Heavy cream?
 

I saw a receipe for pasta carbonara and was going to make it. Calls for heavy cream (sometimes other recipes do too).

When I was at the store yesterday, all I saw in the dairy section was some small containers that said whipping cream (not the Redi cannister; these were in little small milk carton containers), & had pics of fruit with some type of well, whipping cream on top. I'm not sure that's what the recipe means.

Going to another store's website, this is what comes up when I type in heavy cream.

https://www.meijer.com/shopping/sear...roup_id=L1-865

Which should I buy to do the carbonara? Note, I live in a small town of 30,000, but I can't be the first person who needs heavy cream for a recipe.

Any input appreciated.

Cheers.

Heavy cream = whipping cream in the little pint cartons. If you put it in a bowl and whisk it vigorously with a little sugar and maybe a touch of spiced rum you'll have a delicious whipped cream.

But traditional/real carbonara has no cream in it, so I'm not sure what the recipe writers were thinking. In real carbonara the sauce is egg, parmesan, and a little of the rendered fat from frying guanciale/pancetta/bacon.

Thanks for the clarification on the cream.

That's what I thought (about the no cream in carbonara, at least from prior recipes I've read and I think what I've eaten at restaurants.

A quick google search shows some recipes w/ cream though.

I may put this off until Saturday when I'm off again & read through some more. I have to get TV & I-Net Service sorted, as my promo deal w/ Spectrum just expired. If anyone has input on that type of stuff, I just posed in the cutting the TV cord in Omni lite thread.

Cheers.

Cream? Strict no-no for carbonara*. Bacon is a no-no either as pancetta isn't smoked. Save the cream for making mascarpone**.

I think the UK. uses the term "double cream" for whipping cream (~33% m.f.) and "single cream" (~18% MF).


* = been eating more than usual since I've started making my own pancetta from side belly pork.
** = which I also make because one supermarket insists on selling 2 x 1l container of whipping/heavy cream (33% milk fat) for about the same as 1 x 1l.

Oh sure, never underestimate people's ability to create culinary abominations. :)

I suspect these correspond to "heavy cream" and "half and half" in the US.

No, there's heavy cream (a.k.a. whipping cream) and light cream, and then there's half-and-half. I have no idea what differentiates heavy from light, but half-and-half is something else.

There is no cream of any kind in carbonara. The starchy pasta cooking water mixed with the other ingredients creates an emulsion that is creamy but for sure I would never add cream I don't want to discourage you but pasta carbonara can be a tricky one to make. You have to get it just right so the eggs don't scramble.
And although pancetta or guancale is traditional, bacon is just fine if that is all that you can find.

I think half & half is 10% MF. There's some product labelled as coffee cream and that's 18% which is the same as single cream, though I have seen a light cream in the 6% MF range, which is not much above homogenized milk. There's even an old-fashioned heavy cream that's 36% milk fat.

Someone with good algebra or chemistry can concoct their own mix.

Couple of handy tips to avoid this. Bring eggs to room temp, and perhaps use yolks only. Pour egg- cheese mixture onto the hot drained pasta in that pan (off heat) that has already been tossed with the pancetta/fat mixture and toss immediately.

Crumbled Italian sausage (meat) also makes a fine substitute.

I'm pretty sure that the restaurants didn't have cream in theirs, so I'll take a pass on that.

My local grocery store has Boar's Head pancetta & they often will slice 1/4 lb or whatever I need in the deli section, vs. getting pancetta that's shrink wrapped. I also have bacon. I forgot that I'm out of the cheese so will get that tomorrow after work.

And corky, re: what you posted, I remember reading a carbonara recipe & thought holey moley, you have to be fast when you're putting this all together & the warning about the eggs so they don't get scrambled (and also reading it's best to have them at room temperature).

I really like carbonara but haven't had it in ages & the one authentic Italian restaurant in town closed (bummer).

I love it too but just be aware that it can be a bit of a high wire act and you need to be fast and careful. I usually temper the eggs a little with a tiny bit of the pasta cooking water so they get warmed up. That Boar's head pancetta will be perfect. Even if it isn't silky smooth, it will still taste good and good for you for trying something new.

This is how I do it, on the one or two occasions I have done. :)

https://alwaysfromscratch.com/spaghe...dos-and-donts/

Sharon...with any recipe be sure to read it all the way through a couple of times before you start to cook. Have all of your ingredients prepped and ready as well as your cookware & utensils.

UK double cream is not the same as UK whipping cream
there are 3 kinds
double cream (blue cartons)
single cream (red cartons)
whipping cream (green cartons)

Heavy Cream and Whipping Cream are technically different.... albeit, not by much: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition...am#fat-content

Basically, Heavy Cream is >36% fat, Whipping Cream is 30-36%.

Back in my days in the restaurant kitchen we'd always use heavy cream for Alfredo pasta reductions, etc. and whipping cream for desserts... hard to imagine many could tell a difference but I'm sure the cranky chef I worked under thought he could and specifically ordered each.