|
| I'd like to follow a recipe from Cooks Illustrated for "Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes." It calls for "heavy cream." Would that be half and half in the store? Not sure what to buy. Thanks. |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
| No, half-and-half is the opposite, it's light. Heavy cream is whipping cream. |
|
| You'll cream near the milk, probably. It comes in 1/2 pint, pint and quart sized containers. You can use either heavy or whipping cream--whichever your store carries. Heavy cream will have between 35-40+% butterfat. Light cream has less butterfat, And half and half will be even less As far as making mashed potatoes go, you can use milk or one of the creams, but for making ahead, the higher fat content may be important for them holding well. Personally, I'd use milk to avoid adding so many extra calories, but with this being a first-time recipe for the holidays, it's probably best to follow it to the letter to make sure it works as you wish. |
|
- Posted by socks12345 (My Page) on Fri, Dec 21, 12 at 12:24
| Yes, Azzalea, I would normally use whole milk, but I think I need to follow the recipe. I thought whipping cream would have sugar but I guess not. I'm off to the store, so thanks Azzalea and Sushipup.
|
|
| Half and half is, as the name suggests, half cream and half milk. Whipping cream is called that because it has enough butterfat content to make it suitable for whipping. If you want it sweet, you have to add the sugar. |
|
| Often the verbage can be confusing. Whipped cream, is cream whipped and normally will have sugar added to it while whipping the whipping cream. Then to throw another monkey wrench in, the Brits have "double cream" which some say is the same as whipping cream and some say is higher fat yet! |
|
- Posted by purpleinopp (My Page) on Sat, Dec 22, 12 at 16:58
| I respect a good recipe but would never consider mashed potatoes worthy of adding that many extra calories which could be saved for dessert while the potatoes taste perfectly delicious with just milk. If you would like to get opinions about altering the recipe to a more sane calorie level, I'm sure folks here would help you fix something equally delicious and not unnecessarily calorie filled or expensive. |
|
- Posted by cooksnsews (My Page) on Sat, Dec 22, 12 at 21:18
| If I recall, English double cream is 48% BF, while whipping cream where I live is 35-36%. The Brits also have a triple cream which is well over 50%. Then there is Devon cream - the stuff in which you can bend a spoon. |
|
| Ooooooh! I could be remembering wrong, but I think I've seen cartons of cream labeled heavy whipping cream. I guess I always assumed (and we all know what that means) that whipping cream and heavy cream were synonymous. I'll frequently tell myself to follow the recipe exactly the first time I make it, but so many times I disobey myself, and tweak it. I can't help it. I want to be good, but it's so hard. lol Sally |
|
- Posted by rosesinny (nefw2@yahoo.com) on Sun, Dec 23, 12 at 16:47
| Socks - you don't have to worry about following the recipe to the letter. If you can't find cream, you can use butter. NOT margarine! If you don't have butter, you can take your heavy cream and whip it until it's whipped cream and then keep on whipping it and low and behold, some liquid will separate and you'll have little globs of fat. That's butter. The liquid is buttermilk. People today think buttermilk is a cultured product similar to yogurt, but it's really the liquid left when you take the butter out of the cream. In recipes like mashed potatoes, heavy cream and butter are pretty much interchangeable - it really doesn't matter if you put in a little more or less and you can't really predict the outcome unless you know how dry the potatoes are, so add a little warm milk and use butter and it will be very much the same as if you'd used heavy cream. And they will keep very nicely either way. I've done it many times, both ways. |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Cooking Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.