SC - Scottish/british food terms

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Tara Sersen wrote:
> 
> Anyway, my contributions are these : I
> didn't know there was a difference between Devonshire Cream and Clotted
> Cream.  At least, both names seem to mean the same thing at my local
> tea-and-scones shop.  What is the difference?

Clotted cream needn't be from Devonshire. The two are similar enough as
to be indistinguishable for most practical purposes. Along the same
lines, Idaho potatoes are a long, russet potato considered unrivalled
for baking, and such a product can come from many different places, but
if you want to call your potato an Idaho potato it is legally required
(or at least was) that it come from Idaho. 

> And, I read a recipe
> somewhere for Clotted Cream that basically said to whip cream.  Is there
> some phase between whipped cream and butter that I'm not remembering?
> Granted, it's been a long time since I've made butter, but I don't
> remember anything coming out of there with a consistancy like clotted
> cream - first it's way too fluffy, then it's butter.  Is there a trick
> to it?

I dunno about whipping cream to get clotted cream, but I do know that,
once upon a time, standard practice for making butter was to let raw
milk sit, usually overnight, until it had soured ever so slightly, and
the emulsion of butterfat into the watery phase had broken somewhat, and
the cream rose to the top (Of course this is much easier for
non-homogenized milk.) You could then skim off the cream, or heat the
milk and then lift off the semi-cooked cap of clotted cream, _OR_ churn
the milk until butter rose to the top, leaving you with buttermilk at
the bottom. I'd say it's not so much that clotted cream is made the same
way butter is, but that both can be made as different parts of the same
process, depending on which product you want.  

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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