What is "cooking cream"?
 

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!

https://www.anchorfoodprofessionals....ing-cream.html

https://www.quora.com/What-is-cooking-cream

Realise specific to the US but in Norway you have something called “food cream” - meant to be used in cooking, think 14-15% fat and cannot be whipped. Gives the creaminess with less of a fat feeling. In the UK the equivalent is single cream (vs double cream or whipping cream for whipping). Despite other poster saying the opposite, I would agree with the OP that he’s looking for a lower fat content one.

Mr Google suggests half and half has 10-18%. It’s a rather wide range, but maybe that could work?

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. :)

I think that product is exactly what I'm looking for, but I don't think it exists here. I have a friend who's Dutch and cooks a lot, so I'll ask him this weekend what he might recommend. He also would know if there's some niche European grocery store that might have it in stock.

For me, I use single cream for cooking and double cream for eating. I've never found anything in the USA which comes close for either purpose, usually settling on Heavy Whipping Cream, but I don't really like it very much. I tend to go with a non-dairy diet in the USA as I don't like the cream and don't like the cheese. At least that makes it slightly healthier as I contend with the sugar content!

I think sometimes half &half has a sweetner added so check the label.
how much cooking cream is called for--do you think having the wrong thing won't make much difference in the end result. It depends on the purpose of the ingredient...often there are interchangeable options .
and yes...half & half is used for things beyond coffee.

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.

I don't think it will make any difference . Unless you would normally have both on hand, i would pick one and just use that....either whipping cream, whole milk or half&half. None of those options should make anything cakey.
I suggest you pick one and make it....if you think heavy cream makes it too rich....next time use milk. Or if you use milk and want it thicker adjust next time . The cheese will add plenty of fat and thickness so I personally would use milk.

Thanks. I have actually none of those things on hand; all I drink at home is skim milk. So I'll have to pick something up from the store this week regardless.

I would not go to the trouble of using half milk and half cream. Just get half and half which is half milk and half cream hence the title. I agree with others that since it's only 1/2 a cup, it won't matter if the fat% is a bit higher or lower.

Half and half does not have sweeter added - a coffee adder like Mocha Mix or the CoffeeMate additions would.

I'm very flexible with what I add and I've found few detrimental aspects. I like to make vodka penne and I've made it with everything from 1% milk (which I drink at home) but that was a little thin... what worked especially well was Lite Sour Cream (which we use for all things sour cream) - the added tang was a benefit and the thickness of the sour cream actually made it very creamy without a lot of added calories and fat.

When you are baking, strictly sticking to a recipe WRT ingredients or amounts is important. With other cooking, it is not as critical. The purpose is too add a little silkiness and creaminess so yes, just pick up a small carton of cream, milk, or half/half.
BTW--as far as buttermilk, I rarely see more than one or two brands even in the big groceries so I don't think your store is unusual. I never can use a whole carton so I freeze leftover buttermilk in baggies.
Post a pic...the dish sounds really good!!

If the recipe originates from a warmer country w/o much of a dairy industry, the stuff may be canned shelf-stable cream such as this stuff. Cooking cream is sold, in non-shelf stable packaging where I am in 15 & 35% format but I've never seen the stuff (must be for specific ethnic demographics). Seems alcohol and acids are added to prevent curdling (or one could just temper to avoid this happening which is what everyone did in the past). Closest we get is a product called Coffee Cream (18%) which is higher than 10% 1/2 & 1/2 (marketed as Creamo here) and of course lower than whipping/heavy cream.

I've used half and half in cooking a lot, never in coffee (I like warmed skim for that) . Half and Half is what your looking for