subject: Clotted Cream Can Add Richness To Many Dishes [print this page] Clotted cream is one of the most decadent tastes you can encounter and just the thought of eating a spoonful of the creamy treat is enough to make you feel guilty. Clottedcream is a thick cream which is a traditional part of the English afternoon tea, along with warm scones, strawberry jam and a pot of tea. It is often used in the place of butter due to the high fat content of the cream.
Thick, rich and indulgent with the consistency of soft butter, clotted cream is made by heating normal cream to evaporate some of the liquids. It has at least 55 per cent butter fat, giving it a pale yellow colour that is often topped with a deeper yellow crust. It"s traditionally made in Devon and Cornwall and served with scones or desserts or made into ice cream. Clottedcream ice cream is a very popular treat after a meal and is rich and creamy.
It is very easy to make clotted cream at home and once you have got it right, you will never be happy with the readymade alternatives again. You know that you are only using the best ingredients and that you will not be adding any preservatives or other such things. The key to making clotted cream is maintaining a good surface-area to cream ratio. In other words, you want to have as much of the heavy cream exposed to the air as possible, to maximize the amount of cream you get in the end.
You can find many recipes for making clotted cream at home by looking on the internet as well as in traditional cook books and family recipes. The secret is to use a good quality cream to start with, ensuring the fine quality of the finished product. There are also different methods of making clotted cream at home and you will need to experiment to see which is the best for you. Clotted cream has the same Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status as Stilton and Jersey Royal potatoes, effectively giving its name EU-wide protection from potential imitators.
Once you have made your cream you can keep it in the fridge for a few days and use as and when you wish. The best way to serve it is to let it come up to room temperature first and then in small portions. There are also many different recipes which can be enhanced by the use of this rich cream, both sweet and savoury. It can be added to soups to not only thicken the texture but also to add creaminess to the soup.I have always loved afternoon tea although I actually drink coffee instead of tea. I love the whole ceremony with which the fresh scones and butter and jam are placed in front of you with a flourish, on a tiered stand. The best part of the actual eating is the thick rich clotted cream which is such an integral part of the whole thing and this led me to trying out different recipes for clotted cream at home.
Clotted cream is very rich and has an extremely high fat content, which is probably why it tastes so delicious. Both Devon and Cornwall - counties in the South West of England - are famous for their thick cream, which is mainly produced on farms, and in small dairies. The most famous of all is clotted cream which achieves its thick clotted texture by heating cream of high-fat breed cows, such as the Jersey type, in pans, traditionally made of copper but latterly stainless steel, to about 190f and allowing it to cool slowly.
The cream is usually packed in shallow trays a few inches deep and forms a yellow crusty surface. The consistency is thick and heavy, almost like treacle, and is traditionally served by scooping the cream out into cups or small cartons. In the farmhouses, the pans were heated crudely over a fire or stove and the cream was rich in acid and aroma-producing bacteria. At home there are three main methods of making clotted cream:
The oven method
The double boiler method
The stovetop method
The slow cooker method is the least labour intensive of all techniques. Essentially, you put some cream in your slow cooker, turn it on, and walk away for eight hours; it is as easy as that. There is no one recipe for clotted cream, although the important thing to remember is that no matter the recipe, clotted cream is best made with the highest quality cream. Some slow cookers run hotter than others, so you may find that your particular model cooks faster or slower than what is recommended in the recipe. It is recommended that you check your cream every 2 hours to see how it"s looking.
Pour heavy cream into the vessel of your slow cooker. Cover the slow cooker, and then set it to the "warm" setting and let sit for 3 hours. Do not stir!
Gently remove the crock from the slow cooker, being very careful not to move the cream around and agitate the fragile top layer. Allow the cream to come to room temperature, and then slide the crock into your refrigerator to sit for 8 hours.
Once the top layer is solid, use a slotted spoon to gently skim the thick layer of clotted cream from the surface.
The only problem is that trying out different recipes for clotted cream and different methods leads to a lot of "just tasting!" and this in turn leads to an expanding waistline. Still, at least the taste is worth it.
