Uh... Cream?
 

Ok.. much randomness.

I'm trying my best to turn over a new leaf, get a life, etc. etc. in this crazy country. First step in the master plan is some vague thing involving less microwave meals and more cooking for myself (which, luck would have it, is being considerably encouraged by the fact that the chilled meal stuff here is shamefully er... crap.... compared to Tesco / Sainsburys / Safeway (er. Morrisons) / M&S back home. Hmmmm M&S).

I have the recipies, I have the willpower. Now all I need is er... cream. So what's the deal with single cream here? At my local Safeways (oh my, it bears the name, but not the quality of the UK equivalent. Erm. Former UK equivalent. Sigh), I see whipping cream. I see creamers (which I assume have a lot to do with coffee), and I see sour cream. But I am now Confused of Edinburgh. I need single cream. Do they just call it something disturbingly different here that I'm not aware of? (I discovered that.... i hope.... stock cubes here are called "buillon". I always though that had something to do with shiny soft stuff. Cough.)

OK, that concludes the first post to britishexpats, though I've been lurking here for the better part of 6 months. Hope it's not too random (suspect it is somewhat. Cream indeed. Egads).

dubh

Re: Uh... Cream?
 

Welcome to the forums. :)

No idea about the cream though, soz... As goes food in general, I think it's pretty easy to adapt over just once you find decent equivalents of what you're used to back home*. I don't touch any sort of ready-meal/microwave stuff, so it took me a fair while to hunt down what makes up most of my cupboard/fridge space these days.

* There are, you luddites, honest. :p If you look around decent stuff is there to be found.

Re: Uh... Cream?
 

My understanding is that Half & Half is the equivalent of single cream.

Re: Uh... Cream?
 

Light whipping cream is single cream.

Heavy whipping cream is double cream.

Usually comes in pint or quart cardboard cartons.

Re: Uh... Cream?
 

That's about right, although the only cream I ever buy is the spray cream 'cos of the calories. I agree with you about M&S, Sainsbury's and Tescos prepared foods, its one of the main things I miss about the UK.

Welcome to BE by the way.

Re: Uh... Cream?
 

I agree on the sad dearth of good, chilled, prepared meals :confused: Wonder why there aren't more a la M&S, Waitrose, etc. Costco do a very limited range, but I get sick of the same few things....

Maybe I should be dusting off my cookery books too...... Roll on 'grill season' when hubby gets to take over in the cooking department ;)

Welcome to BE. I've been mostly lurking for a couple of years, just starting to talk more, too :D

Jan

Re: Uh... Cream?
 

I heard on an NPR cooking show that you can make clotted cream from unpasteurised full fat milk by heating it over a very low heat and skimming the cream that rises to the top. :)

Re: Uh... Cream?
 

Welcome to BE, the fountain of knowledge.

Re: Uh... Cream?
 

hiya... no more to add as i think you now know what to look for in cream...our delicious clotted cream is avail in small jars and usually in with the strawbs/rasp in our wholefoods store..anyway just to say hiya and welcome from houston :)

Re: Uh... Cream?
 

Welcome to expats.
We need a cooking thread :)

Re: Uh... Cream?
 

Welcome to the forum!

clydegirl...We had Syllk's cooking thread once upon a time.

Re: Uh... Cream?
 

We did?
I didn't know that.

Re: Uh... Cream?
 

Syllk went downhill shortly after .. its never mentioned now ...

Re: Uh... Cream?
 

I was just thinking how much cooking could be in it!!

Re: Uh... Cream?
 

Welcome to the forum :)
I can understand your confusion at the US Safeway lol. Nothing is quite the same, but you get used to it.

Half and Half is very thin single cream usually used here for coffee. I buy heavy cream and dilute it with milk to make it thinner for desserts or sauces. The Knorr Bouillon cubes are ok but the cartons of Chicken stock taste a lot better IMO.
Swanson Chicken or Veggie broth work ok, though I bought beef/chicken and veggies Oxo's as soon as I found them too lol...you can take the Brit out of...ah well enjoy and again Welcome!