The best creams for pouring, dolloping and slurping
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When it comes to cream, I would happily lap it from a bowl. Whipped or poured – I’m not fussy as long as there’s a lot of it. In this regard I’m not alone. Stephen Harris of The Sportsman pub in Kent (“an unashamed user of loads of cream”) once submitted a recipe to a magazine for treacle tart in which he put the cream first and the tart second. “A copy editor rang me to double-check whether I had got the order wrong,” he recalls. “I said no, because as far as I was concerned, the tart was the garnish and the cream was the main event.” Harris tells this story in The Sportsman at Home (Quadrille) in a chapter entitled “An Ode to Cream”. Alongside recipes for onion tart, trifle, posset and chocolate marquise, he ponders a question I’ve been reckoning with myself. Where to get the best cream?
Ask most chefs and they’ll probably say the “best” depends on what you’re using it for. Fat content is key. Different creams contain different amounts: single cream around 18 per cent, whipping cream about 36 per cent, double cream around 48 per cent. Percentages vary between brands. Fat content is important because it affects richness and texture. In a classic French sauce, for instance, whipping cream may deliver a better consistency than double cream, while in desserts the decadent feel of double cream is probably more desirable. Fat content also affects stability. Double cream is often recommended for adding to hot foods because it can withstand higher temperatures and is less likely to split. With a parfait that requires a lot of mixing, though, the higher fat content means more chance of splitting, so whipping cream is preferred.
There’s also the matter of production. Has the dairy been homogenised (the process that emulsifies fat) for a smoother consistency? Has it been pasteurised (heated to remove microorganisms)? Is it raw? “Unpasteurised has loads more going on,” says Harris, of the rose, iron and minerally flavours he gets from some. “But if the animal has been eating silage, it can sometimes verge on unpleasant.”
The best cream for home cooks who are following a recipe is often a supermarket version. “In terms of fat content and processing, these creams are much more standardised,” says food writer and recipe developer Rebecca Woollard. “If I test a recipe with Waitrose Essential double cream and someone buys Asda double cream, I am confident they’ll get the same results.” Creams as thick as double cream are hard to find outside the UK. In the US, it can often be substituted with the nearest equivalent “heavy whipping cream” that contains at least 36 per cent fat, such as those from Organic Valley, Horizon Organic and Ronnybrook. In Europe, a whipping cream with 36 per cent fat or more is the best replacement, such as Elle & Vire’s crème à fouetter et mascarpone.
In terms of flavour, the British supermarket double creams I try aren’t nearly as complex as those from other sources, but they still deliver a pleasingly pourable dairy-ness. “In a way, the lack of complexity might make it nicer for some people,” says Harris. “Especially over something hot like an apple crumble.” A more interesting taste experience comes from creams from smaller producers. The Estate Dairy is a chefs’ favourite. Its double cream, at around 49 per cent fat, comes from pasture-raised herds in Somerset featuring Channel Island cows. Their milk is naturally higher in fat which results in richer, deeper yellow cream. Longley Farm Jersey double cream contains 48 per cent fat (£1.66 for 250ml) and has a similar magnolia shade with a rolling creaminess that is very tasty too. The sweetest among those I test is Guernsey double cream from Heckfield Home Farm, which contains 48 to 53 per cent fat (£3.75 for 250ml), and isn’t far off condensed cream.
Raw cream is only available direct from farms. But Hook & Son in East Sussex has a stall at London’s Borough Market where you can purchase its raw and pasteurised thick cream (£3.60 and £3.40 for 120g). Both contain 50 per cent fat, are thick and pale like yoghurt, and have a mild tartness that hints at crème fraîche. The pasteurised version is notably flatter in flavour. The standout from my selection is Ivy House Farm’s double cream (about 65 per cent fat), available from Neal’s Yard Dairy (£3.40 for 148ml), which is custard yellow and has a luscious grassy flavour.
None, however, hits the spot like the pale-yellow (pasteurised) double cream I tried at The Sportsman from Hinxden Farm Dairy in Kent. Poured over blackberry and apple crumble, it had the unmistakable taste of farmyard. This may not sound very appealing but I couldn’t get enough. It feeds into something Harris writes about cream retaining “the taste of locality”. For freshness and depth of flavour, the best cream may come from your nearest farm.
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