Fear of Cream

Does the following sound familiar?  Someone begs you for a favorite recipe, can't reproduce it, and accuses you of having left something out. It turns out that in the interests of healthy cooking they made a substitution like low fat milk for cream.

Sometimes you have to use cream - or butter or more salt- to get just the right result. Don't eliminate cream from cooking, just use it occasionally. But make sure you understand how to cook with it - curdled cream or cream that won't whip is even more depressing when it's a special occasion.

Besides being added to coffee, cream is mostly used in two ways. It is chilled and whipped, or it is added to sauces or soups for its taste and texture. To minimize problems, it is useful to know the relative fat content of the cream you're using.

Half-and-half, which is equal parts cream and milk, has a fat content of 10 - 12%.  Light cream - also called coffee or table cream - is 20% fat. Whipping cream is around 30% fat. Heavy Cream is 36- 40% milk fat. Sour cream is made from light cream treated with lactic acid, and therefore is 20% fat. Light sour cream is made from half-and-half so it has 10% fat. Crème Fraiche is made from heavy cream giving it a 40% fat content.

Also when choosing cream, determine whether it is merely pasteurized or ultrapasteurized. Ultrapasteurized cream is subjected to really high heat to eradicate suspect bacteria. Ultrapasteurized cream has a longer shelf life; unopened, it can be refrigerated for a month. But it has two disadvantages. The first is taste - ultrapasteurization can give cream a cooked flavor. Also, it doesn't whip as well as pasteurized cream.

There are three other keys to successfully whipping cream. First, heavier cream will whip better than lower fat creams. Half-and-half and light cream will not whip at all. Whipping cream will not achieve the volume that heavy cream will.

The second key is cold temperature. Take cream out of the refrigerator only at the last minute before whipping. Whip it in a stainless steel bowl which, along with the whisk or beaters, has been in the freezer for at least 15 minutes.

The third key is time. Once cream starts to firm up, it goes through four stages quite rapidly. Any well-written recipe should tell you which stage you want. The first stage is called chantilly - the cream barely mounds and still flows. This is the stage to add anything like sugar or vanilla, even if youre going to beat it further. At the second stage, the cream holds a mounded shape comfortably and forms a drooping tip when you hold the beater straight up. The third stage, stiffly beaten, is reached when the cream is stiff and glossy and the tip stands straight up. The final stage is reached when the cream is churned into butter.

There are a couple of tricks to keeping the cream especially stable if you want to whip it ahead of time. Before whipping, add 1 teaspoon of light corn syrup or 2 tablespoons of nonfat dry milk per 1 cup of cream. Whip to the second stage. Alternatively, whipped cream freezes very well.

People are often scared to cook with cream because of the fear of curdling. Dairy products curdle because of too much heat, too much acidity, or too much salt. To minimize curdling risk, use the freshest product with the highest fat content you can. If you've seen cream curdle when it's added to coffee, the cream is likely to be both relatively low fat and aged. Add light cream near or past its expiry date to coffee, which is both acidic and hot, and you can get curdled cream.

Minimize curdling risk by substituting higher fat creams, e.g. crème fraiche for sour cream. Crème fraiche can be bought at some food stores, but it is really easy to make at home. Bring one cup of heavy cream (preferably not ultrapasteurized) to room temperature. Add the cream to a glass jar and stir in two tablespoons of buttermilk. Shake to blend well. Keep the jar in a warm place. The cream will start to thicken after 8 hours. You can leave the jar out for up to 24 hours depending on how thick you want it.  Refrigerate for up to 10 days.

There are several other ways to minimize the risk of curdling. If you are using a lower fat product like milk or half-and-half, only add it to the dish at the last minute and keep the heat below a boil. Follow this procedure for any dairy product if the dish is especially acidic - tomato soup is a good example.

If you're adding cream to a sauce that has been flavored with alcohol, add the liquor first and allow the alcohol to boil off before adding the cream. In general, if you're adding cream to thicken the sauce, it is best to reduce the cream before you add it to the sauce. By boiling the cream in its own pot until it is reduced to half its volume, you're doubling the percentage of fat, adding stability.