How to make Clarified Butter Garlic Confit

The first step in making this Garlic Confit is to clarify butter. Follow the link for, Clarifying Butter – Two Ways to learn how to clarify butter for this recipe. Making clarified butter is easy and I explain two ways to separate the milk solids from the oil of the butter.

What is Garlic Confit?

Traditionally, the term Confit is the process of cooking in oil at a low temperature. Think Duck Confit, where duck legs are cooked at a low and slow temperature. Encased in duck fat as a method of cooking and preservation. Before the days of refrigeration, this was one method that was used for preserving foods.

Garlic Confit is not a way to preserve the garlic. But the process to confit garlic is a poaching method in the oven that slowly softens the garlic cloves. In the process, infusing the oil or in this recipe the clarified butter.

Poach the garlic cloves until they are a tender, spreadable soft clove. There are a number of ways to use garlic confit. Spread the garlic on some crusty bread; add it to soups and sauces; in a salad dressing; or finish some sauteed vegetables with chopped garlic confit at the end of cooking. I am sure you will find other ways to use it.

Clarified Butter instead of Oil?

Sure why not, the clarified butter acts just as an olive oil does in the slow poaching process. Just as you can use the garlic flavored olive oil in many recipes, you can do the same with the infused butter.

Use the infused olive oil in salad dressings or other similar ways you would use regular oils. I recommend using the clarified butter in hot applications as you would regular butter.

Using the clarified butter garlic confit in the Garlic Confit Mashed Potatoes was a natural substitution. You can use olive oil infused with garlic for mashed potatoes too. But if you are looking for a flavored mashed potato recipe that adds some flavor but doesn’t stray far from a traditional recipe this is the way to go.

I hope you try making this style of garlic confit. Spread that garlic on some bread and serve to your guests at the next get together. Or make some Garlic Confit Mashed Potatoes, YUM!