silly question (Clotted Cream)

[edisbevan]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "alora" <chrisnlorrie at y...> wrote:
> CLotted cream is FABULOUS.  It's heaven on a 
> scone...or a biscuit, in my case.  I have a recipe I make every now 
> and then and I love it.  It's terribly fattening, though.  Mmmmm, 
> clotted cream, lemon curd  *SIGH*  I should have been born in 
> England, but only for the sweet stuff!

Is your recipe like this Alora?

   >>>>
Set a coffee filter basket, lined with a filter, in a strainer, over 
a bowl. 

Take about 2 US cups of ordinary cream.

Pour the cream almost to the top of the filter. 

Refrigerate for 2 hours. The whey will sink to the bottom passing 
through the filter leaving a ring of clotted cream. 

Scrape this down with a rubber spatula and repeat every couple of 
hours until the mass reaches the consistency of soft cream cheese. 

   <<<

This is NOT however how this was done in my ex-Mother-in-Laws Cornish 
farm country. There rich unpasteurised milk was put in a broad flat 
pan over a VERY low heat wood stove overnight. In the morning there 
would be an extremely rich and thick cream floating on the milk. 
First job in the morning would be to pick off any flecks of soot etc 
from the fire that had come down on the cream. Well this does go back 
a bit before modern DEFRA and Food Agency regulations. 

a modern with-heat recipe:

>>>
take about a pint of milk or better still cream.

Pour milk or cream into a shallow pan. If using milk leave 
undisturbed for 24 hours.

Heat the pan, gently, to about 82 °C (180 °F) and hold at this 
temperature for approximately 1 hour.

When the surface cream has developed a thick, rich, yellow wrinkled 
crust, Turn off the heat and allow the pans to cool slowly.

Once cold, skim the cream off and serve with scones, fruit or fruit 
pies. 
  
<<<

The yellow wrinkled crust is a sign of propper clotted cream. It does 
not travel well which is why the clotted cream you get in 
supermarkets is much inferior to the real thing in the West Country.

Edis

(DEFRA = the UK Muggle Department of Food Environment and Rural 
Affairs.)