Aptly named after its place of origin, this sweet, thick whipped cream is arguably the best of its kind – the "crème de la crème" so to speak.
In a magnificent castle in the town Chantilly, France, lies a well-kept recipe for one of the world's greatest indulgences: Chantilly cream. Aptly named after its place of origin, this thick whipped cream sweetened with icing sugar and flavoured with vanilla is arguably the best of its kind – the "crème de la crème" so to speak – that was once a delicacy of European royalty. It is legendary not only for its taste fit for a king, but also for its likely true inventor: surprisingly, an Italian.
Frenchman François Vatel (1631-1671), the butler of Château de Chantilly (Chantilly Castle) for Prince Louis II de Bourbon-Condé, is often falsely credited as the inventor of Chantilly cream. Legend has it that during a meal when the so-called Great Condé received his cousin King Louis XIV in 1671, Vatel did not have enough cream for dessert, so he shook what he had to increase its volume, thereby creating "Chantilly cream".
"But he was not even a cook, and Chantilly cream did not appear until 50 years after his death," said Nicole Garnier, honorary curator of heritage at Chantilly Castle and author of Vatel: The Splendours of the Table Under Louis XIV. (What is true of Vatel and made him famous two centuries later is that he killed himself by sword due to supply mishaps with important meals for the king.)
Moreover, traditional whipped cream – which was then known as "milk snow" and made with egg whites, cream, sugar and flavourings – pre-dated Vatel by at least 100 years. It was first recorded in the early 1500s in Italy, where it evolved with societal taste, according to Garnier. "In the Middle Ages, people generally didn't like dairy products; they were considered good for peasants who had cows next to them." But during the 16th-Century Italian Renaissance, dairy products became appreciated by the aristocracy, with whipped cream being served during the time of Catherine de' Medici. "The Italians were the first to bring it into fashion and then it spread throughout Northern Europe," Garnier noted.
Despite its popularity in Italy, the first published recipe for traditional whipped cream appeared in England in 1545. The first recipe related to thicker, egg white-free Chantilly cream came about 200 years later in a 1750 French cookbook, La Science du Maître d'Hôtel Cuisinier,by François Menon, which cited a recipe for a whipped and frozen cream called "Chantilly cheese". This recipe, unveiled by food historian Pierre Leclercq of Belgium's University of Liège on RTBF-La Première in 2018, is linked to a Sicilian ice cream maker named Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli (1651-1727).
According to Garnier, Procopio opened a luxurious cafe in Paris called Le Procope – which was founded in 1686 and is now one of the city's oldest restaurants – and supplied ice cream to the then Prince of Condé, Louis Joseph de Bourbon, at Chantilly Castle. For future King Louis XV's visit there in 1722, Procopio prepared ice cream topped with what became known as Chantilly cream.
This thick, sweet whipped cream was cultivated in the dairy and hamlet of the Prince of Condé near Chantilly Castle, where it was first prepared and served, respectively. The dairy became known throughout Europe, and Chantilly cream was presented to important guests during magnificent receptions at the hamlet. For example, in 1754, the Duke of Croy wrote about "beautiful cream that was eaten with the ice cream", and in 1784, the Baroness of Oberkirch lauded in her memoirs, "such good cream, so appetizing and so well prepared". Chantilly cream still delights diners in Le Hameau (The Hamlet) restaurant on castle grounds today.
Locals, who refer to Chantilly cream as the "real whipped cream", share these sentiments of old. "If everyone would eat good Chantilly cream, the world would be better," claimed chef Michaël Ejzenbaum, owner of Le Vertugadin restaurant in Chantilly and one of three grand masters of La Confrérie des Chevaliers Fouetteurs de Crème Chantilly (Brotherhood of Knights of Chantilly Cream Whippers).
The brotherhood was founded in 2007 by grand master Hervé Grébert, who recruited Ejzenbaum and Bertrand Alaime, owner of L'Atelier de la Chantilly (a tearoom dedicated to Chantilly cream), to help him relaunch it in 2018 after a time away. A total of 24 knights, all gastronomy professionals with proven competency in making Chantilly cream, promote and practice this art. They do so, as Grébert said, because this cream is "a real treasure" that's world famous.
Chantilly cream requires three ingredients (minimum 30% fat cream, icing sugar and vanilla); certain equipment, including a wide whisk and a cul de poule (chicken's bum) or round, stainless steel bowl; and proper whipping in three steps: aerating cream, adding sugar and vanilla, and thickening. Technically, it can only contain the three ingredients to be called Chantilly cream, but sometimes the knights add other ingredients like caramel or coffee.
Grébert and fellow knights teach would-be "squires" how to "whip the chicken's bum" by hand, as originally done for centuries, in one-hour workshops under the arches of Vatel's old kitchen at Chantilly Castle. L'Atelier de la Chantilly offers similar workshops, covering the cream's history as well.
"We whip with the arm muscle to integrate air into fat," Grébert said. "You multiply the starting volume of cream by 2.7 times. But you have to know when to stop. If you stop too early, it's whipped cream. If you stop too late, it's butter."
"Chantilly cream is the state of the cream before getting butter," explained Ejzenbaum. It's ready when the bowl can be turned upside down without the cream falling out. He jokingly tells aspiring squires, "You better succeed, otherwise you will get cream on top of your head."
Whipping by hand is preferred for volumes of 30cl or less. However, larger volumes are too difficult to whip by hand, so even the knights use a mixer.
Unlike ordinary whipped cream, Chantilly cream is a main element of desserts, not just a dollop on top, he added. Think strawberries and cream, pavlova and baba au rhum (rum baba) cake. Ejzenbaum even serves the cream by itself at his restaurant: "If the Chantilly cream is good, you don't need anything else."
Garnier summed the French heritage of Chantilly cream: "It's not the icing on the cake [that matters most], it's the cream!"
