Toss canned stuff: Whipping cream worth extra work
The last time we talked about whipped cream, George Bush was in the White House. And if we didn’t mention it then, we’re mentioning it now: It’s not enough simply to take cream and whip it. You have to whip it good. If you’re thinking of using whipped cream — pssst: It’s the holiday season — please, avoid that canned stuff. Whip your own cream and it’ll be like you’re on the road out of Gomorrah: You’ll never look back.
Now, you may be thinking, “Feh. Whipped cream. What’s to know? You whip some cream. Done.”
Well, I suppose that’s true enough, in a “Brain surgery. Feh. What’s to know?” kind of way.
OK, so maybe whipped cream’s not brain surgery, but it is surprisingly complex, chemically speaking. Whipped cream is a foam, and foam is a category of what are called “colloidal suspensions,” something that occurs when you take two things that don’t normally combine — in this case liquid and gas — and combine them.
The best known colloid is the emulsion, wherein two noncombining liquids like oil and vinegar form a vinaigrette. There, we physically break up oil into gajillions of teeny-tiny droplets, each of which is surrounded by vinegar, forming a homogeneous liquid.
With whipped cream, we’re whipping air bubbles into cream. If we were just to whip bubbles into cream, then stop whipping, the bubbles would rise to the top and pop, allowing the air to escape. By continuing to whip, though, we’re literally breaking down the fat molecules, changing the way they interact with one another and allowing them to clump together, forming a protective coating around the air — foam. That protective coating makes it more difficult for air to escape. The more we mix, the stronger the foam.
In order for this to happen, though, there are a couple of conditions that must be met: First, there has to be enough fat. The more fat, the more the surrounding power.
Milk products are defined by the amount of butterfat (also called milk fat). In order to stabilize a foam, the fat content has to be above 30 percent. Whole milk is about 3.5 percent fat. Half-and-half, about 18 percent. Commercially available whipping cream is generally 30 percent. Heavy cream is more like 36 percent, which makes it even more stable.
The second condition is, everything has to be cold. If the cream is warm, the fat will be too soft, too limp to encapsulate the air. Chilling the fat makes it stiffer. Think about leaving butter on the counter versus keeping it in the refrigerator, where it’s nice and cold and firm. On the hot counter, though, it’s soft and melty. And just like it’s easier to spread toast with melty butter, it’s easier for bubbles to escape from warm
cream. Dig?
Therefore, to increase your chances of whipped cream success, keep your cream in the refrigerator right up until the time you use it. Then, shortly before you whip the cream, put the implements you’ll be using — the bowl and the beaters — into the freezer to get super cold.
Also, you’ll have better luck in cooler kitchens. Generally, room temperature (around 70 degrees) is fine, but slightly cooler will be better.
Another thing: Depending on how you’re using the whipped cream, you may want to add an additional stabilizer, like gelatin or confectioner’s sugar, which has a small amount of cornstarch that helps hold the mixture together. Consult your recipe to see if it’s necessary. If you’re just using it to top fresh berries or a cup of hot cocoa, I wouldn’t worry about it.
Finally, you should know that, as you whip the cream, it’s going to move through several stages:
Soft peaks, where the cream is slightly thick and droops off the whisk when you lift it from the bowl;
Medium peaks, wherein the cream mostly holds its shape when you pull the whisk from the bowl;
Stiff peaks, where, when you hold the beaters straight up in the air, the peaks stand like creamy white witches’ hats.
If you continue whipping past the stiff peak stage, the fat globules coalesce into larger bits, making your whipped cream grainy. (If this happens, whisk in a little milk, slowly.)
If you keep mixing past the grainy stage, the fat globules will glom onto each other, separating from the liquid, turning into butter.
One last thing: You can whip cream in a stand mixer or one of those hand-held electric beaters that make you think it’s 1969. Or, if you’re feeling particularly plucky, you can kick it old school, go off the grid and use a good quality hand whisk.
Regardless, here’s what you do:
Step 1: Fifteen minutes before you need the whipped cream, place your mixing bowl and any whisks or beaters you may be using in the freezer for about five minutes.
Step 2: Ten minutes before you need it, pour cream into your chilled bowl along with a teaspoon of powdered sugar if you’re using it. If you’re using an electric mixer of any kind, start mixing on slow. If you’re using a hand whisk, whisk at a pace of about four down strokes per second.
Step 3: As the cream thickens, increase speed to quicken the process.
Step 4: When the cream reaches the level of whippedness that you desire, turn off the machine and you’re ready to go.
There now, wasn’t that easy? James P. DeWan is a culinary instructor at Kendall College in Chicago.