When It Comes To Butter…Brown Is Better A Little Bit Of Browned Butter Goes A Long Way In Giving A Dish Special Flavors

At one point in the making of Spago pastry chef Mary Bergin’s recipe for brown butter apple-cranberry pie, the batter is the color of a jungle cat’s eyes - a deep golden honey, with minuscule flecks.

You want to stop right there and take the bowl to a paint store to have the hues duplicated for the walls of the den.

Credit the butter that you have allowed to dawdle and darken on the stove.

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.

But a little brown butter goes a lot farther than its equivalent portion merely melted.

Brown butter thrills; it promises flavor. In brownness, there is often crispness or richness.

In France, brown butter is the elegant-sounding “beurre noisette.” 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), or for calves’ brains, another dish not on the menu at the local McDonald’s.

Brown butter often shows up imbued with sage as a sauce for pasta. Aram Chakerian, chef at Piatti in Palo Alto, Calif., recently featured ravioli with butternut squash and mascarpone cheese bathed with sage brown butter.

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, you can use less. But Chakerian has noticed that diners purportedly in search of lower-fat fare will often shun brown butter or simple butter sauces in favor of ones composed of cream - although many dishes with cream sauces have four times the fat.

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 - as well as for a veal-filled tortellini dish served with Asiago cheese and sage brown butter - Chakerian strains out the milk solids to make a neater presentation.

But it is the milk solids that give brown butter its flavor. The tiny brown nibs are a glorious addition to Bergin’s brown butter pie, included in her new book, “Spago Desserts” (Random House), from the famed West Hollywood restaurant.

“I like to use brown butter as opposed to melted butter because it has a ton more flavor,” she says. “And in the recipe, the combination of brown butter and vanilla bean is very complementary.”

Bergin warns to watch the pan carefully or you will quickly get burned butter, a bitter thing.

And don’t think you can make brown butter out of some low-to-nofat spread. She’s tried it and it doesn’t work: “The milk solids just foam up.”

You can use brown butter as a simple sauce for grilled or poached fish. Jazz it up by whisking in 2 tablespoons lemon juice for every 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter. Drizzle over fish and sprinkle with parsley.

In the following pasta recipe, 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

Adapted from “The Supper Book” (Knopf)

1 cup coarse white bread crumbs

1/2 pound medium-size pasta seashells or orrechiette (small disk or ear shapes; see note)

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 shells and cook 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are tender but not overcooked.

Meanwhile, preheat 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.

Yield: 4 servings.

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.

Turkey Scaloppine with Fennel and Brown Butter

Adapted from “A Fresh Look at Saucing Foods” (Addison Wesley)

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 to 1 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 fennelflavored 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.

Yield: 4 servings.

Don’t give up on this because of its length. It is composed of simple steps.

Brown Butter-Apple Cranberry Pie

Adapted from “Spago Desserts” (Random House)

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 and nuts.

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 mediumhigh 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.

Yield: 8 servings.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: HOW TO MAKE BROWN, NOT BURNED, BUTTER Making brown butter is as simple as it sounds, but here are some tips to help you keep it from becoming burned butter: Cut the butter into small chunks to help it melt more uniformly. Place in a small (about 10-inch) skillet. Turn heat to medium-high. Once butter has melted, it will foam up. Grasp skillet handle and move the skillet in a clockwise motion to keep the butter moving and allow you to see beneath the foamy or creamy top layer to the liquid part below. Continue heating and moving skillet (or you can whisk it) until the butter turns a nut or dark brown. Stop browning by immediately removing from skillet. You may use brown butter immediately or set it aside to be warmed by being stirred into hot pasta. Or refrigerate and reheat very, very briefly. To make brown butter in a microwave, place butter in a clear glass dish that has plenty of room. Set microwave on high and watch closely for butter to turn brown. Remove immediately. Because microwave ovens vary in wattage and different amounts of butter will brown at different rates, it is difficult to give a hardand-fast rule for timing. Here is a guideline from Barbara Kafka’s “Microwave Gourmet” (Morrow): In a 700-watt oven, cut butter into tablespoons and place in a 4-cup measuring cup. Cover with paper toweling and cook on high: 1/4 pound for 8 minutes to yield 1/2 cup brown butter; 1/2 pound for 10 minutes to yield 1 cup brown butter. Joyce Gemperlein San Jose Mercury News