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I live in Europe and use a lot of European recipes. Here, traditional waffle recipes generally use a mixture of cream and milk as the liquid. The recipes include melted butter, so I don't understand what the cream is doing. Any ideas?

Bocuse recipe for waffles (as an example) (found in Paul Bocuse "Die Neue Küche" Heyne Kochbücher 1976) - but representative of a great many traditional European recipes for dessert waffles.

  • 500 g flour
  • a pinch of baking powder
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 tablespoon of sugar
  • 250 ml milk
  • 750 ml heavy cream
  • 8 egg yolks
  • 100 ml rum
  • 300 g melted butter
  • 4 egg whites

Is there a technical or chemical reason to use cream, even if you are already using butter?

AMtwo
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Lisa Biesinger
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    Have you considered that it could be the other way round? Maybe for a French cook of Bocuse's generation/class, cream is the default liquid, and the technical reason he adds milk is because else the fat will make the waffles unbakeable? – rumtscho Apr 26 '21 at 08:05
  • Wow, that’s rich. I never made waffles like that, I am used to waffles = pancake batter, possibly with the whites whipped, sometimes with melted butter, sometimes with baking powder. This recipe seems a bit excessive? – Stephie Apr 26 '21 at 20:44
  • If it helps, I make waffles often, and I always replace the cream by milk, and it works perfectly. If there is some cream left over from something else I use that, and it makes no difference that I can tell. – RedSonja Apr 27 '21 at 12:11
  • @rumtscho - that is interesting, and would make sense. – Lisa Biesinger Apr 28 '21 at 11:24
  • @Stephie - these are not eaten at breakfast. They are desserty things. As far as I have seen, Europeans do not eat pancakes or waffles at breakfast. They eat them at fairs and festivals for a treat. You could see it as a variation on cake. – Lisa Biesinger Apr 28 '21 at 11:24
  • @LisaBiesinger you do remember me and my location, right? ;-) – Stephie Apr 28 '21 at 11:26
  • @Stephie, yeah, but. You like looking over the rim of your teacup, and I'll bet its contents are darjeeling, not Hagebuttetee (:)) and apparently don't use chefkoch.de for recipes, nor even Dr Oetker - all of whom use a minimum of 1 part butter to 2 parts flour (by weight) in their waffle recipes. Dr Oetker has nearly 1:1 flour to butter. Granted, Bocuse's recipe (online in quartered form - https://mehlstaubundofenduft.com/2015/09/29/die-waffeln-von-pauls-oma/) is even richer, but not by much. So given your location, why are you making waffles like Amis do? Not to mention pancakes. Eierkuchen! – Lisa Biesinger Apr 30 '21 at 06:45
  • I make them either like my Swabian grandmother did - flour, eggs, milk. Nothing else. Butter and cream was expensive! ^_^ Or Jamie Oliver’s breakfast waffles, which is the same plus a bit of melted butter and baking powder. – Stephie Apr 30 '21 at 06:47
  • Ah. Wikipedia.de, referencing "Chronik bildschöner Backwerke" does say that waffles were never standard fare in Southern Germany or Austria, but rather reserved for the "gehobene Küche" (and fairs and whatnot). Most likely because cream and butter weren't cheap. Interesting that she made them at all. What kind of a waffle iron did she use? I am fascinated by the history of foods and cooking :) – Lisa Biesinger May 01 '21 at 13:45

1 Answers1

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I can't say with absolute positivity on this, but I suspect it's because butter in Europe is often cultured, i.e. made using partially fermented cream, which changes its flavor and makes it a bit acidic. Cream is not cultured, so it has a 'neutral' flavor, the ratio of butter to cream is balanced to give the right flavor profile.

GdD
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    I have used butter in many European countries and never noticed any acidity. I very much doubt this answer is right. – Willeke Apr 26 '21 at 10:12
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    @Willeke it is not actually sour. Cultured butter has a slight aroma due to the butyric acid, but not a sour taste. I also doubt that this answer is right - the difference is certainly tasteable on toast, it might be noticeable in a buttercream, but it practically disappears in baked goods. I've baked extensively with both kinds (both are widely available in Germany, I don't know if that was different in the 70s) and I'm not sure I would be able to tell the difference in the final product from a blind test. – rumtscho Apr 26 '21 at 10:22
  • @GdD - thanks for at least giving it a try. Interesting idea. Maybe this is due to historical circumstances. That cream was more plentiful, cheaper, something, than butter? In any case, I guess there is no technical reason for it. At least that someone around here knows of. Thanks! – Lisa Biesinger Apr 28 '21 at 11:17