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Misc: Clotted Cream

Source of Recipe

Internet


Recipe Introduction

Clotted cream is to cream what the Missouri is to rivers -- too thick to pour but too soft to slice. At its most fluid, it doesn't pour exactly, but oozes. At its thickest, it is next kin to butter. Unlike creme fraîche, its French cousin, British clot has only the faintest sour tang; it is sweet and rich. Unlike butter, however, it tastes like cream, not fat -- just like very, very rich cream. At perfection, it is not unlike a very soft whipped cream without the air -- smooth and light and dairy sweet in the mouth. The two areas in Britain famous for clotted cream are Devonshire and Cornwall, where it is put in pies and pudding, and eaten with junket and fruit, both fresh or preserved. But, best of all, at tea with hot scones and jam. Even today, travelers in Cornwall will find "cream teas" served throughout the region. At its simplest -- and only the greedy could want more -- a cream tea consists of the pot of tea, a plate of fresh-baked Cornish spits (a small yeast roll) or scones, a dish of a local preserve, and another of clotted cream. The scone or split is broken open, spread with preserve, and heaped with clotted cream. That oozing morsel is then happily if messily propelled into the mouth.

List of Ingredients

CLOTTED CREAM. (Note: This is a 3-day process.) 1 quart raw or pasteurized (but not homogenized) milk and 1 cup light or heavy (not ultrapasteurized) cream. (Heavy cream makes the clot richer but not much more of it.) Pour these without mixing into the heaviest, widest frying pan you have (not cast iron) and set it, covered, in the refrigerator overnight, so that all the cream will rise to the top.

The next day, carefully set the frying pan over the lowest possible heat (you may have to use a heat diffuser) and bring the milk slowly to about 140°F and keep it there for about 2 or 3 hours, until a faintly yellow crust forms on top of the milk/cream mixture. (If the milk gets much hotter, the butterfat will melt, giving the clot a waxy taste. ) This is the clot.

Remove from the heat, being careful not to disturb the clot. When cool, set it -- still in the pan -- into the refrigerator to rest overnight. In the morning, you should be able to lift off the clotted cream with a spatula or palette knife and put it in a separate dish. If you like, thin it to a smooth consistency by stirring in a tablespoon or so of heavy cream. It should keep well for up to 5 days. It is, of course, wonderful with fresh strawberries, but you should reserve a few spoonfuls to have on toasted English muffins with raspberry jam. If there's a better thing on earth to eat, I don't know what it is.




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