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at Wed, 23 Jun 2004 06:03:14 GMT in >,
(Bob (this one)) wrote :

>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. ...
>>> 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.

IME, whipping cream never whips completely stiff (i.e. stiff enough that
you can turn the bowl upside down, and tends to collapse in the fridge.
I've seen enough posts on the net to see that other people seem to have had
similar experiences. I don't claim to have definitive information - what
I'm talking about is based on what I've seen and read.

>> 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.

I don't know where you live, but in Seattle I can get 40% and 46% cream
readily. Most supermarkets have the 40%. Many high-end supermarkets have
the 46%.

In Britain, virtually every supermarket carries the 46% "Double cream"
which is IMHO the ultimate cream for whipping. Of course, in Britain, you
can also get clotted cream, which is around 55%. You can get clotted cream
here in Seattle as well.

>> In addition, stay away from ultra-pasteurized ...
>
>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.

Again, here in Seattle, pasteurized cream is commonplace. You can find it
in every supermarket. Virtually all of them also carry ones without gums. I
buy cream all the time that is 40%, pure cream, pasteurized. It stays
stable at room temperature for extended periods. Personally, I think this
is the way cream for whipping should be. You shouldn't have to get
obsessive about chilling.

>> 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.

Every plastic I've ever encountered has some plasticky flavour to it. Some
are less aggressive than others, but it's always there, even if it's mostly
a sort of flatness that's a little difficult to place if you're not
familiar with what it represents. The transfer goes both ways, btw - a
plastic bowl will absorb flavours from the food. This can make other foods
made in it later have the flavour of the earlier food, and also it implies
that you're always losing some of the food's flavour into the bowl.

>> 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.

That's what you'd think might happen but it actually doesn't. Chocolate
doesn't have to be brought particularly hot to melt (only about 95 F), and
if you're mixing it in right, in a thin stream poured out from the bowl
containing the melted chocolate, what actually happens is that as the
chocolate hits the cream, it cools and the cocoa butter recrystallises,
stabilising the cream. If, however, you *fold* the chocolate in, by pouring
in a large amount of chocolate into the bowl and mixing it with a spatula
rather than using the beaters, yes, it will deflate badly. This is one
occasion when folding is the wrong technique to maintain volume.

>> 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.

Yes, these are better terms for what I'm describing. However, I have seen
cream whipped into peaks return to a liquid, even in the fridge. (If it
didn't, why would there be any discussion about the need to stabilise it)?

>> 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.

Perhaps that's what you've experienced. My experiences are different. In
any case, heavy cream doesn't develop that watery puddle and the density is
far superiour. You don't need to use a strainer or get fussy at all. Double
cream, as I mentioned, is the ultimate, and whips up in under a minute.

> For a chocolate flavor, combine cocoa powder with
>a bit of liquid sugar (corn syrup or simple syrup) and whip it into
>the cream.

Personally, I prefer chocolate because it delivers a *chocolate* flavour as
opposed to a *cocoa* flavour (yes, they are detectably different) although
a cocoa flavoured cream is also good and has a lighter taste that's more
appropriate in some situations.

--
Alex Rast

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