Cooking with Butter at High Temperature

French cooks clarify butter to remove substances that burn at high temperature. It may be that Italian cooks are lazier or perhaps less inclined to manipulate ingredients, but they solve the problem in another manner: To the butter in the pan they add one-third part vegetable oil. The oil’s burning temperature is much higher, so the mixture can tolerate cooking at high heat. Moreover, since the oil is tasteless and nothing has been done to the butter, the butter’s natural flavor comes through virtually unimpaired.