There are two huge benefits (apart from the lovely flavor) of crème fraîche, one, it can be made into whipped cream or butter (uh, yes! more on that in a few weeks), and, two, it doesn’t break (i.e., separate/curdle) when heated. This makes it an ideal treat whipped with sugar and served with strawberries or dolloped in soups and stews (much tastier than sour cream). Anything sour cream does, crème fraîche does better.

Strawberries and a half liter of crème frâiche, by flickr user testastretta-999

Basics
The main flavors in this thick velvety cream are a slight sour tang and a mild nuttiness. The thickness of most brands available in the US is similar to that of sour cream, but the texture can range from that of a heavy, slow-moving cream to a shortening-like paste.

It gets it’s distinct flavor and texture from the lactobacillus cultures found in nonpasteurized dairy products. This “good” bacteria is allowed to develop until the cream thickens and acidifies. Once it reaches the correct consistency, many commercial products are commonly pastureland to halt the process. (If you make it at home, all you can do is slow it down by refrigerating it.)

Don’t be concerned or get squeamish by this talk of bacteria in the cream. It’s actually because of this bacteria that the cream does not spoil. It’s the same principals that keep sourdough cultures from going bad. Essentially, the good bacteria crowds out the bad.

Homemade crème fraîche, by flickr user flit.

Uses
I’ve already given a few ideas for how to use it (whipped served with fresh fruits or dolloped in soups), but there are many more. Consider serving it with smoked salmon (instead of the customary cream cheese) or using it to thicken pan sauces. You can try replacing some of the butter in mashed potatoes with a bit of creme fraiche. Essentially any place where you see heavy cream, sour cream, or even butter used, you can replace some–or all–of it with crème fraîche.

Storage
As mentioned above, the bacteria in the cream actually helps preserve the creme fraiche so it tends to keep a bit longer than regular milk or cream would. Store bought brands generally keep well for several weeks well covered in the refrigerator. Homemade versions should be stored the same way but used more quickly as quality control is a bit more difficult.

Make your own
Where unpasteurized cream is available, heavy cream containing natural bacteria (lactobacillus cultures) is allowed to sit at room temperature to encourage the growth of these cultures. After it enough of the bacteria has grown, it should be refrigerated to slow/stop the continued growth of the bacteria.
This method is not possible in the US as the required pasteurization process kills the lactobacillus cultures. Creating crème fraîche involves seeding heavy cream with buttermilk (preferred method) or sour cream.

Ingredients
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons buttermilk (live culture yogurt or sour cream will also work)
Directions
Combine both in a glass container. Cover and let stand at room temperature (about 70°F) for 12 to 24 hours. Once it becomes very think, you will have crème fraîche! Refrigerate or use immediately.

Strawberries, creme fraiche, and sugar, by flickr user flit.

Nutrition
These are just estimates, actual values may vary by brand or by the type of cream you use to make your own.
Most contain about 28% butterfat and have a pH close to 4.5.
One tablespoon (about 15g, or 1/2 ounces) contains approximately the following:
Calories: 52
Protein: 0.3g
Carbohydrate: 0.42g
Total Fat: 5.5g
Saturated Fat: 3.5g
Cholesterol: 17mg

Substitutes
The closest off-the-shelf substitute available in the US is likely sour cream. In the southern United States, clabber is sometimes available and is similar. Plain full-fat yogurt can often be used as a substitute in cooking, but care must be taken to heat it gently as it can often separate.

Sources
English Wikipedia, French Wikipedia, Wise Geek, BBC, Epicurious, On Food and Cooking, by Harold McGee, and the backs of various creme fraiche containers.

Fleur de Sel de Guérande.

In some French households, it is not uncommon to see a small container like the one pictured placed table-side to garnish meats and vegetables with a light pinch immediately before eating. We have used it on steak (no/less presalting of meat before cooking), on French fries, oven fries, potato chips, and even simply on steamed vegetables.

Characteristics of fleur de sel
The smaller, finer crystals compared to regular sea salt allow the grains dissolve rapidly. The flavor is more delicate than table salt, contributing other minerals and tastes to the dish. Colors range from white to light pink, but is most commonly a light grey/off-white color. (Pink salts are colored by the algae Dunaliella salina, and can contribute a subtle violet flavor.)

Fleur de Sel de Guérande.

Production
The culinary applications are not the only thing that drives high cost for the salt. The difficult, labor intensive, and short harvest period from mid-July to mid-August also ensures that the supply is fairly low. Yields from the salt marshes vary, but per season, a single marsh produces about 60 pounds of fleur de sel compared to the 2,200 pounds of “gros sel”, aka regular sea salt. (Basically, for every 40 pounds of regular salt, you get one pound of fleur de sel!)

The salt itself commonly forms at night as the cold ocean air flows over the warmer, shallow salt marshes. Fine crystals form on the surface, allowing the saliculteurs to gather it before it sinks. The term for the saliculteurs changes by region, in Guérande they are known as paludiers, but in Ré and Noirmoutier they are known as sauniers.

The saliculteurs literally harvest the thin layer of fine crystals from the surface. They gently pull a paddle, called a lousse, across the surface to gently gather the salt without making it sink.

The fleur de sel from Guérande (in the Breton region) is considered by many to be one of the more respected varieties. Other notable French salts come from are Noirmoutier, Ré, and Camargue.

(Fortunately for me, I have family near Guérande so I always get to bring some salt back to the US when I visit!)

Fleur de Sel de Guérande.

sources include:

http://appli-etna.ac-nantes.fr:8080/peda/disc/svt/sel/actuel.htm

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleur_de_sel

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2006/09/fleur_de_sel_de_1.html

and knowledge from my trips there.

There was a time where I didn’t know how to cook. I would burn toast with surprising regularity. Cereal was about as complicated as I ventured. Pasta was a great culinary leap forward.

I remember the first time I had a recipe that called for “scallions.” I had no idea what they were. I went to the seafood department thinking they were some kind of fish, possibly something similar to shrimp, or clams. I was quickly corrected (and mocked). But now I know. Scallions (also called green onions or spring onions) are vegetables similar in flavor to, but milder than, onions. They are green, whiter at the base, about as thick as a pencil. You might recognize them as those thinly sliced things floating in Asian soups.

So in the spirit of preventing others from asking the fishmonger for scallions, I’m starting a series called “What is?”. I’ll use the series to post about different foods and how to store, prepare, clean, and use them to their full potential. This series isn’t really to explain about esoteric and unusual foods–though some of those will be covered too–it’s a tribute to the common ones we overlook. I just want to bring your attention to different areas of the grocery store. If I post something here and you happen to have a good recipe that uses it as an ingredient, please share it. Any new ideas or ways of bringing different foods from the grocery store to our table are very welcome.

I just hope to prevent you ending up like me on another trip to the grocery store, looking for pralines next to the garlic and onions…

I do this nearly every time I prepare a chicken dish. It’s just so simple and easy to do and results in a huge boost in flavor. Even a half hour soak in salty water is noticeable.

But how does this work? Why salt? Should you add anything else (sugar, pepper)? How long to soak it? Click through the jump to find out why it works and how to quickly make your own.

If you just need a quick reminder of proportions, scroll to the bottom.

How does it work?

• First, surrounding meat with water will result in some of that water being pulled into the meat.
• Second, along with the water, other dissolved flavors will be pulled into the meat. Anything that can dissolve can be added to a brine. I have even brined a turkey in a mixture of sugar, salt, pepper, vegetable stock and other spices.
• Third, the added salt reduces evaporation during cooking, helping keep the meat tender and juicy. This is because anything added to water must be removed for it for the water to leave. Have you ever seen the salt crystals left behind when sea water is left to evaporate—the water just changes state, from liquid to gas, and the salt is removed from it and remains behind.
• Fourth, salt changes the nature of the cells in the meat causing them to pull in and hold more water than before. Cell membranes allow water and other things (i.e., salt) to pass through. Once salt gets in, it begins to denature proteins—all that really means to us is that the proteins change shape and get too big to move out of the cells. Because of the salt, these “denatured proteins” are basically trapped in the cells. As more stuff is trapped in the cells, osmosis tries to pull more and more water into it to dilute the cells.

Whew, enough technical stuff. Just put your meats in salty water and they’ll be juicer and taste better.

What exactly do you include, how much, and for how long?

Always use salt (it is what makes a brine a brine). A good rule of thumb is for every two pounds of chicken, use about 1/4 cup salt and a quart of water. Sugar is optional. If you use it, use the same amount or less than salt. Sugar aids in browning and improves flavor (hey, it’s sugar). Other spices are even more optional. It’s really more of a personal preference, but I feel that you get diminishing returns by adding extra spices so I rarely go to the trouble. Because most other spices don’t dissolve as easily as salt or sugar, those flavors won’t be as noticeable. I’d rather just add them directly to the meat rather than lose them in the water. Sticking to just salt and sugar, which is cheap and everyone has in their pantry, means less trouble for you and an already vastly improved dinner. This means that your average whole chicken should use about 2 quarts of water, 1/2 cup salt and 1/2 cup sugar.

Now that your meat is swimming in salty liquid, how long should it soak?
For chicken, an hour will do fine. As little as 30 minutes makes a difference, so go for it if you can. Turkey requires a lot longer. A whole turkey can brine for 6 to 12 hours and turkey breasts alone can brine for 3 to 6 hours. Pork should brine for at least an hour.

So, in short:

• For every 2 lbs chicken: 1 qt water, 1/4 cup salt, 1/4 sugar. Brine time: 1 hour.
• For a 15 lb turkey: 2 gallons water, 1 cup salt (no sugar). Brine time: 6 to 12 hours.
• For a 20 lb turkey: 3 gallons water, 1 1/2 cups salt (no sugar). Brine time: 6 to 12 hours.
• For 5 lbs of pork: 3 cups of water, 1 1/2 tbsp salt and 1 1/2 tbsp sugar. Brine time: 1 hour.

Feel free to look up other proportions. There are no concrete rules about how to brine, but be aware that too much salt will yield meat too salty, and too little salt will not be enough to brine properly.

Cooking for Engineers has a very good explanation of what a brine does and some more suggested proportions.

Cook’s Illustrated also has a great article that gives suggested ratios on how much to use for different kinds of meat.

P.S. No interesting pictures for this post. It would just look like a ziptop bag of water with raw meat floating in it. Not terribly appetizing, so I thought I’d skip posting that!