Clotted Creams

These days cooks generally consider the separation and solidification of cream a nuisance. In the past, and in present-day England and the Middle East, congealed cream has been and is appreciated for its own sake. The cooks of 17th-century England would patiently lift the skins from shallow dishes of cream and arrange them in wrinkled mounds to imitate the appearance of a cabbage. Cabbage cream is now a mere curiosity. But the 16th-century English invention called clotted cream (and its Turkish and Afghan relatives kaymak and qymaq) remain vital traditions.