Clarifying butter

[i_am2bz]

I wanted to start a separate thread on this, as it was mentioned in another posting as a method to keep butter without freezing it for long-term storage.

After doing searches on the web, I found the following methods:

After melting the butter in a pan on the stove, you...
1) Scoop off the foam on top with a spoon or ladle, then do the same with the butter layer, discarding the solids at the bottom;
2) Pour the entire pan into a sieve lined with a coffee filter, allowing the butter to drain into another container below, leaving the solids & foam in the sieve/filter;
3) Putting the entire pan in the fridge to cool, then removing the foam as a solid layer to discard, keeping the butter layer beneath.

I know I'm leaving out a lot of details, but just wanted ya'll to get the general gist of the methods I found.

So...I'm looking for pros & cons for any of these methods from those of you who have done it.

I understand that the clarified butter can then actually be sealed in a glass jar & kept on a shelf, which would be awesome as I'm afraid of losing all the butter in my freezer during an extended power outage. :/

 

[Wifezilla]

I scooped as it simmered and then poured through cheese cloth. Kind of a hybrid between 1 & 2. It worked great.

 

[ORChick]

The scooped bits - the foam from the top, and the solids from the bottom, if not too brown - are tasty poured over veggies.