Sous vide clotted cream
February 27, 2020 3:59 PM Subscribe
I tried to follow this recipe for sous vide clotted cream and all I got was cream. Completely clot-free.
I put the cream in a ziplock bag and let it sit at 180F for 12 hours, the put it in the fridge for 12 hours and got nothing but cream. I was careful not to get ultra pasteurized cream. What did I do wrong? It seemed too good to be true to be honest
I put the cream in a ziplock bag and let it sit at 180F for 12 hours, the put it in the fridge for 12 hours and got nothing but cream. I was careful not to get ultra pasteurized cream. What did I do wrong? It seemed too good to be true to be honest
Best answer: Seconding the suggestion that your use of a Ziploc bag did not provide for enough surface area. The fat in the cream has to rise to the top, essentially separating from the water in the cream emulsion - that fat layer is your clotted cream. In a bag, I suspect the emulsion wouldn't be "spread" out thinly enough for that to happen. Some chemistry here.
posted by Everydayville at 4:41 PM on February 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Everydayville at 4:41 PM on February 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Ah, that may be it. I am going to try again tonight with a setup similar (in jankyness at least) to the one in the link I included.
According to Harold McGee:
Old-fashioned clotted cream is made by heating cream just short of the boil in shallow pans for several hours, then letting it cool and stand for a day or so, and removing the thick, solid layer. Heat accelerates the rise of the fat globules, evaporates some of the water, melts some of the aggregated globule into pockets of butterfat, and creates a cooked flavor.
I put a lid over the tray to slow evaporation but I think I will take it off.
I also may just stop by Zabar's and buy some tomorrow but I wanted to delight my teen.
posted by shothotbot at 6:15 PM on February 27, 2020
According to Harold McGee:
Old-fashioned clotted cream is made by heating cream just short of the boil in shallow pans for several hours, then letting it cool and stand for a day or so, and removing the thick, solid layer. Heat accelerates the rise of the fat globules, evaporates some of the water, melts some of the aggregated globule into pockets of butterfat, and creates a cooked flavor.
I put a lid over the tray to slow evaporation but I think I will take it off.
I also may just stop by Zabar's and buy some tomorrow but I wanted to delight my teen.
posted by shothotbot at 6:15 PM on February 27, 2020
Response by poster: This was not an unalloyed triumph for a girl and her sous vide. I left it in my janky setup overnight, but enough of the water evaporated to turn the machine off at some point. I know the temperature it was at this morning and the room temperature so if I was a real nerd I think I could calculate how long it was off for - a few hours at least.
I put the result in the refrigerator, I didn't leave it on the counter. Ten hours later the top of the "clot" was plastic and tasted fatty, the underside floating in a thick whey (buttermilk?) was softer. Neither had much of a taste, though clotted cream doesn't either. I did not have a ton of time but the sheets felt more solid than creamy, I don't think I could just smush it into a bowl.
I think my clotted cream adventure ends here. If anyone picks up the torch let me know.
posted by shothotbot at 8:01 PM on February 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
I put the result in the refrigerator, I didn't leave it on the counter. Ten hours later the top of the "clot" was plastic and tasted fatty, the underside floating in a thick whey (buttermilk?) was softer. Neither had much of a taste, though clotted cream doesn't either. I did not have a ton of time but the sheets felt more solid than creamy, I don't think I could just smush it into a bowl.
I think my clotted cream adventure ends here. If anyone picks up the torch let me know.
posted by shothotbot at 8:01 PM on February 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Congrats on your alloyed success!
I can tell you how I have successfully and unsuccessfully made clotted cream:
Unsuccessful: bought non ultra-pasteurized heavy cream at the supermarket, heated/ simmered it in a shallow pan all day on and off over the course of about 8 hours (no lid), let it sit. Weird boiled cream fail. FWIW this was in Germany.
Successful: Raw buffalo milk. Boiled in tall, narrow pot designed to boil milk. Full heat, turn off when the milk starts to rise. Let cool on counter then in fridge. The next day, there is a thick raft of clotted cream on top of the milk. Sooo gooood. The raft of fat gets thicker with repeated boilings and coolings (we boil our milk daily, so it's less of a Thing).
What I think make this work: tasty fatty milk to begin with, extremely fresh raw milk, big shifts in temp between boiling and nighttime fridge temps.
Good luck! --a fellow clotted cream fanatic.
posted by athirstforsalt at 9:12 PM on February 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
I can tell you how I have successfully and unsuccessfully made clotted cream:
Unsuccessful: bought non ultra-pasteurized heavy cream at the supermarket, heated/ simmered it in a shallow pan all day on and off over the course of about 8 hours (no lid), let it sit. Weird boiled cream fail. FWIW this was in Germany.
Successful: Raw buffalo milk. Boiled in tall, narrow pot designed to boil milk. Full heat, turn off when the milk starts to rise. Let cool on counter then in fridge. The next day, there is a thick raft of clotted cream on top of the milk. Sooo gooood. The raft of fat gets thicker with repeated boilings and coolings (we boil our milk daily, so it's less of a Thing).
What I think make this work: tasty fatty milk to begin with, extremely fresh raw milk, big shifts in temp between boiling and nighttime fridge temps.
Good luck! --a fellow clotted cream fanatic.
posted by athirstforsalt at 9:12 PM on February 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
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In the recipe you link to, and in non- sous vide recipes, the point is made that you want your cream in a wide dish so as to create the most surface area. The clotted cream rises to the top in a layer that you skim off, leaving the thin whey behind. That doesn't seem physically possible in a squishy, flexible ziplock. The setup in your linked recipe is janky-looking, but some variant of it is probably necessary.
posted by mumkin at 4:37 PM on February 27, 2020 [4 favorites]