Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Double Thick Cream

I bought "Double Thick Cream" (I would have called it "double-thick cream") at the store, thinking it was like heavy cream. I guess I was wrong?

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I have never seen cream this ... well, heavy. Have you? I know my culinarily-inclined friends might be able to explain what this stuff is, so tell me! It definitely tasted like cream and was not cream cheese or frosting or anything. Weird.

I had to spread it with a knife into a measuring cup to get the 3/4 cup I needed to make creamed spinach! My first attempt at making one of my favorite side dishes. We bought fresh green and red spinach at a farmer's market on Monday and I saw it in the fridge tonight after work and I got inspired. The cream was on hand for making quiche (I have been on a quiche kick) but good thing I didn't use it for quiche, I have no idea how I would have used it when I would have needed cream in liquid form.

At any rate, everything seemed perfect as I started making the creamed spinach. 

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But as happens more often than not when I'm cooking, disaster struck and the dish turned out disgusting. :(


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It seemed like it needed a little more wilting, so I let it simmer, covered, for several minutes beyond the 5 min. or so the recipe called for. And when I lifted the lid, instead of a creamy light green sauce with perfectly wilted leaves, pure brownish-oil soaked greens greeted me. Alas.

OK, so I'm clearly no cook, but I had an idea!!!!

While overseas, the thing I miss most are milkshakes. In Buenos Aires and here in Gaborone, too, what they call "milkshakes" are like chocolate milk.  And the ice cream is either too soft (BsAs) or too icy (Gabs) to make a proper "double-thick" shake.

SO, do you think that I could make my own milkshake using that "Double Thick Cream"? Maybe add it to milk? How many calories would that be?!?

3 comments:

abby said...

It looks a bit like clotted cream http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotted_cream. Although when it was cooked, it looks a lot like butter.

modestmuse said...

I wonder if that's what it was?! After reading the Wiki, it seems likely -- it says it is almost considered a butter because of the high fat content. Which would explain why it looked like butter after 10+ min. of simmering ... hmmm?! It's amazing how I still have to figure out what I'm buying, even though (or probably BECAUSE) everything is in "English" (British English).

M. said...

totally clotted cream! It's really good on scones with jam. YUM!