Seafood Garlic Butter

[tex_toby]

OK - I've winged making garlic butter sauce for my seafood many times by melting butter in the microwave and adding some garlic to the mix. It works, but it's not the same restaurant taste I want. The butter usually begins to separate, and just really isn't the same. I picked up a few lobster tails at Albertson's the other day on sale and I want to do them up RIGHT. What am I doing wrong here?

[DATsBBQ]

Clarify the butter.

[JamesB]

Here is what I do... Take a whole head of garlic and seperate the cloves. Whack the cloves with the side of a knife to crack 'em and remove the paper. Melt a stick of butter in a small sauce pan and add the cracked cloves to it. Slowly simmer the cloves in the butter until they are soft. Remove cloves (save them for something like mashed taters) and you will have the best, and pungent, garlic butter!

[DATsBBQ]

Add the garlic like James says to this method:
http://www.cookingforengineers.com/arti ... -Butter-II
High end eateries always use clarified butter, especially for scampi.

[Pony Express]

Thats a very interesting method for clarifing butter. Thanks Dave

[OSD]

Clarified butter is butter that has had the milk solids and water removed. One advantage of clarified butter is that it has a much higher smoke point than regular butter, so you can cook with it at higher temperatures without it browning and burning. Also, without the milk solids, clarified butter can be kept for much longer without going rancid.

It is very easy to make clarified butter. Melt the butter slowly. Let it sit for a bit to separate. Skim off the foam that rises to the top, and gently pour the butter off of the milk solids, which have settled to the bottom. A stick (8 tablespoons) of butter will produce about 6 tablespoons of clarified butter.

The best method is to simmer the butter, garlic, and sweet basil in a saucepan until the mixture separates. After the water has evaporated, the milk solids will begin to fry in the clear butterfat. When they begin to turn golden, remove the pan from the heat and pour the butter through a fine strainer lined with damp cheesecloth into a heatproof container. If the cheesecloth is damp, all the butterfat will pass through, otherwise some will be absorbed by the cloth. This method produces a clearer result.

2 sticks of unsalted butter
2 cloves of minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon sweet basil

Most restaurants add a touch of sweet basil, dry white wine, or dry Vermouth. That's what gives the garlic butter it's special taste.

That being said, most seafood restaurants ( down here ) just serve plain clarified sweet cream butter with a lemon slice to squeeze the juice into the butter.

JWWFM-YMMV

[DJ]

Geeze, I never even heard of clarified butter and now I can make it! What a great place!
But, garlic on lobster? and I love garlic.....might jus have to try it but have never seen it done up here. Then again, I usually eat Lobstah at home!!!
dj

[JamesB]

If your going to poach the garlic like I mentioned above and going to use the butter on seafood, ya better back way off the amount of garlic! I like to use my method to make up butter to use on garlic bread and such... Most always got garlic infused butter in the fridge for emergencies.

[mgwerks]

Another great discussion on the forum! I don't use clarified butter fro many things, but sometimes it's a must. for a slightly different twist, you can try backing off on the garlic a bit (can't believe I said that!) and adding a touch of tarragon. Goes well with fish and fowl if you don't overdo it.