Cream

The fat skimmed from milk, unsweetened: the café's cream soups (cream of mushroom, cream of chicken), the white sauce under baked rice and a spoon in scrambled eggs all owe their silkiness to it. The Australian supermarket chiller calls it thickened cream (pouring cream with a little gelling agent, 35 per cent fat), which is what recipes mean by cream; pure cream has nothing added, double cream is very thick, light cream is thin. It is not evaporated milk (花奶, the tinned reduced milk), though the café's soups use both.

Cautions: read first

• Contains milk, a mandatory-declaration allergen in Australia; refrigerate once opened and use within a few days.

Preparation

Stir in at the end and do not let it boil hard.

Availability in Australia

Easy to find

Pairs well with