No. 50

Whipped Cream or Chantilly Cream

Creme Fouettee ou Creme a la Chantilly

To obtain the very best result the cream must be the finest procurable and exceedingly thick. Pour it into a tinned basin, beat it with a tinned wire whip and if the cream be good it will rise in a few moments to a thick froth; should it be needed for meringue, after whipping it thoroughly add half a pound of powdered sugar for each quart of the unwhipped cream. For mousselines, after the cream is firmly whipped and not sweetened lay it on a hair sieve and leave it drain for one hour before using. After the cream is whipped it can be flavored by adding a tablespoonful of essence of coffee or one ounce of grated and sifted chocolate for every quart of cream. To flavor with vanilla add to the sugar one tablespoonful of vanilla sugar.

← No. 49 St. Honore Cream Elementary Methods No. 51 To Prepare Croutons for Soups, Roasts, Veget →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's whipped cream is a base preparation rather than a dessert, and nearly everything he says still holds. The points below translate his vessels, ratios and flavourings into current terms.

The hinge: stop earlyWith very thick cream the window between firm peaks and grainy butter is a matter of seconds. Whip until the whisk leaves a clear trail and the peaks just hold, then stop; finish the last few strokes by hand if using a machine.
What "the finest cream, exceedingly thick" meansLook for heavy or whipping cream at 36 percent fat or above. Ultra-pasteurized cream whips more slowly and holds less air; if a non-UHT heavy cream is available it will behave far more like the cream Ranhofer had.
Tinned basin and tinned wire whipA stainless steel bowl and a balloon whisk. The point of the tinned basin was that it would not react with the cream; chill the bowl and whisk, and the cream itself, before starting.
Sugar ratioHalf a pound of powdered sugar to a quart of unwhipped cream is about 2 cups confectioners' sugar to 4 cups cream, or roughly 4 level tablespoons per half-cup. That is a sweet cream intended for meringues; for most modern uses a third of that is plenty.
Draining for mousselinesAn hour on a hair sieve, unsweetened, lets loose whey drip out and leaves a stiffer, drier cream that will not weep into a mousse or mousseline mixture. A fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth over a bowl, refrigerated, does the same job.
Essence of coffeeA reduced, syrupy coffee concentrate, not brewed coffee. Modern coffee extract or a spoonful of strong espresso reduced by half is the equivalent; a tablespoon per quart gives a mild flavour, so taste as you go.
Grated and sifted chocolateOne ounce of finely grated chocolate per quart, sifted so no shards remain. Folding solid chocolate into cold cream leaves a slightly gritty texture by design; if you prefer it smooth, use sifted cocoa instead of melted chocolate, which will seize into flecks on contact with cold cream.
Vanilla sugarSugar stored with a split vanilla pod until fragrant. A teaspoon of vanilla extract per quart, added at the end, is the practical substitute.
YieldA quart of good cream roughly doubles, giving about two quarts whipped, enough to fill and finish a large gateau. It is best used within a few hours and kept cold.

A Little History

This is entry No. 50 in the "Elementary Methods" chapter of Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the enormous compendium written by the chef of Delmonico's in New York; the elementary section exists so that the thousands of later recipes can simply say "add whipped cream" without repeating themselves. The name points to Chantilly, north of Paris, and the sweetened whipped cream called crème Chantilly is traditionally associated with the château there and with Vatel, its maître d'hôtel in the seventeenth century, though the attribution is legend rather than documented record. What dates the entry is the equipment and the raw material: a tinned basin and a wire whip in the days before mechanical mixers, and cream so thick from unhomogenized, un-standardized milk that Ranhofer expects it to stiffen "in a few moments" and warns, in effect, that a poor cream simply will not do.