Barbra Streisand Once Had a Pilot ‘Stop the Plane!’ for This Treat

Planes are frequently delayed, diverted, or canceled for very valid reasons: weather, health emergencies, or maintenance issues, for instance.

But if you’re a celebrity like Barbra Streisand and flying private, you have a little more leeway to press pause for less serious reasons. (Well, we guess it depends on whom you ask if her reason was serious business or not, as crafting the proper tea time is no joking matter for some individuals, especially those across the pond...More on this shortly!)

In another one of our favorite food-related confessions from Barbra Streisand’s bestselling 2023 memoir "My Name Is Barbra," the actor, singer, icon, and now-author reveals that she once literally stopped a plane because her snack order was incomplete.

Barbra Streisand's Scones Aren't Complete Without Clotted Cream

“As the pilot was revving up the engines and getting ready to taxi out, I called, ‘Stop the plane!’ I had ordered scones with fresh strawberries and clotted cream as a treat for everyone, and the scones had arrived but not the cream,” she writes.

Streisand had generously requested a classic afternoon tea spread for her travel companions, which generally includes scones, clotted cream, and jam (or, if you’re Barbra, crushed fresh fruit). The flight was about to take off sans-clotted cream, and Streisand wouldn’t stand for it. So she stopped the plane so that coveted cream could board, too.

What Is Clotted Cream, Exactly? 

In case you’re unfamiliar with clotted cream (aka Devonshire cream or Cornish cream), it’s a dairy product that originated in southwest England and has evolved to be a staple as a topping for a variety of baked goods like scones, crumpets, and quick bread at afternoon tea.

Clotted cream is made by heating full-fat milk in a shallow pan for several hours. The cream rises to the top. As this cools over the next 12 to 24 hours, the cream thickens and clots, hence the name. Pour off the watery whey and you have smooth, thick, creamy, light yellow-hued clotted cream. 

Clotted cream falls between heavy cream (36 percent butterfat) and butter (80 percent butterfat) on the richness scale. To meet the criteria of clotted cream, it must contain at least 55 percent butterfat. It tastes somewhat similar to high-quality unsalted butter with a hint of nuttiness from the time over heat. It spreads similarly to softened or whipped cream cheese.

It’s quite a treat—and a stellar scone companion—but you need not go to such drastic measures as stopping a plane to get it. Chef John’s Homemade Clotted Cream recipe creates “delicious clotted cream with next to no effort,” according to one fan who tried it at home. And this Easy Clotted Cream can be yours in 10 minutes and is the “next best thing until I’m back in London again,” a home cook raves.

Now that you’ve got the cream covered, you can recreate the full "cream tea" experience like Barbra with these other goodies. Whip up a batch of Chef John's Scones, Basic British Scones, or the World's Best Scones. Open up a jar of store-bought or Fresh Strawberry Jam, or gather some fresh berries for smashing à la Streisand, and prepare to enjoy a turbulence-free, celebrity-worthy teatime.