Brown butter is made by cooking butter at a medium temperature until its white milk solids take on a brown hue. The resulting flavor is complex, rich, and slightly nutty. In French it’s called beurre noisette; “noisette” means both “brown” and “hazelnut” and both meanings apply here.
Brown butter is used classically in savory applications such as in pasta sauces and as an accompaniment to fish, but it has also been trending for some time in desserts and other sweet items. Like salted caramel, this flavor is an effective way to elevate well-known sugary treats, making something simple like a chocolate chip cookie a standout.
Market research firm Datassential reports that 52% of the population knows about brown butter but that only 32% of the population has tried it.
Click through the gallery to learn more about this flavor of the week and see how one restaurant is using brown butter on its menu.