I've said before that I'm not much of a cook. I messed up my bread bowls this week and they ended up looking more like bread plates. Ah, well-- they were still good for dipping, at least.
But I have to say: the more time I spend in the kitchen, the more I appreciate the amazing qualities of heavy whipping cream. What can't this stuff do? Pour it in any sauce, and it will almost always taste good. Whip it up for a little while and you've got whipped cream, which is basically a little piece of heaven. Stir it even longer and it turns into butter! Isn't that something of a miracle? I mean, if you didn't already know this, and someone tried to explain it to you, wouldn't you think they were crazy?
And I'm not even done yet-- do all this same over-stirring, but in a freezer, and suddenly you have ice cream, which is basically akin to oxygen for me. Seriously, it's the only thing that makes a hot, humid summer enjoyable. And it's the only cold thing that I can still like even in the winter.
And now, this weekend I learned that you can brown butter to make it even yummier! How did I not know this? How many times have I eaten something with browned butter in it and not had a clue that that's what I was devouring?
It all leaves me wondering who the first people to figure all this stuff out were? Who first decided to milk a cow? And who thought to stir that milk for an hour or two and see what might happen to it? And once they had butter, who thought to try cooking it to see what that would do it? I am blown away by the genius of these people. And blown away by cream. Serious miracle liquid. (A close second is egg whites. But I'm still trying to understand those better...)
The more I think about cream, the more it begins to sound like a special potions ingredient from Harry Potter. Do vegans have any idea how much they're missing out?
6 comments:
I have recently learned how to make caramel sauce (which is also whipping cream) and am amazed by how easy it is to make something SO delicious.
I've got an amazing scalloped potato recipe that uses heavy cream. It's from Southern Living, so you know it's totally unhealthy, but oh so delicious! As long as you only make it once a year I think your arteries will forgive you. :)
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/classic-parmesan-scalloped-potatoes-10000001673167/
I'll admit that I think cream is pretty magical. It's like a shape-shifter food, works with everything. (How can I learn to do that?)
HOWEVER, it earn several black marks in my book when it was narrowed down that creams, butters and all those rich dairy products were a big player in all sorts of pains and problems in my life. Now avoiding cream (except for the spare occasions) is easy schmezy. Cream = pain. Lesson learned.
But I'm pretty sure that there will be pain-free (and calorie-free and fat-free, etc) cream in heaven. So, really, I just tell myself that I'm holding out for the upgraded version. :)
I especially agree that egg whites are awesome! Did you know that they make for an incredible hairspray? Sounds disgusting, but my old roommate helped me put beat egg whites in my hair once, and the curl lasted amazingly well! (oh, the things I did to try and look good for Ian when we were dating...)
Ha ha ha, I'm totally laughing at the thought of Rachael putting egg whites in her hair!! I hope Ian appreciated it! ;0)
Alanna, I've come to a decision: Someday when we're next door neighbors, you're going to be our chef!! I'm sure we'll find something cool that I can do to make it worth your while, right?? Right??? Please?! :0)
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