HOW TO MAKE CLARIFIED BUTTER
What is clarified butter in the first place? It is simply the fat from the butter separated from the milk solids. The reason to make clarified butter is that it retains its flavor and doesn't burn that easily. The only disadvantage is that you lose some content of the butter during preparation (about 25%). You can use clarified butter when making roux, and also for sautéing, as well as in some butter-oriented sauces like Hollandaise and Bearnaise.
The best butter to use for clarification is a plain unsalted butter. The procedure is simple: first, buy enough butter so that it will be easy to work with (around 1 kg/2 lb). Then put it all into a pot and start to melt it over low heat. Keep it that way until you see how the three different layers of butter separate from each other. On top you will have a thin layer of foam while on the bottom you will have milk solids. The big translucent layer in between is the clarified butter fat. When the separation is complete (you see a clear fat layer below the surface) you have to isolate the butter fat from the white foam and solids. First, remove the top foam layer with a ladle and discard the foam. Then, gently decant the clarified butter layer into another pot. Make sure that all the water and milk solids remain on the bottom. This can be a little tricky,, but you can do this in several stages if you wish - just put the pot with the butter fat on low heat again and let the remaining milk solids fall to the bottom again.
If you find this procedure too tricky, you can actually refrigerate the melted butter and let the solid parts become even more solid. They should become even easier to remove when cold.
You should obtain about 75% of the original butter amount in the form of clarified butter.