I'm Gleeful for Ghee (pron. Gee)
Chief Dieter
Plan Z Diet
When I was in my early 20’s I spent a fair amount of time working in restaurants. I always had at least one part time job that took me to a restaurant after my regular 9 – 5 job. I worked in everything from a pizza joint that made the thick, double-crusted Chicago-style pizzas to some of the finest French restaurants or high-end steak houses. Each job presented challenges.
Most of the time I worked as a waitress. In one place, one night a week I was the sommelier. I really didn’t know that much about wine at that point but they were in a panic and at least I knew the list well enough to make recommendations.
I never held a full-time position cooking but I did help a couple of restaurants with menu and recipe development. And I did do a two week internship working on “the line” in a restaurant as part of my management training.
I took up a serious appreciation for people who work in wait staff positions as well as those that cook behind the scenes. Both of those jobs are HARD.
One restaurant I worked in had a chef that took a liking to me. He let me work Sunday mornings in the kitchen helping him with brunch. This as a French restaurant so brunch was pretty fancy. One thing the chef liked me to do was “decorate” the salmon. He’d put out a full-sized salmon on the buffet and people could serve themselves chunks of it. The salmon was decorated with all kinds of sliced veggies and then there was a lot of cream cheese piped along the edges. The salmon always looked like it was dressed. Sort of like it was wearing a fancy outfit. Really pretty. I was good at squirting cream cheese.
One thing I observed anytime I was around the restaurant in the early morning was the prep work. I watched as the chefs made themselves ready for the big crowds to come in later. A necessary project every day was to make clarified butter.
The chef would pull out a fairly large soup pot. Then he’d put in blocks of butter. We’re talking probably 12 – 15 POUNDS of butter were loaded into the soup pot and the heat was turned on fairly low. All he was doing was melting butter. Seemed kinda crazy to me, until later. When the butter was fully melted there was an almost white foam on top that the chef would skim off and throw away. I didn’t get it. I just observed. The result was this huge soup pot full of golden liquid.
When the chef commenced to cook, he’d take each order and prepare it. Most of the fish, chicken and even the steaks were prepared in the sauté pans. The first thing to go into the pan was a small ladle full of the golden liquid (clarified butter).
There were a few reasons the chef used clarified butter. First reason is it’s the purest butter taste. The bad fat was removed with the skimming of the foam. All that was left was the purest part of the butter. Clarified butter also has what’s called a higher flash point. That means the chef can cook at a higher temperature and the butter does not burn. That’s who so many dishes in a restaurant have the buttery, crispy crust on them.
The people of India take it to another level. They make a thing called ghee. Ghee is clarified butter that has been processed another step so it can be shelf stable. I had never made it. I bought some at Whole Foods and love it. The problem I notice was the price. Compare butter to ghee and you’re talking about $13 for ghee. Ouch.
So I thought about making my own. I knew from my restaurant days that clarified butter didn’t last. The chefs tossed any that was left at the end of the night. They didn’t take any chance that it might have been contaminated while sitting on the stove. I supposed it would last a few days but not long.
I told my doctor I was thinking of making my own ghee and not long after he sent me this link. This is a guy with an Indian heritage. His family knows well how to make their own ghee. So he was kind enough to pass this lesson along over the internet on how to make ghee. I think I’ll always make the version that has to be stored in the refrigerator. I don’t have to have it fully shelf stable, but this is really a great idea. You will also learn in here how good ghee is for you. It’s MUCH better for you than butter. You can use it in so many ways especially on the Plan Z Diet. Anytime you see a recipe that includes butter you can substitute ghee; with the possible exception of baking. I have not tried backing with ghee yet. I just thought I’d open up a new bit of the world of cooking for you today. Here’s how to make ghee.
I thought some of you might be disappointed if all I offered for today’s recipe is one for ghee, so here’s a bonus. This is one of my most recent Zola Diet inventions. People tell me this is the most flavorful diet they can imagine. When they follow our full program they lose as much as 30 pounds in 37 days and they get to eat things my Plan Z Diet Italian Crockpot Chicken
Enjoy!
Cheers,
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