Browning Butter Mystery

I was heating butter last night in an effort to brown it just a little. (Ultimate intent was to add garlic and a little lemon juice and pour over grilled bay scallops - ultimately turned out very well.)
Just prior to the butter beginning to turn, some weird clumps began to appear swirling around at the bottom on the pan. It wasn't long before they burned while the rest of the butter was a nice deep gold.
This did not ruin my plans, but I would like to know how to avoid these clumps appearing next time.

Those were milk solids, Jon. Use clarified butter to avoid that.

Here is an easy tutortial on how to clarify butter:

http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Clarifying- ... etail.aspx

The milk solids are required in order for the butter to brown. Clarified butter will not brown and is used much like olive and other vegetable oils. Jon simply had a few solids in his butter that clumped together. Next time, just remove any that are getting a little darker, faster than you want. Then proceed with your recipe.

Thank you, Cynthia and Jo Ann. I can't help but notice that your suggestions conflict a little and cause me to ask this: Can the clarified butter be browned? Would I heat it longer or to a hotter temp? Or should I be content to scoop out the milk solids from regular butter and leave it at that?

I was heating butter last night in an effort to brown it just a little.

Greetings Jon: As Jo Ann has pointed out already, "browned butter" (beurre noir in Escoffier) is based on the milk solids browning. If instead you clarify butter, you are exactly removing that factor, increasing the useful cooking temperature, so that you can employ it as a cooking fat without browning. (Done in commercial kitchens and extensively in Indian cooking. Classic French professional recipes in the Guide Culinaire for roux and other intermediate preparations, for instance, specify clarified butter.)

They are different objectives, and your starting premise above implies that you were going down the first of the two paths.

Jon, I was focusing on the fact that you didn't like the "weird clumps" that burned (and not that you wanted to slightly brown the butter) and was trying to eliminate them for you.

Thank you - I'm clear now and sorry for any confusion.