Whenever I want crème fraîche, I plan an hour-long trek to Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, as none of the mainstream grocery stores in my area stock this versatile item. Since crème fraîche is also expensive to buy and highly perishable, I decided to try making it in my SousVide Supreme.
Years ago I made crème fraîche at my restaurants, a process that required 24 to 48 hours and a reliable room temperature. I figured the water oven would speed up the time required to get the cream to set. Sure enough, I had a smooth, tangy crème fraîche in just 8 hours. Really easy and much less costly than the purchased product!
Use crème fraîche in lieu of sour cream, to thicken sauces, as a garnish for soups, or as a decadent stand-in for yogurt. Two simple ways to get crème fraîche in your menus are in a creamy vinaigrette that’s perfect tossed with some shaved fennel and radishes, or mixed with chocolate-hazelnut butter (Nutella) and a dash of cinnamon and used as a dip for fresh fruit or a topping for store-bought cake.
Makes 1 cup
- Preheat the water bath to 95°F (35°C).
- Combine the cream and buttermilk in a sterilized pint Mason jar and seal with a lid. There is no need to heat the mixture.
- Immerse the jar in the water bath and cook 8 to 12 hours.
- Remove the jar from the water oven and quick-chill in an ice-and-water bath to rapidly reduce the temperature. Refrigerate up to 3 weeks.
Fabulous New Year’s Recipe! Will have to try it with the leftover holiday ingredients populating my fridge.
Success! And FWIW, it DID work with Ultra-Pasturized whipping cream. I had regular cream & heavy cream (36%) – both were Ultra Pasteurized, and both made creme fraiche. The 36% cream just had less “whey” or whatever you call the leftover liquid in this process. Glad you had the tip about cooling first. I was initially disappointed… it looked so runny. But cooled down it proved to be the good stuff. We’ve been having creme fraiche everywhere. And leftover dairy products were made into beautiful luxury goodies.
Playing with yogurt tonight!
Thanks for reporting back, Greta.
This worked wonderfully!. Thanks so much for the inspiration.
I have never heard Creme Fraiche, What is it and what can you do with it.
Well, simply, crème fraîche is fresh cream that has been treated with bacterial culture (in this case, supplied by the buttermilk). Sounds enticing, huh? You could call it a less sour version of sour cream, but that doesn’t quite do it justice, as the rich flavor is more complex — nutty, with a barely tart profile somewhat similar to Greek yogurt. The texture is creamy and smooth, thicker than sour cream, as you can probably tell from the photo. You can use it as you would sour cream or Greek yogurt, or in a vinaigrette or dessert sauce as described above, but there are many other possibilities. A quick Internet search will give you lots of ideas. Have fun!