Think back to that restaurant meal that turned you off cream. It may have been at a French place in the unreconstructed 1970s, when your fillet of sole came in a cream sauce so reduced it rippled and buckled when you tried to dislodge the fish. Perhaps it was in a trendy New American bistro in the ’80s, over a bowl of penne pasta draped in a thick coating of chipotle cream. Or maybe you dropped your spoon more recently, in mid-creme brulee.
Restaurants, in their relentless quest to stupefy their guests with excess, pour on the cream when a touch is all that’s needed.
Home cooks, fearing for their gallbladders, don’t buy the stuff. Oh, they whip a half pint to top a special dessert. But when it comes to dressings, marinades and the saute pan, they’d rather reach for olive oil (or WD-40) than cream.
Maybe not all home cooks. “I have cream around all the time,” said Marion Cunningham, the “Fannie Farmer Cookbook” author who has made her life’s work the preservation of American home cooking and the family dinner hour. “It sometimes is exactly the finishing touch you need.”
If it really is added to food by the touch rather than the glug, cream is no enemy to your health. It is half as caloric as olive oil and loaded with vitamin A and calcium. In today’s Atkins age, its high level of dietary cholesterol is less of a concern.
One of a kind
Cream–good, heavy whipping cream–has cooking properties that other fats lack. “It coats your mouth in a way; it adds just that touch of richness,” said Anne Quatrano, chef at Floataway Cafe and Bacchanalia in Atlanta. “We finish off almost all our soups with a little bit of cream. I really mean just a little bit–maybe a quarter cup of cream for 4 quarts of celery root soup–but it makes all the world of difference.”
Quatrano said that cream not only enriches dishes but also brings out their flavors. As an example, she mentioned a pear and pecorino cheese ravioli she sampled at Felidia restaurant in New York: “It was a really remarkable combination of flavors. The ravioli wasn’t served with a sauce but was rolled in just a little bit of cream and a little bit of cheese. I think without the cream it wouldn’t have had that fullness.”
Food scientist Shirley Corriher, author of “Cookwise,” agreed that “cream is an incredible flavor carrier” and the reason is in its composition.
Like all fluid dairy products, cream contains a suspension of milk-fat globules in a watery medium. (To meet U.S. Department of Agriculture standards, heavy whipping cream must be between 36 percent and 40 percent fat.)
“All the fat-soluble flavors dissolve in cream … and then all the water-soluble flavors do too,” Corriher said.
Whereas stock or wine might pick up some flavors and olive oil others, cream will underscore both. Corriher said that the intrinsic, complex flavors of vegetables come out with a touch of cream, because they are high in fat-soluble vitamins that may help carry flavor compounds along.
In her latest book, “Lost Recipes,” Cunningham features a recipe for creamed corn that includes little more than fresh corn cut from the cob and softened with a touch of cream.
Simple becomes sophisticated
Home cooks and chefs alike have learned that simple flavors can seem a bit more profound on the tongue when a touch of cream is involved.
Quatrano adds some to mussel liquor flavored with parsley, shallots and wine, then serves the shelled mussels in this broth as a “Billi Bi,” what she terms a classic, simple French dish. She resists the temptation to reduce cream until it is thick, glossy and overly rich.
“I like cream when it’s really diluted, where it beads up a little bit,” Quatrano said. “It’s beautiful.”
Then again, cream’s ability to reduce–to boil and thicken over high heat without losing its integrity–is what makes it so attractive to chefs.
“It’s the first thing you grab when you want to bring something back, say when a sauce is breaking,” Quatrano said. “I think it’s indispensable.”
Cunningham calls it a “medicine cabinet you’re able to reach for and fix whatever recipe is ailing.”
Plus, it can be very useful to have cream around when you’re in a pinch.
Cunningham recalled that she recently baked a pan of brownies for guests.
“When they were finished baking, they seemed too dry to me,” she said. “So I just whipped some cream and plopped it on top.
“Everyone thought that’s the way they were supposed to be.”
Pork chops and apple sauce
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
The trick to a good pan sauce is to have plenty of reduced juices and charred bits clinging to the bottom of the pan. You can scrape these up with a wooden spoon and let them dissolve in a flavorful liquid like wine, broth or, in this case, apple juice.
4 boneless pork chops, about 1-inch thick
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup apple juice
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
1/2 cup whipping cream
1. Season the chops with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; cook chops until they are just pink in the center, about 8 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate; cover with foil.
2. Add apple juice to the skillet: heat, stirring up any dark bits clinging to the pan. Stir in the vinegar; heat to a boil. Cook until the liquid is thick and syrupy, about 8 minutes. Add the cream; cook until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning.
Nutrition information per serving:
322 calories, 62% of calories from fat, 22 g fat, 9 g saturated fat, 95 mg cholesterol, 8 g carbohydrates, 21 g protein, 479 mg sodium, 0.1 g fiber
Mustard green peppercorn sauce
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
This version of a classic French sauce goes well with beef tenderloin, pork loin, sauteed chicken breasts, tuna and swordfish steaks. Look for green peppercorns packed in brine; the dehydrated ones will not work here.
3 shallots, minced
2 teaspoons butter
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon peppercorns in brine, drained
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
1. Cook the shallots in the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, until they are soft and translucent, about 4 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high; add the wine and peppercorns. Cook until mixture reduces by half, about 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the cream and mustard; boil until the mixture reduces slightly, just enough to coat a spoon, about 3 minutes. Season with salt.
Nutrition information per serving:
91 calories, 83% of calories from fat, 9 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 30 mg cholesterol, 3 g carbohydrates, 1 g protein, 243 mg sodium, 0.2 g fiber
Mussels with cream and poblanos
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
This version of Billi Bi has a muted kick. Serve it in deep bowls with bread for dipping.
2 pounds mussels, or combined mussels and clams
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 small shallot, slivered
1 large clove garlic, slivered
1 to 2 tablespoons slivered poblano chili
1/4 cup white wine
2 to 3 tablespoons whipping cream
1. Scrub and, if necessary, debeard the mussels; set aside. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the shallot, garlic and poblano pepper; cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
2. Add the mussels and wine; cover the saucepan. Cook over medium heat until all the mussels have opened, about 8 minutes, remove pan from heat. Tilt the pot to swirl the mussel liquid on one side away from the shells; whisk in the cream. Divide mussels and sauce between 4 shallow bowls.
Nutrition information per serving:
115 calories, 53% of calories from fat, 7 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 31 mg cholesterol, 4 g carbohydrates, 9 g protein, 245 mg sodium, 0.1 g fiber
