Monday, July 4, 2011

Sour Cream, oh no I meant, Crème Fraiche

Crème Fraiche, yes, it is french. In the supermarket in France, on the dairy product aisle, you can often find this thing...


(by the way, I found this on internet...)
Crème Fraiche, the direct translation is "Fresh Cream", in America, we call it the "Sour Cream". In fact, it has the sourness of sour cream, but the texture is ... 53 times more amazing.


Why is it 53 times? Okay, I just made it up, but anyways, you get my point, it is much better. The texture is thick and consistent, a bit sour, rich, smooth, and comes with a tinge of nuttiness, which gives the cream some depth. Aside from its wonderful taste, it takes about 2 days to make it. Quick and easy, also inexpensive, so everyone should try it, and here, Phil is going to teach you how to make this heavenly "paste".


So let's start.


Oh by the way, after making this, sour cream from the supermarket is permanently banned from the fridge.


Ingredients:

1 pint of heavy cream, non Ultra-pasteurized is preferred
2 tablespoons of cultured buttermilk (or yoghurt also works, all you need is some culture to grow in your jar)

1. Clean the jar, firstly
2. Mix the cream and buttermilk a bit in the jar
3. don't seal the jar, cover it with paper towel or something breathable, bacteria need some fresh air like us too. Store the jar somewhere warm for ~24hours, 25C is a good temperature. (Or until the cream is thicken)
4. Seal it, put it back to the fridge for 24hours.



The cream can be stored for ~1-2 weeks. It goes well with taco, cornbread, or fresh berry. Also good for cooking, later on i'll show you how to make some very simple masala sauce using this recipe.

Lastly, enjoy!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Vegan Chocolate Cake



From Moosewood Restaurant:


Word of caution: The chocolate glaze is very watery when made. It needs to be chilled for quite some time before it gels properly. I left it in the fridge overnight before it stopped being a slop.