Chowder: Replacing Heavy Cream

[Rollin]

I am a chowder lover and have many good recipes for chowders. A lot of them call for heavy cream. What is the best way to substitute for the heavy cream - adding flour to low fat milk, using whole milk, mashing some of the potatoes, etc.?

[MrsReber]

Depending on the recipe, I alternate methods. I'll use half 1% milk and half regular milk (my husband won't drink the lowfat milk) and then thicken with flour. I have also used half and half, if I have it on hand and the soup or chowder doesn't lend itself to 1% milk. I very very rarely will use heavy cream. I just can't bring myself to dump all those calories in my food. I make a potato corn chowder and I usually just use 1%milk and then add flour to thicken. It probably is a little thinner that it should be, but it seems to work fine. You don't want to have to add too much flour. Also, arrowroot is a good thickener for cream soups and chowders.

[Vanessa]

Hi. I never use heavy cream. I use 1% milk and I thicken by adding potato or toward the end thicken with a bit of cornstarch (always mix with cold water)

[Rollin]

My thanks for the replies. I have tried using flour (or corn starch or arrowroot) to thicken the soups when I used non-fat milk and found the taste/consistancy just off enough to be noticable.

I tried using fat free half and half in a recipe yesterday that called for heavy cream and my wife and I both agreed that it had the best consistancy and flavor.

I checked the fat free half and half vs the non-fat milk and found:

Non-Fat Milk, per cup: 80 calories, 130 mg sodium, 12 g sugar and 12 g carbohydrates.

Fat Free Half and Half, per cup: 160 calories, 240 mg sodium, 24 g carbohydrates, 16 g sugar.

Again, thanks for the replies and suggestions.