Coconut milk and Cabanossi sausages

[Heleen Meyer]

I need some information on two ingredients that I need for the Glossary of a
new cookbook and can't find sufficient information in the books I have
available.

Could you maybe help me?

I need to know something about Cabanossi sausages, whether they are
originally from Italy or somewhere else and also what they are mostly used
for. Other than rice dishes, paella, etc.

The second question is about Coconut milk and coconut cream.
Is coconut cream only a concentrated version of coconut milk or is it
prepared in a totally different manner. I know that it is sweeter and
thicker, but I need to give some descriptive information about it.

I would be greatful if you could help me with this.

Regards
Heleen Meyer
Cape Town

[Nicko]

This topic was originally posted in the Late Night Cafe. It has been moved here as it is a more appropriate forum for the given subject matter.

[This message has been edited by Nicko (edited September 06, 2000).]

[Live_to_cook]

I'm not a professional, but I'm a Thai food enthusiast and I've opened many a can of coconut milk.

Many cookbooks seem to use coconut cream as a synonym to coconut milk. But the canned Thai product often comes with a layer of stuff the consistency of butter that appears to be coconut fats, which is likely your coconut cream.

Was curious myself so looked it up. Yup, the cream is the stuff on top of the canned version, or if using fresh is made with a bunch more grated coconut, and only the fluid that oozes out in the first pressing, so it's more concentrated. Same process though.

[This message has been edited by Live_to_cook (edited September 06, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Live_to_cook (edited September 06, 2000).]

[nutcakes]

Just to reiterate and second the previous opinion; not a pro but am cooking a lot of Thai lately. My understanding is that both coconut milk and coconut cream are produced by the same method; that of pouring boiling water over fresh shredded coconut and squeezing, when cool, to extract the milk/cream. The cream is more full of the coconut fat than the milk.

1) The way I have been told, is that the fist squeezing is the coconut cream, with more of the fat, and the second pouring of water and squeezing is the milk. Solids are strained in both cases.

2) The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson, 1999, however, says that cream is made by a 1-to-1 volume of water to coconut meat, and milk is made by a 2-to-1; same idea anyway, or close.

When you open a can of coconut milk, do not shake it (unless called for). You will see about 1/3 to 1/4 of the can is more solid (the cream), with the remainder more liquid). I notice that more authentic Thai-style recipes call for frying the cream with the spices in oil, then the milk is added later.

Thre is a commercial product called coconut cream that is sweetened and meant to be used for tropical drinks--do not substitute.

[This message has been edited by nutcakes (edited September 08, 2000).]

[UniChef]

I have a sausage glossary at http://www.unichef.com/sausageglossary.htm but I have never heard of Cabanossi. Could it be called something else? Please let me know when you find out. I would be interested to know what they are.

------------------
Mike Bersell, CEC
unichef@unichef.com

[Nick.Shu]

ahh yes, we have cabanossi here. I think in the US it goes by a different name but quite often used on pizza. - i do believe it is pepperoni.

[youla]

cabanossi is a little different to pepperoni. it is moister and a little bit fatter perhaps halfway between a kransky and a pepperoni, perhaps it is in the chili they use to flavour the sausage..cos the taste is different to a pepperoni..and yes it is italian.

coconut milk is actually the product you end up with after mixing the ground up flesh with water and squeezing the liquid ..i have a tongan friend who does this with hessian fibres and you have to be really strong!! or you can do it in a blender by mixing 1 cup of flesh with one or two cups of water and straining through muslin. coconut cream is the liquid you obtain just from the flesh itself...[which is very hard....buy a can!!]

[This message has been edited by youla (edited 11-07-2000).]

[mudbug]

There is a bit of a definition for cabanossi here:
http://www.culinary.com/gloss/glos-c.html

Also referred to here: http://pages.friendlycity.net/~sdove/recsubs.html

What is the difference between milk and cream?

Coconut milk or cream are not the watery juice contained in the nut. To obtain the milk or cream, the nut is peeled, its flesh cut into pieces before being crushed: the extract subsequently squeezed out is boiled to get rid of moister, then homogenized, filtered, canned and sterilized. For cream, the boiling process is increased, hence a more concentrated product.


Which one should I use?

Both cream and milk deliver the same smooth creamy taste. However, cream should be used when a thicker consistency is required or to add a creamy touch to a dish. You can make coconut milk from a can of coconut cream by adding one third of the same can size of water.