R E C I P E S


Crémets d’Anjou (Fresh Cream Cheeses)

By Edward Behr

The French region of Anjou is known for its market gardens and river fish, and yet three of the province’s most emblematic foods are full of fat — rillauds, beurre blanc, and crémets. The last are an airy dessert, originally made with the single ingredient of crème fraîche (ripened cream), whipped full of air and then, like a cheese, drained in a mold with holes, making a form of cream cheese. Nowadays crémets are often molded into heart shapes and contain egg white and fresh cheese, though only the latter makes sense. Unless you have outstanding crème fraîche — perfectly clean in taste and delicate in texture — it’s better to mix heavy cream with some fresh cow’s-milk cheese. It will provide its own acidity, and it may contain at least a remnant of live culture that will work to ripen the cream (which in a perfect world would be sweet, wholesome raw cream from cows on pasture). In North America, plain white fresh cheese, though not clearly labeled as such, is often sold in a plastic-wrapped cylinder. Crémets are a typical late spring dessert served with red berries.

  

1 cup (250 gr) fresh cow’s- or goat’s-milk cheese

1 quart (1 liter) heavy cream

sugar

red berries or other fruit in season

 

Rinse and wring out enough cheesecloth to line either a single mold with holes (a small plastic colander will do) or small, individual cheese molds with a collective capacity of about 6 cups (1.5 liter). Thin the fresh cheese to a pourable state with some of the cream. Thoroughly mix 2 cups (500 ml) of the cream with the thinned cheese, and whisk the combination by hand until it is airy — firmer than the usual whipped cream but not at all buttery. Fill the lined mold or molds with this, set them in a pan or dish, and let them drain at room temperature for 2 to 4 hours. After that, refrigerate them, on the chance that the culture from the cheese may not be active and therefore won’t protect the crémet from spoilage at room temperature. Unmold a large crémet into a bowl or individual ones onto a deep platter. Pour the rest of the heavy cream over the top, and sprinkle on sugar to taste. Accompany with fruit. Serves 8.


From The Art of Eating Cookbook

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