The Shocking Reality About Widespread Half-and-Half Substitutes, In accordance with Our Culinary Director (It is Not Half Milk and Half Heavy Cream)

My relations are dairy fiends. At any time limit, our fridge can be stocked with milk, heavy cream, labne, and at the very least 5 completely different sorts of cheese (however often extra). The one dairy product we by no means appear to have once 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 usually, and so we don’t often hold half-and-half available.

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

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

Half-and-half is a combination of cream and complete milk and is required by the food and Drug Administration to comprise between 10.5 to 18% milk fats. Because of this, 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 right down to fats percentages, not particular ratios of milk to cream, although as you may most likely guess, equal components milk and cream can get you within the ballpark.

“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 mixture works nice for lighter custards comparable to flan or the egg custard combination you’d use for bread pudding. Half-and-half can be nice for the feel of quiche, French toast, and budino,” a wealthy Italian pudding. Chavez notes that heavy cream is most popular once you’re trying to obtain a good 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 a lot of methods to reach on the objective. Listed below are some pointers for substituting half-and-half by mixing milk at completely different fats percentages (from complete to skim) and heavy cream. Be aware: Should you’re utilizing a lower-fat cream like mild cream, you will have 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).

• Entire 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 combination that has a better fats content material than any half-and-half bought in markets.

  That is as a result of complete milk is 3.25% fats and heavy cream is at the very least 36% fats. Should you make an equal-parts combination of these two, you’ll get a product that’s at the very least 19.625% fats, which is 1.625% larger 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? Most likely not, however should you’re a fastidious one that needs to really 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 can land you correctly within the FDA’s half-and-half fats zone (3/4 half cream additionally works too for a richer end result that is nonetheless inside FDA pointers).

• 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 end result 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 end result can be on the low finish of that vary.

  By simply barely adjusting the ratio with extra cream, you may 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 components cream for each 1 half low-fat or skim milk works effectively. 

Widespread Half-and-Half Substitutes That Do not Work

The next are widespread ideas for half-and-half substitutes, however they’re not really helpful by Chavez or Severe Eats’ culinary staff. 

• Entire 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. Should you 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 will’t depend on butter to reintroduce fats into milk and type a correct half-and-half combination.

• Buttermilk: Whereas buttermilk might need an analogous viscosity to half-and-half, it’s truly 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, in truth, that offers buttermilk its viscosity, just 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 could make batters and different mixtures behave very in a different way. On prime of that, whereas they could share comparable viscosities, the explanations for which can be completely different, with buttermilk getting it from coagulated proteins on account of adjustments in acidity and half-and-half getting it from fats. Because of this, 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 prepare dinner it in a pot earlier than utilizing it in a recipe,” Chavez says. “The starch will thicken when cooking however gives you extra of a starchy, pudding-like texture reasonably than the graceful silky texture half-and-half would provide you with.” Daniel echoes Chavez’s hesitation about this substitute. “A starch-thickened milk could behave in a different way in recipes than one thing like half-and-half,” he says. “You might be able to create an analogous viscosity utilizing a starch, however the fats content material is completely different and that may make a distinction within the remaining cooking outcomes. It isn’t a protected substitute.”

Can You Freeze Half-and-Half?

When you could also be tempted to freeze half-and-half to ensure you at all times have it available, Chavez doesn’t suggest it. “Substances with a excessive water content material will freeze effectively, however it’s the defrosting course of the place issues go flawed,” he says. When you defrost any dairy product, the fats can separate and the product usually takes on a grainy texture. In some circumstances, this may occasionally not have a noticeable influence in your remaining recipe, however in others, it’ll. 

The Takeaway

If the following time you’re caught in the course of a recipe and searching for a half-and-half substitute, there are just a few choices that can work. You need to use 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!).