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I want to cook shrimp in butter. My problem in the past has been that the butter burns if it gets too hot but the shrimp remains fishy if the butter does not get hot enough. Any advice?

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2 Answers

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Use clarified butter. It will handle considerably higher temperatures without burning/smoking.

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Thanks. It worked great! – Henry B. Sep 13 '10 at 6:14
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I think adding some liquid oil like olive oil will prevent butter from foaming at higher temperatures. (or you can use some flavorless oils)

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Why should that happen? First, olive oil would be totally useless, because its smoke point is as low as butter (unless refined). Second, the stuff in butter which decomposes at high temp decomposes regardless of what you mix the butter with. – rumtscho♦ Oct 7 '11 at 9:25
@rumtscho olive oil's smoke point is at least 75-100 degrees (C) higher than butter. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_point – Sinan Oct 7 '11 at 23:03
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depends on the kind of oil you use, unrefined OO is 160°C. goodeatsfanpage.com/collectedinfo/oilsmokepoints.htm But even then, the main point stays - butter will burn at over 150°C, no matter what you mix it with. – rumtscho♦ Oct 8 '11 at 12:35

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