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-   -   What is "cooking cream"? (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/diningbuzz/2028507-what-cooking-cream.html)

corky Nov 13, 2020 2:03 pm


Originally Posted by Redhead (Post 32818023)
I've used half and half in cooking a lot, never in coffee (I like warmed skin for that) . Half and Half is what your looking for

:eek: :eek:

roberino Nov 13, 2020 3:09 pm

My rule has always been single cream for cooking, double cream for desserts.

corporate-wage-slave Nov 13, 2020 3:50 pm


Originally Posted by M60_to_LGA (Post 32817332)
The recipe calls for half a cup/125 mL. That would be blended in with a big can of crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and a lot of grated cheese. So if need be I guess I could use maybe a quarter cup whipping cream and a quarter cup milk. I don't want the sauce to end up getting too cakey during the baking.

What you need is crème fraîche. You could use whipping cream with a little lemon juice or vinegar / cider vinegar added. Crème fraîche is very slightly acidic and doesn't curdle or separate when heated, which other creams are prone to do. Crème fraîche is often around 45% fat, but by the sounds of it a half-fat or lower fat version of crème fraîche will do the trick here, if cooked slowly and well mixed, or just use somewhat less than the recipe quantity.

kale73 Nov 13, 2020 3:55 pm

I have prepared cooked sauces with heavy whipping cream (Alfredo), sour cream (enchilada) and half & half (seafood casserole) without curdling issues. I’d say use whichever you have or can easily find. Out here in the wilderness (20 miles to the nearest grocery) one learns to substitute.

YVR Cockroach Nov 13, 2020 4:10 pm


Originally Posted by kale73 (Post 32818289)
I have prepared cooked sauces with heavy whipping cream (Alfredo), sour cream (enchilada) and half & half (seafood casserole) without curdling issues. I’d say use whichever you have or can easily find. Out here in the wilderness (20 miles to the nearest grocery) one learns to substitute.

Just wonder if you temper the dairy?

Much closer for me, but high fat yogurt substitutes for sour cream, and both will substitute for cream in a pinch.

corky Nov 13, 2020 6:07 pm


Originally Posted by kale73 (Post 32818289)
I have prepared cooked sauces with heavy whipping cream (Alfredo), sour cream (enchilada) and half & half (seafood casserole) without curdling issues. I’d say use whichever you have or can easily find. Out here in the wilderness (20 miles to the nearest grocery) one learns to substitute.

I will make it even easier for you....technically authentic Alfredo does not have cream....3 ingredients: butter, parm, fettuccine (s & p, of course). :idea:

kale73 Nov 13, 2020 7:07 pm


Originally Posted by YVR Cockroach (Post 32818309)
Just wonder if you temper the dairy?

Not usually.


Much closer for me, but high fat yogurt substitutes for sour cream, and both will substitute for cream in a pinch.
Yes, I’ve subbed yogurt as well.


Originally Posted by corky (Post 32818482)
I will make it even easier for you....technically authentic Alfredo does not have cream....3 ingredients: butter, parm, fettuccine (s & p, of course). :idea:

I forget where I got that recipe. Definitely had butter & parm & whipping cream. It was very rich (and yummy) but one of those dishes you shouldn’t have more than once a year.

EuropeanPete Nov 13, 2020 8:57 pm


Originally Posted by corky (Post 32818482)
I will make it even easier for you....technically authentic Alfredo does not have cream....3 ingredients: butter, parm, fettuccine (s & p, of course). :idea:

American alfredo is a whole different dish. Similar a number of Italian foods in fact :)

YVR Cockroach Nov 13, 2020 9:16 pm


Originally Posted by EuropeanPete (Post 32818634)
American alfredo is a whole different dish. Similar a number of Italian foods in fact :)

I'd venture to speculate this was because there were ingredients that were readily available and affordable in the new country that presence were not readily available and/or affordable in Italy (or name your ethnic cuisine), as well as the reverse. More so in the past than the past few decades at least in the U.S. Tortillas appear to be a substitute for Chinese spring roll wrappers in Central America

teddybear99 Nov 15, 2020 12:00 am


Originally Posted by M60_to_LGA (Post 32816624)
Hi -

First world problem, I know, but I figured someone here might know the answer.

There's an Israeli woman who has a Youtube cooking channel that I watch, and she had a great recipe for baked pasta with spinach in a cheesy tomato cream sauce, which I want to make this week. The recipe calls for שמנת לבישול , which translates as "cooking cream." I have never heard of that term in English, and I'm trying to figure out what product might be equivalent to that in the US.

From doing a Google search on the Hebrew and looking at the pictures, it seems that in Israel this cream has something like 15-18% fat. In the US, all I've ever seen is whipping cream, which appears to have around twice that fat content. I'm thinking that would be too heavy, given the dish will already be pretty cheese-intensive. Is there a better kind of cream to use? Unfortunately, when looking at products on supermarket websites here, none of them seem to give the percentage of fat content.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!


Originally Posted by M60_to_LGA (Post 32817165)
Thanks to all for the replies!

Isn't half and half only used for coffee, though? I've never heard of that being used in cooking - but maybe I'm wrong.

I'll have to try Stop & Shop this weekend. My other local NYC supermarkets are pretty questionable in the dairy department; when I've tried to find simpler things like buttermilk they only have maybe one variety. S&S seems to have something called "light cream," but I don't know if that's lighter than half and half or not - they don't give a fat content. Sigh.

In the worst case, I guess I can just test out a small amount of whipping cream and dilute with milk if it's too heavy... first-world problem, as I said. :)

Since Orthodox Jews usually separate milk products from other foods, the cooking cream may not be milk based. You may want to try a store that caters to Orthodox Jews to find what you are looking for.

M60_to_LGA Nov 15, 2020 9:28 am


Originally Posted by teddybear99 (Post 32820601)
Since Orthodox Jews usually separate milk products from other foods, the cooking cream may not be milk based. You may want to try a store that caters to Orthodox Jews to find what you are looking for.

This has nothing to do with orthodox Jews; it's milk-based.

Redhead Nov 16, 2020 7:13 am


Originally Posted by corky (Post 32818077)
:eek: :eek:

LOL, ahh typos :) Corrected

M60_to_LGA Nov 16, 2020 12:01 pm

Well, I went to the store today and bought a carton of "light cream," which seems promising. I'm going to try to cook this one night this week, depending on how motivated I feel.

Edit: Aaaaaaaannnndddd I forgot to buy the spinach. Argh.

M60_to_LGA Nov 16, 2020 7:54 pm

OK - following up; I acquired the misbegotten spinach and made the dish tonight. It came out wonderfully - really tasty, creamy and cheesy with a great tomato flavor. I discovered that I don't have a baking/casserole dish big enough for it so had to bake it in a stainless steel soup pot - not ideal but not a serious problem; just seems to take a bit longer to cook through. I think this will have a definite spot in my winter rotation. Next time I'll probably increase the oven temperature a bit and leave it in a bit longer to try to make the pasta/cheese on top crispy. I was too impatient and hungry tonight to wait for that!

It was also a nice project to take my mind off the world for a while, which is definitely something I need these days.

corky Nov 16, 2020 8:02 pm


Originally Posted by M60_to_LGA (Post 32824668)
OK - following up; I acquired the misbegotten spinach and made the dish tonight. It came out wonderfully - really tasty, creamy and cheesy with a great tomato flavor. I discovered that I don't have a baking/casserole dish big enough for it so had to bake it in a stainless steel soup pot - not ideal but not a serious problem; just seems to take a bit longer to cook through. I think this will have a definite spot in my winter rotation. Next time I'll probably increase the oven temperature a bit and leave it in a bit longer to try to make the pasta/cheese on top crispy. I was too impatient and hungry tonight to wait for that!

It was also a nice project to take my mind off the world for a while, which is definitely something I need these days.

You should be able to get a Pyrex baking dish pretty cheap. Also, I wouldn't crank up the heat...dishes with cream can separate or curdle. I don't understand why the cheese on top didn't crisp up...was the pan not filled to the top? You could always put it under the broiler for a minute at the end or sprinkle some panko on top.


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