Alex Rast wrote:
> at Tue, 22 Jun 2004 23:19:02 GMT in
> >,
> OSPAM (JLove98905) wrote :
>
>> I'm not quite sure what I did wrong, but my whipped cream kind of
>> liquified in the fridge after I made it. I attempted to re-whip
>> it, which didn't work. I used whipping cream, which was cold
>> right out of the fridge, and a plastic bowl, which was room
>> temperature. I also added a little bit of cocoa powder
>> (unsweetened) to it, for chocolate flavor.
>>
>> What's the key to getting good stiff whipped cream? And what
>> causes it to fall flat in the fridge?
>
>
> The big key is to use cream marked "heavy cream", not "whipping
> cream". Whipping cream, despite the name, is usually not high-fat
> enough to whip properly and stay whipped.
Of course it is. Millions of gallons of it are whipped every day.
> Heavy cream usually is. You want 40%+ fat.
You can't buy cream with fat content like that in the US and I don't
see it very often in Europe either, unless you're getting it from the
dairy directly. Commercial creams for whipping that are sold at retail
are 30% or 36%. Foodservice operators can get 40% cream.
> In addition, stay away from ultra-pasteurized which tastes somewhat
> funny and because of the high-temperature processing that
> denatures the cream doesn't whip as well, and avoid products
> containing carrageenan or gums, or any other stabilisers. Usually
> if they're included it's a good indication that the cream isn't
> thick enough on its own merits to whip well.
It's all but impossible to stay away from ultrapasteurized cream if
you're buying it in supermarkets. It will whip just fine and the gums
will help stabilize it. Thickness is a function of total milkfat and
temperature. Cold=thick.
> As others have mentioned, a plastic bowl is also a bad idea,
> especially since the cream may absorb a plasticky flavour from it.
"...a plasticky flavor..." Right. Like food-safe plastics have any
flavor at all.
> Better to use a cold bowl, although if you've got the real deal
> (pure, pasteurized, heavy cream) it's not really necessary.
Milkfat will *always* whip better cold.
> For chocolate flavour, btw, it's a little better to melt some
> chocolate and whip it into the cream just before the cream becomes
> fully stiff. The chocolate will stabilise the cream very well.
And warm it nicely to help it deflate.
> It's also possible, if rewhipping didn't work, that you overwhipped
> it and the cream separated into curds and whey. Did it return to
> an even fluid
Cream that has been whipped to any sort of peaks won't return to a
liquid. Overwhipping cream won't get curds and whey; it'll get butter
and buttermilk.
> or did it become a mass of lumps in a watery liquid? If the latter,
> you overwhipped it.
That's called butter.
> It's easy to do this with whipping cream, because it may *never*
> whip fully stiff and you might well continue whipping in a futile
> attempt to achieve a state it's never going to have.
This is plain silly. If you want a good stiff whipped cream, whip it
in a cold bowl - metal or glass - add sugar or not, until it holds an
upright peak. Scrape it into a strainer and put that over a bowl to
drain. Put the whole thing into the fridge. You'll get a small, watery
puddle in the bottom of the bowl and the cream will stay whipped and
get a nice density. For a chocolate flavor, combine cocoa powder with
a bit of liquid sugar (corn syrup or simple syrup) and whip it into
the cream. A bit of confectioners' sugar can help stabilize it, but I
don't like to use commercial stuff because of the corn starch and that
slight grittiness from it. The starch will hydrate some, but it
doesn't add anything useful to the cream since it doesn't gelatinize
without cooking. I take plain table sugar and run it through my
processor until it's fine.
Pastorio