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Whipping cream in your kitchen takes time and doesn’t always work (occasionally creams
stubbornly refuse to whip for unknown reasons). Yet, like everything else in cooking, knowing a
few key points is the secret of getting a wonderful-tasting, calorie and cholesterol-rich, long-
lasting, firm, billowing whipped foam.
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. Choose pasteurized, not ultra-pasteurized, cream, if available—it whips faster to better
foam. Creameries ultra-pasteurize cream for longer shelflife (not for your convenience).
. Make sure you buy heavy cream or whipping cream. If the carton is labeled cream, it is
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probably not rich enough for whipping into a good foam, though if you are watching
calories, it’ll whip into a perfectly respectable but lighter whipped foam.
3. Whipping cream must be very cold to work well. The complex physical action of
whipping air into the cream only works if the fat globules of the cream remain firm. Once
they warm up even to 50°F (10°C), the fat globules cannot hold much air, you get less
volume. If its temperature is close room air, it simply doesn’t whip into a very firm
consistency.
Chill not only the cream but the beater and bowl as well. Refrigerator temperature is fine,
though some cooks put both bowl and beater into the freezer for 5 minutes. That is not necessary
except in a hot kitchen. If the kitchen is too warm when you whip the cream, you are whipping
the warm kitchen air into the cream and raising its temperature. Sometimes we don’t have a
choice besides a hot kitchen but if possible, consider moving your beater to the coolest location
in your place. Beating over ice-water is also possible if you can devise a system to do it.
We often need sweetened whipped cream. Never use icing sugar in the cream. Icing sugar
contains cornstarch that interferes with whipping. Use regular granular sugar that you add early
in the whipping process. Use no more than 2 tablespoons sugar for every cup of cream.
For a firmer, longer-lasting whipped cream some professionals add a small amount of
gelatin. Here is how to do it (thanks for help from the United Dairy Industry Association):
1. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon gelatin over 3 tablespoons cold water in the smallest bowl you
have. Let it soften and absorb water for a minute, then place the bowl in a pan of very hot water
while stirring the mixture until you see no trace of the gelatin.
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. Let it cool to room temperature. (Don’t wait too long before adding it to cream or it
starts setting sooner than you want.)
. Whip cream to soft peaks then gradually drizzle in gelatin mixture while continuing to
beat at medium-high speed.
This amount stabilizes 1 to 1½ cups cream. You can keep this whipped cream in the
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refrigerator for days without leaking.
Clarified butter
What is clarified butter? It is butter from which you remove the milk solids. All that
remains is fat. French and (Asian) Indian cooking often call for clarified butter, but American
and other cuisines don’t use it much. The advantage of clarified butter is that it doesn’t spoil. It
remains liquid at room temperature like any vegetable oil. It is also just as stable as most oils, but
still retains much of its wonderful butter flavor because flavorings in butter remain with the fat.
Indian cooks prepare clarified butter, they call ghee, by the gallons and keep it on their shelves
for months. It doesn’t burn over high heat like butter does, so you can even deep fry in it. The
disadvantages are that it takes an extra step to make it, it retains all the cholesterol and it costs
much more than vegetable oils.
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