Color Is Flavor

For generations, countless chefs have uttered the phrase, "color is flavor" to reinforce proper cooking techniques. This aphorism is really the basis of all culinary endeavor: heat applied to raw food. Likely discovered by happy accident, food suddenly tasted better when browned by fire. And realizing he could control the effects of heat, early man began to cook. With this harnessing of fire, and the soon-to-come development of agriculture, civilization took a huge leap.

We've certainly refined our cooking techniques since then, and science has been able to explain exactly what changes in our food, and why it subsequently tastes better. We are now able to differentiate simple caramelization (of sugars) from the Maillard reaction, a more complex chemical transformation between amino acids and sugars responsible for an array of flavor compounds. I'd have to say that one of my favorite examples- in both sweet and savory dishes- is the reaction created when enough heat is applied to milk sugars (lactose) and its neighboring proteins... brown butter.

The French cut right to the heart of the matter, referring to this amber liquid gold as beurre noisette. The classic financier shows off its complex nutty aroma the best. A simple cake comprised of brown butter, almonds, sugar, flour, and egg whites, I love it so much that I think I've always kept it in my repertoire so that I can have one at any time! I'll never forget an early pre-dawn walk some ten years ago in Paris, when passing by one of my favorite boulangeries, Jean-Luc Poujauran; I could smell the unmistakable evidence of freshly baked financiers from a block away. I've long been obsessed with brown butter and I'm always thinking of new ways to use it.

For years I've been making a brown butter ice cream (it's on the menu now, actually). It started with a recipe from Michel Bras that I've continued to adapt over time; the butter is browned and incorporated into a base of milk (no cream), sugar, egg yolks, dry milk, corn starch and stabilizer. The use of starch does help stabilize all of that added fat, but it is still a delicate preparation- when spinning in a conventional ice cream machine, a few minutes too long results in a grainy mess. I've since seen other versions where brown butter is infused in a milk or cream base (the butterfat removed after chilling), but I've always stuck with the original for its richer texture and more intense flavor. But what about other applications? How can we best take advantage of what brown butter has to offer without all of that fat?

One possible answer was right under my nose. I tend to purchase interesting products even if I don't have a particular use for them at the time. My reasoning is that someday I'll need it. I recently remembered that I had some spray-dried butterfat lying around. It sounded simple: gently toast the powder in a low oven and, bingo, I'd have a versatile "brown butter" flavoring I could add to just about anything. It worked quite well in theory, but it just didn't taste like anything, let alone the real thing. At least I tried. And then I returned to a technique I had been shown some 7 or 8 years ago by a guest chef in our kitchen at Tribute. He demonstrated how a high yield of intensely flavored browned milk solids can be achieved by simply reducing heavy cream to the point where it separates into clarified butter and the sought after solids; the only component lost is the water. It is a long process- gently cooking down a quart of cream while stirring occasionally can take upwards of an hour- and it does require your full attention as it approaches that breaking point. But just before that point, one begins to ponder dulce de leche, or cajeta, or even some of the reduced milk-based desserts of India. I'll eventually look into those traditions sometime in the near future.

This method is certainly more efficient than browning butter itself, at least for applications where the excess fat isn't desirable. Yesterday, with a fresh batch of solids on hand, I set out to create a spontaneous dish with various components among our daily mise en place. A staple of mine, something we call "vanilla emulsion", is a kind of cream that lies somewhere between a sauce and a mousse. Essentially, we start out with a concentrated creme anglaise, and lighten this base with an equal amount of whipped cream. I worked some of the browned milk solids into the base before adding the cream, and the result was beautifully light, and full of the characteristic nutty flavor. To this, I added an apple cider caramel, sweet potato pearls, pistachio powder, and vanilla salt. I hope to flesh this out further in the days and weeks ahead, as well!

With Valentine's Day looming, we're about to ramp up our chocolate production. Wanting to produce a brown butter ganache, and to impart the flavor yet maintain a smooth and balanced texture, I look to the infusion method mentioned above. And I feel the caramel and malt flavors of milk chocolate, the Amedei Toscano Brown in particular, will perfectly harmonize with the brown butter. Given its affinity with banana and rum, I'll also apply this method to infuse a white chocolate-based ganache we use to fill molded bonbons; if anything the white chocolate should act as a fairly neutral platform for the brown butter.

Download financier_recipe.pdf

Download brown_butter_cream_recipe.pdf

Download milk_chocolate_brown_butter_ganache_recipe.pdf

For general notes on the recipes posted here, please read About the Recipes. And for hard to find ingredients or equipment, please refer to Resources.

Comments

[H. Alexander Talbot]

and with the breaking of the cream as the starting point, what if you made browned buttermilk, it breaks quite easily, water can be removed and the solids slowly browned in a pan or even an oven. along the same lines would be browned yogurt solids and the mistake which led to our caramelized yogurt.

thanks for the spark

[uwe]

What would happen if you added citrus to simmering cream to make the solids break from the whey, strain and then roast the solids at 340 F+ to brown the solids? Then you could dehydrate the browned solids.

Let me know if you try it. Cheers

[Jessica "Su Good Sweets"]

Hi, I found this site via Dorie Greenspan and love it, although your desserts look too advanced for me. The brown butter truffle sounds interesting. One time I made brown butter shortbread and I honestly couldn't taste the difference between regular shortbread. Maybe I did something wrong?

[foodplayer]

The taste of browned butter haunts me and is what provoked me to experiment with mascarpone and other milk products by cooking them under pressure in mason jars. I'm still unsure whether to attribute the deepening of flavor/color/aroma to the toasting of the milk solids or the caramelization of the milk sugars. Or both?

[y]

hi, when you brown butter, do the milk solids and water separate out? Do you normally keep them if you were using brown butter in a financier recipe or do you just strain them out? Also, how brown is brown...or how long does it typically take a 250g block of butter to brown? Thanks very much.

[cory barrett]

So the idea of browning the powdered butterfat interested me. We’ve been tossing around a carrot cake dessert here at lola and wanted some type of brown butter element on the dish. So we thought why not just add non fat dry milk powder to the butter as we brown it. One pound butter + about a 1/4 of a cup (sorry didn't take the weight down). Browned the butter a little slower than usual, but the results are great. All the powdered browned and was easy to strain out or leave in. Thanks for the inspiration.

[H. Alexander Talbot]

great technique Corey. results are incredible.

Now: brown butter cavatelli, brown butter brioche, brown butter pudding and ice cream, brown butter salt/seasoning rub...

[Casey]

Found your blog through Michael Ruhlman and fascinated by your posts. At the outer edge of my baking knowledge, but it's good to be intellectually stretched.