained pasta shells and place bowl in still-warm oven.
Heat butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Moving pan constantly or whisking butter, watch carefully and as soon as it is nut brown, remove from heat. Stir into pasta, tossing to coat. Taste and add salt and pepper. Sprinkle crumbs over top and serve.
Note: Use pasta shells about the size of the knuckle at the base of your thumb. To deepen flavor of mushrooms, reconstitute a tablespoon or so of dried wild mushrooms in 1/4 cup boiling water. Chop and add to mushroom mix. Strain soaking water and add to broth, reducing amount of broth to accommodate the extra liquid. Beef broth gives the richest flavor.
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The following recipe has been adapted from "A Fresh Look at Saucing Foods" (Addison Wesley, $25).
Turkey Scaloppine with Fennel and Brown Butter
Serves 4
4 to 6 slices good white bread (enough to make 2 cups crumbs)
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
about 1/2 cup flour
1 large egg
1 teaspoon water
8 turkey breast cutlets, about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds total
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 lemon wedges
Tear bread into chunks and pulse in food processor until you have fine crumbs. Place fennel seeds in a spice grinder or in a mortar and grind to break them up. Add to bread crumbs. Add dash of salt and pepper, mix, cover and set aside.
Place butter in a small skillet; over medium heat, moving skillet to swirl butter, melt until it turns a nut brown. Pour into a small saucepan. Set aside.
Place flour on a plate and fennel-flavored crumbs on another. Beat egg and water in a flat bowl until mixture is smooth. Dip turkey cutlet in flour and shake off excess. Dip in egg mixture. Dip one side, then the other, in crumbs. Place turkey on a cake rack over a pan and bread remaining cutlets in same way. (This may be done up to 1 hour ahead; refrigerate, uncovered, on a rack over a pan.)
Heat a tablespoon or two of oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Cook turkey 1 to 2 minutes on each side until crisp and golden and turkey is cooked through. Remove scaloppine to warm serving plate or plates. Repeat until all turkey is cooked, using more oil if necessary.
When all turkey is cooked, lower heat under pan, wipe out any burned bits or crumbs, and pour reserved brown butter into pan. Swirl to reheat briefly and spoon over cutlets. Serve with lemon wedges.
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Don't give up on this recipe because of its length. Adapted from "Spago Desserts" by Mary Bergin and Judy Gethers (Random House, $27.50), it is composed of simple steps.
Brown Butter-Apple Cranberry Pie
Serves 8
SPICED PIE DOUGH:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons cold, heavy cream (more if necessary)
STREUSEL:
1 ounce walnut or pecan halves
2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of ground cardamom
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 tablespoons quick oats
FILLING:
1 pound (3 medium) Granny Smith apples
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
Make spiced dough: In a food processor fitted with steel blade, pulse flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt and cloves until combined. Arrange butter pieces around flour. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal.
In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks and cream. With machine running, pour through feed tube and process until dough comes together (you may need a tad more cream). Remove dough from processor and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 2 hours or up to 2 days, or freeze up to 1 month.
Remove from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature about 30 to 40 minutes. Roll out dough to fit 9-inch glass pie plate. (You may have extra.) Refrigerate.
Make streusel by roasting nuts in a 350-degree oven for 12 minutes or until they begin smelling nutty. Cool. Place in a food processor with flour, sugars and spices and mix well. Add butter and process until mixture comes together. Place in a bowl and add oats.
Peel apples, core and cut into eighths. Then cut eighths into 4 small chunks. Combine in medium bowl with nuts, cranberries, lemon juice and cinnamon. Mix well. In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs with sugar. Whisk in flour.
In a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat, melt butter with vanilla bean. Move pan to swirl butter until it browns. When butter is brown remove vanilla bean and whisk butter into egg-sugar-flour mixture.
Arrange apple mixture in pie shell and pour brown butter filling evenly over all. Sprinkle top with streusel.
Bake at 350 degrees until apples are tender and shell is golden brown, about 1 hour. Lift up pie plate and check that bottom of tart is golden. Cool on rack, then refrigerate until filling sets.
To serve, remove tart from refrigerator about 40 minutes before serving. Cut into portions and arrange 1 slice on center of each plate. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream or small scoop of vanilla ice cream.