Creaming (cooking)
A culinary term with multiple distinct meanings.
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Creaming is a term used for several distinct culinary processes. In baking, it refers to blending ingredients with a softened solid fat. In cooking, it describes poaching food in milk or cream, while in dairy production it means separating cream from milk.
Quick Facts
- Field
- Culinary technique
Facts from the source article.
Baking
In baking, creaming involves softening a solid fat like butter or shortening into a smooth mass and then blending it with other ingredients. This technique is commonly used for buttercream, cake batter, or cookie dough. The dry ingredients are mixed or beaten with the fat until the mixture becomes light and fluffy, increasing in volume as tiny air bubbles are incorporated. These bubbles, locked into the semi-solid fat, remain in the batter and expand during baking, acting as a leavening agent.
Did You Know?
- Some preparations of creamed food substitute a suspension of water and starch, such as corn starch, for some or all of the milk or cream, producing a creamy texture without actual cream or milk.
- Creamed corn uses only the liquid milk from mashed corn kernels.
More in Cooking Techniques
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Creaming (cooking) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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