Dairy
Cream
Also called heavy cream, pouring cream, double cream
The fat-rich layer of milk, sold at different thicknesses by country. It is a finishing and whipping fat — not everyday milk, and not laminated butter.
Origin
Skimming cream is as old as leaving milk to stand. Each dairy culture named the thicknesses differently, which is why percentage-blind recipes break.
Flavour
Rich, sweet, almost bland on its own — a carrier that makes chilli, tomato and vanilla feel rounder. Sour cream and crème fraîche are cultured cousins, not silent swaps.
How to use it
Add cream at the end of butter chicken, vodka pasta or a chowder and keep the heat to a gentle simmer; a hard boil can split a tomato-cream sauce if the acid is high. For whipping, start cold and stop at peaks — further and you are making butter. Do not put cream in Roman carbonara; that emulsion is egg, cheese and pasta water. Milk will not whip and will not give the same gloss.
Storage
Fridge, lid on, and use within a few days of opening. Frozen-thawed cream is only for soups.
Recipes using it
Checking your allergy settings…
