Strawberry Cream with Nuts

A whipped cream flavored with fruit juice, from the era before stabilizers and stand mixers. It comes together in a few minutes, but the acid and the liquid volume make it less forgiving than plain whipped cream.

• Whip first, flavor secondThe most reliable order is to beat the cold cream to soft peaks, then add the sugar, strawberry juice and lemon and beat only until stiff. Four tablespoons of thin liquid added to one cup of cream at the start will slow the whipping considerably and can keep it from ever holding a peak.
• Cream to buy"Heavy cream" here means at least 36% butterfat. Avoid ultra-pasteurized cream if you can find an alternative; it whips more slowly and holds less air. Chill the cream, the bowl and the beaters.
• The lemonA quarter lemon is roughly 2 teaspoons of juice. Its acid will thicken the cream, which is part of the effect, but too much added at once can curdle rather than whip. Add it last and in a thin stream.
• Strawberry juiceThis means juice pressed or strained from crushed ripe berries, not a syrup or cordial. Mash about a cup of hulled strawberries, let them stand a few minutes with a pinch of sugar, then press through a fine sieve; that should give about the three tablespoons wanted, depending on the fruit.
• SugarA third of a cup is sweet by current taste for a cup of cream. Two tablespoons is closer to modern practice, and superfine or confectioners' sugar dissolves without grittiness in a cold mixture.
• Holding timeUnstabilized whipped cream with fruit juice in it will begin to weep within an hour or two. Beat it just before serving, or drain the finished cream briefly in a sieve set over a bowl if it must wait.
• Yield and nutsOne cup of cream whips to roughly two cups, enough for four small sherbet glasses. Toasted almonds, pistachios or walnuts, chopped and scattered on just before serving, keep their crispness; added early they soften.