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Creamy
Also searched as: smooth, velvety, silky, creamier
In short: Creamy means: thick but smooth, with no lumps and no pools of fat.
Picture it
Like a freshly mown lawn instead of a ploughed field: lots of small, even particles instead of coarse clods.
Levers and techniques for “Creamy”
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What Creamy means
Creaminess comes from lots of very small, evenly spread particles: fine fat droplets in an , dissolved starch, or protein that has thickened gently without clumping.
What happens
Lumps form when starch on the outside before it spreads out, or when protein gets too hot. Pools of fat form when an emulsion splits.
The levers
Rules of thumb
- Risotto and pasta: release starch by stirring and tossing.
- Never let egg custards boil.
- A stick blender rescues many slightly lumpy sauces.
In practice
Rice and grains
Risotto turns creamy through stirring, because starch comes off the rice grains.
Pasta
Cacio e pepe: cheese, pasta water and pepper turn creamy rather than lumpy through tossing.
Related entries
Sources
- Harold McGee: On Food and Cooking (2004), Kapitel Saucen, Eier