(listmaster, let me know if i am not doing this right....thanks)

In response to the ghee/clarified butter/milkfat topic:

Maybe this will sufficiently add to the mix of info ;> ....I love ghee....its
kind of nutty in flavor....cause to make it, you put regular ole butter in a
pan....(i like to do at least a couple boxes at a time), and then you cook it
and cook it and cook it and cook it.....and skim off the milk solids
throughout, and cook it and cook it and cook it and keep skimming off the
milk solids as they rise to the top...when nothing else rises to the top,
then you have ghee....hey, if you want to be extra sure, with the primitive
technology of the home kitchen, you can even strain it into a new pan and
then cook it and cook it again, until the milk solids just aren't in there
anymore, and then you pour what's left, a wonderful golden liquid, into
containers (my old margerine containers) and let it cool, and there ya
go...your very own special spread....

(oh, and when i say "cook it", it is more of a slow simmer, just the heat
required to cause the milkfat to separate and rise - you actually 'cook' the
fat out of it, ...to what degree? as much as any home cooking and filtering
process will allow - and with this situation, its pretty completely, as the
different fats behave differently when they are heated...the milkfats turn to
solids and rise, the other fats remain in the liquid state when heated)

I understand ghee to be different from clarified butter in that way...the
process of making it....

clarified butter, on the other hand, i remember as the butter in that little
metal dish that came with the lobster and the steamed clams....(ok, and i
also worked as a cook in my younger days) it was the clear liquid fat of the
butter, with the solids on the bottom of the container...the milk solids
separated out by heat, enough to sink, but not heated and cooked so that they
rise, as when making ghee....

oh, so i think the nuttier flavor of ghee comes from that longer cooking
process (longer, as in, i have friends that cook theirs overnight!.....)

as far knowing how much milkfat might be in ghee? by definition, ghee is
butter with the milksolids cooked out of it...so, i think thats why my
friends cook theirs so long....just to be extra es-specially superduperly
certainly certain about it ;> after hours and hours of no more milkfat
arising, they are sure themselves, cause they SEE it, (or don't see it)....
anyhow, if you're uncertain about it, try making a little batch
yourself....you'll get to experience it in a different waay, and no longer be
leary, cause you can SEE when the milk solids are cooking and how they change
form - most of it foamy and rising, some sticks to the pan and gets brown
glazed (hence switching pans), but NONE of the milkfats will remain the the
liquid state after prolonged cooking - they just get cooked!......., you can
SEE that after hours and hours of constant heat, there are still no more milk
solids arising....
it would even be interesting to buy some commercial ghee and take it home and
cook it and see if anything rises...
ok...ive said enough.... ;>