Clotted Cream (homemade) and jam

This is what I want...

I am relatively confident in my biscuit and scone abilities.  I have been perpetually frustrated by the lack of high fat milk and cream in this town.  I think all the dairy here is a little limp.  I have had a hankering for a good old fashioned cream tea and the number one attendee has to be clotted cream.

Clotted cream is insanely expensive in the stores and I am sure it's full of preservatives.  I have sampled it and even the imported stuff isn't the same as across the pond.  I am sure there's some importing rule about adding things that the Devon cows just don't have.

I'm simply going to smile, nod, and make my own.  Hell, I make everything else myself these days, bread, cheese, eggs (well, soon, the chickens are very very happy and I have total faith in their ability to keep us in eggs) so adding clotted cream to the mix isn't a stretch.

Clotted cream is thick and has a pale yellow tinge (in my memory) which *I* think I'll get by a very very very long and slow roast.  I went and did some online research and it appears I am right.

So, the day before I anticipate clotted cream, cream tea nirvana, I turned my oven to just shy of 200 degrees, poured a quart of the best quality (least pasturized) heavy cream I could find into a 9x13 crock and shoved it in the oven.

Timer set for 8 hours.  Now, we wait.
  
Ok, so, this is the saddest 'beauty' shot ever...  I put this in the oven and...we wait...

After 3 hours, it's doing SOMEthing...  (seriously, I do not have this sort of patience, next time I put it in at bedtime!)


After 8 hours, this smells INCREDIBLE!  Smells like caramel, buttery caramel.

It is taking EVERY ounce of my (substantial) being not to poke around with this.  I moved it to the counter, covered it lightly and walked away.  When it's room temperature, I'll put it in the fridge and we'll play with it in the morning. It needs to set up and every thing I do to it now will impede that and I care more about what's going to greet me in the morning than the satisfaction of futzing now.  

Seriously, this is agonizing. 

MORNING!

Ok, I took it out of the fridge and it looks the same but the 'crust' is thick and feels like leather.  This can't be good.  But WAIT!  I shoved a spoon, gingerly, on the sides and it began to roll up!  IT'S CLOTTED CREAM! The whey is pale and the solids are totally clotted and, well just LOOK!
 

it looks like ice cream but it's not!  It rolled up in one piece and I plunked it in a bowl, a little edge scraping and this is all that wasn't in one piece!
 

Fresh mound and then after I stirred it up, the crust incorporated nicely.  You still get little pieces that sort of disintegrate when you eat them.  This stuff is the bomb!  I think it's pretty authentic and all this only cost me $1.75.  I can't get a can of it for that price.
 

This is how much liquid is left from the pint of heavy cream.  I'm going to use 1 cup of it in the scones that will be under this cream in a couple of hours.  So, no waste! (like there ever is here).  This is my $1.75 investment.  Not bad if you ask me.
 

Sure, it takes time but it's not time that you have to DO anything. I think it's worth doing for friends coming or a cream tea.  Luckily, I have friends coming today AND tomorrow so it'll be well used up and sampled by the "Yanks".  I'll convert them one at a time!

Yeah, I'm a happy camper.  DO THIS!

/Tracy

PS

I made a quickie homemade jam to go on the scones and under the clotted cream:

1 lb strawberries, hulled and chopped
a few scrapes of lemon zest and the juice of 1 good lemon

BOIL until it the strawberries are cooked, 5 minutes?

Add 3/4 cup sugar and boil for 10-15 minutes, until it passes the wrinkle test.  Put a little blob on a cold plate, if, when you push your finger on the side toward the middle, it wrinkles, it's done!

Pour into a glass blown and shove it in the fridge.  After a it's cooled down a bit, cover it and eat it when it's cold, on scones, under clotted cream :)

Quickie jam!

  

Oh and the picture at the beginning of what I wanted... it's EXactly what I got.  Joy!

/enjoy!!!

WHEY (mozzarella then biscuits)

I made mozzarella cheese at home with a friend.  There is no photographic evidence.  I don't think it's worth the time or the bother and I'm a massive "there's nothing that takes too much time" foodie! I will try it again but truly can't see the draw.  I'm much more excited about making my homemade clotted cream tomorrow (post to follow)


The mozzarella was fine.  The ricotta we made with the remaining whey was better.  I'm making stuffed shells with it tonight for dinner.  There was as much ricotta (1/2 lb) from the leftovers as there was fresh mozzarella.   We boiled the whey and strained...added salt and bingo, ricotta!  It's delicious.


I think, once you factor in the time, the money for the milk and the chemicals, it's cheaper (sad to say) to buy fresh at the local Italian market.  Unfortunately, there is no local Italian market for me but still, I can't see making it much. 


THAT being said.  I ended up with 2 1/2 gallons of whey AFTER the mozzarella and the ricotta.  It's pale yellow and tastes like the memory of having a glass of milk.  I'm not a fan.  I did some research and some people use it as a cream rinse or shampoo.  Um, no thanks. 


More research revealed people use it to make bread (perk!) or biscuits (perk!)  Hello Sunday morning, let's have a go at whey biscuits. 


Insert my standard biscuit recipe here: 


2 cups a/p
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 Tablespoon sugar
Toss around then add: 
1 stick margarine (seriously, margarine)
Toss around with your fingers then add:
almost 1 cup milk... or in THIS CASE... WHEY! 


Toss with a fork to make a light, cohesive mass.  Tip out onto lightly floured board, pat it into a 1 1/2 inch thick round. and cut into 9 biscuits. 


I put them on a lightly greased comal and baked at 425 until they were done, 22 minutes I think. 


When they came out, brush quickly with a little butter (since there's none in the biscuit).  Split and eat. 


I put butter and honey on mine, I have a great line to local honey.  Connor is a purist and eats as many as he can with butter.  Husband ate one and said it was good!  *HIGH praise indeedy!


These are, without any doubt at all, the lightest biscuits I've ever made.  No stodgy bit in the middle.  I'll put these up against any old lady in town.  I know those are fighting words in grandmother biscuit land but seriously, if you can get your hands on whey, use it...  it's amazing! 


Right out of the oven... then a quick top buttering.  Can't you just dive in??
 

They just pull apart, these are crazy light!!  Flavorful as well, not quite buttermilk sour but much nicer than with regular milk

Butter and a drizzle of local honey...  oh and a little more honey!!
 

I'm going to continue to look for uses for this whey... I was going to toss it but for the biscuits alone it's worth making the cheese again!!!  

/Tracy


P.S.   *insert bad jokes here*


They're "whey" too good not to make again
"Whey" to go!
No "WHEY" you're making them with whey!
...
etc.


my family thinks they're hillarious  hahahaha