Butter and oil both consist mostly of super-common fat molecules called triglycerides. But while many cooking oils consist almost exclusively of these fat molecules, butter contains more other compounds as well: water – which actually isn’t that important here because it evaporates before the butter is hot enough to cook in – but also proteins, sugars, enzymes, and so-called “free fatty acids” – the building blocks of fats that aren’t bound up in fat molecules. And it’s this extra stuff that makes butter behave differently than oil when you’re cooking. At least differently than refined cooking oils like vegetable or canola oil; unrefined oils like olive and sesame oil also contain additional compounds, so they actually act more like butter when you’re cooking, and ghee and clarified butter – which is butter with a lot of that extra stuff removed – actually behave more like refined oils.

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