The Shocking Fact About Widespread Half-and-Half Substitutes, Based on Our Culinary Director (It is Not Half Milk and Half Heavy Cream)

My relations are dairy fiends. At any cut-off date, our fridge can be stocked with milk, heavy cream, labne, and not less than 5 totally different sorts of cheese (however often extra). The one dairy product we by no means appear to have after we want it’s half-and-half. We like to make use of it in recipes like quiche and mashed potatoes, the place we would like an ingredient that’s richer than milk however lighter than cream, however these recipes aren’t ones we make typically, and so we don’t often preserve half-and-half readily available.

For these occasions when a recipe requires half-and-half and also you don’t have it, I needed to know which substitutions work finest. I spoke with Stephen Chavez, senior chef-instructor on the Institute of Culinary Schooling’s Los Angeles campus, in addition to our Editorial Director Daniel Gritzer, to be taught extra about how one can substitute the dairy product.

What’s Half-and-Half, and When Is It Used?

Half-and-half is a mix of cream and complete milk and is required by the Meals and Drug Administration to include between 10.5 to 18% milk fats. In consequence, it’s thicker than milk however thinner than heavy cream. Whereas the title half-and-half implies an equal-parts combination of milk and cream, that is not essentially the case: The authorized necessities for half-and-half come all the way down to fats percentages, not particular ratios of milk to cream, although as you possibly can in all probability guess, equal elements milk and cream can get you within the ballpark.

Eggs
Quiche Lorraine

cook dinner time:


4 hrs 45 minutes

serves:


6
to eight

“Half-and-half can be utilized in recipes the place further fats is required past the fats content material that’s present in common milk,” says Chavez, “however not the high-fat content material of heavy cream. The mix works nice for lighter custards comparable to flan or the egg custard combination you’ll use for bread pudding. Half-and-half can also be nice for the feel of quiche, French toast, and budino,” a wealthy Italian pudding. Chavez notes that heavy cream is most popular if you’re trying to obtain a fair richer texture in desserts like crème brûlée.

The Greatest Substitutes for Half-and-Half

Since half-and-half is legally outlined by its fats share and never by volumes of milk and cream, there are lots of methods to reach on the aim. Listed below are some tips for substituting half-and-half by mixing milk at totally different fats percentages (from complete to skim) and heavy cream. Word: If you happen to’re utilizing a lower-fat cream like gentle cream, you have to to extend the quantity of cream relative to the milk (nearer to the essential 1:1 ratio by quantity that half-and-half’s title suggests).

• Complete milk and heavy cream: From a sensible standpoint, an equal-parts combination of complete milk and heavy cream instead of the precise quantity of half-and-half a recipe requires will usually work, however technically you may find yourself making a mix that has the next fats content material than any half-and-half offered in markets.

  That is as a result of complete milk is 3.25% fats and heavy cream is not less than 36% fats. If you happen to make an equal-parts combination of these two, you’re going to get a product that’s not less than 19.625% fats, which is 1.625% greater than the utmost quantity of fats in half-and-half as outlined by the FDA.

  Will that 1.625% distinction actually matter in a recipe? In all probability not, however if you happen to’re a fastidious one that desires to truly reproduce half-and-half faithfully at residence, you are higher off utilizing a roughly 2:1 ratio of complete milk to cream, which means for each 1 half milk you’ll add 1/2 half cream. This may land you correctly within the FDA’s half-and-half fats zone (3/4 half cream additionally works too for a richer outcome that is nonetheless inside FDA tips).

• Low-fat or skim milk and heavy cream: Mixing low-fat or skim milk with heavy cream works simply in addition to complete milk, and technically you need to use the very same ratio as complete milk for any of those lower-fat choices and nonetheless get a outcome that is inside the FDA’s required half-and-half fats vary of 10.5-18%. However, as a result of these milks have barely much less fats than complete milk, the outcome can be on the low finish of that vary.

  By simply barely adjusting the ratio with extra cream, you possibly can nudge your combination into the center of the FDA’s fats vary, which is arguably a pleasant factor to do given fats is scrumptious; a ratio of three/4 elements cream for each 1 half low-fat or skim milk works nicely. 

Widespread Half-and-Half Substitutes That Do not Work

The next are frequent strategies for half-and-half substitutes, however they’re not advisable by Chavez or Critical Eats’ culinary staff. 

• Complete milk and melted butter: “Butter is made by separating the fats from cream,” says Daniel. “Milk and cream are emulsions with the fats suspended in water with proteins and sugars within the combine. While you make butter, the fats coalesces by churning the cream, breaking the emulsion. If you happen to then soften the butter and attempt to combine it with milk, you will not get half-and-half, you may simply get milk with liquid butterfat floating on the floor, and that won’t usually carry out the identical as one thing like half-and-half, the place the fats continues to be in an emulsified state.” 

  Due to this, we are able to’t depend on butter to reintroduce fats into milk and kind a correct half-and-half combination.

• Buttermilk: Whereas buttermilk may need the same viscosity to half-and-half, it’s really a lot leaner, containing round 1% fats in comparison with the ten.5 to 18% in half-and-half. It is also a cultured dairy product with an acidic tang—it is the culturing, the truth is, that offers buttermilk its viscosity, much like how milk thickens into yogurt.

  “The acidity of buttermilk makes it a poor substitute for half-and-half for taste causes alone,” says Daniel. “The low pH of buttermilk, which is round 4.4 to 4.8, means it might make batters and different mixtures behave very otherwise. On high of that, whereas they might share comparable viscosities, the explanations for which might be totally different, with buttermilk getting it from coagulated proteins attributable to modifications in acidity and half-and-half getting it from fats. In consequence, they will not work the identical manner in all conditions.”

• Milk and cornstarch: “This mix should be boiled to ensure that it to thicken, which implies that you would need to cook dinner it in a pot earlier than utilizing it in a recipe,” Chavez says. “The starch will thicken when cooking however offers you extra of a starchy, pudding-like texture moderately than the sleek silky texture half-and-half would offer you.” Daniel echoes Chavez’s hesitation about this substitute. “A starch-thickened milk might behave otherwise in recipes than one thing like half-and-half,” he says. “You might be able to create the same viscosity utilizing a starch, however the fats content material is totally different and that may make a distinction within the last cooking outcomes. It is not a protected substitute.”

Can You Freeze Half-and-Half?

When you could also be tempted to freeze half-and-half to ensure you all the time have it readily available, Chavez doesn’t advocate it. “Substances with a excessive water content material will freeze nicely, however it’s the defrosting course of the place issues go mistaken,” he says. When you defrost any dairy product, the fats can separate and the product typically takes on a grainy texture. In some instances, this will not have a noticeable influence in your last recipe, however in others, it’s going to. 

The Takeaway

If the following time you’re caught in the midst of a recipe and in search of a half-and-half substitute, there are a couple of choices that may work. You should utilize a mixture of complete, low-fat, or skim milk and heavy cream in roughly 2:1 proportions of milk to cream by quantity (not half and half, because the label implies!).