I use evaporated milk for cream sauces for the family, not entertaining, and we like them. I would use it.

Heavy cream provides a thickening as well as flavor. Would it really kill you to use some cream? One cup for 1-1/2 pounds meat? Per person, that's not excessive, and a lot of sauce stays on the plate.

If you have to use a substitute, try a bechamel sauce. Then at least your dish won't be watery.

I think you can do it. If it looks like it's going to be too much liquid, you could either use less than a cup or thicken it.

I usually add cornstarch when I use evaporated milk.
You could add that at the end to thicken.

There's nothing wrong with lightening dishes - some people have health and weight issues and don't need all that fat and calories.
I think people get criticized for making substitutions but that's what it takes almost all the time to stay thin and some people don't like the taste of heavy, rich food.
I know I feel so much better when I eat low fat.

I don't particularly care for the flavour of evaporated milk. Cream will add a richness to the sauce that you won't get with the EM. But if that doesn't matter to you than you are probably okay with the substitution.

I sometimes lighten up a sauce using half chicken broth and half cream.

Ann

I didn't mean to criticize the desire for a lighter dish. But one should always be aware that a lot of substitutions will make a difference in not only taste, but texture and mouth-feel. So the recipe produced will be different that what the creator of it intended. Nothing wrong with that, certainly, but I do see people making lots of substitutions and then wondering why their finished dish isn't that good, or not what they wanted.

So go into substitutions with that understanding, and anything can be good. It just often isn't the dish that the recipe intended.

I think you will be fine using the substitute. You have a enough bold flavors in the recipe, I don't think the flavor of full cream will be missed IMHO. I would start with adding 1/2 cup and then see if it needs more. That way it won't be too thin.

Lori

I understand that it never tastes as good! I will eat some gross diet foods just to satisfy a craving for certain things: like rice cakes and no fat cream cheese, for instance. Few calories for something reasonably filling.
I eat edamame all the time but I'd rather munch on pistachios.
But I only do the real stuff for anybody other than immediate family.

Since my husband had unexpected heart issues last fall and emergency surgery that saved his life (no prior indication of heart trouble) eating cream and other saturated fat foods may kill him, so we have had to severely alter our cooking and eating habits. We love cream and butter. Substituting evaporated skim milk for cream or even half and half, has not resulted in flavor, texture, or consistency that makes for a delicious outcome. I choose a different recipe, rather than substituting the cream and serving an inferior dish. Cooking with Cream is the one ingredient I miss the most, and full fat delicious cheese :)

I think eating gross substitutes is why so many find it difficult to stay on a diet.

Better to eat less of something than to substitute something that you don't care for.

Ann

I never lost any weight trying to cut out fats from my diet, in fact only gained weight when trying to worry about fat content. The only fat I will not eat is fake fats(hydrogenated oils). Everything in moderation is the key to a healthy lifestyle. I really don't think that substituting evaperated milk and thickening it with flour or corn starch will make this dish healthier. Flour and corn starch are not healthy foods.

Okay I'm not convinced I shouldn't try the evaporated skim but another option would be 1/2 and 1/2 vs. heavy cream. Maybe that would be better? It has 315 calories in a cup vs. 821 in cream.

I do know for a fact that if I routinely eat 2.5 x as many calories in foods (cream vs. half and half) that I will gain weight which I don't care to do. And since DH & I both have many risk factors for heart disease I'm cool with adhering to generally accepted heart healthy dietary choices. You think it's just one meal and one cup of cream but as I've gotten older I've made a lifestyle change from high fat, high calorie food to lighter foods and I just don't care for fatty, rich foods any more.

Not to say others shouldn't enjoy them as much as they like but there's no way I'll make a dish that calls for 1 cup of heavy cream. I experiment with recipes all the time so I'm used to things not ending up as the original creator of the recipe might have expected.

Along these lines DH made some Snoqualmie oatmeal/granola cookies. He couldn't bring himself to put all the butter in there after reading the label so took it upon himself to use some low calorie (i.e. watered down) Promise tub margarine. I told him no way those cookies were going to be any good. They were fantastic - IMHO and his.

I agree gibby. I watch calories and if I don't I gain weight.
I also think you can train your taste buds, I eat fairly low fat and high fat foods don't taste 2, 3 times more calories better to me. I am just as happy with low fat yogurt as I am with ice cream.

The wine in the prior step may curdle skim milk. (I'm not sure about evaporated skim milk which I've never used.) If so, either try types of milk with progressively more fat (more fat = less curdle prone) or add some flour to the skim milk (helps milk resist curdling) or leave out the wine.

I bought a tenderloin yesterday. My approach will be to alter the recipe to completely remove the cream:

Marinate the pork in the white wine (1 to 1-1/2 cup instead of 1/2 cup and probably half wine, half apple juice), rosemary, dijon mixture.

While that is marinating, saute the apples with butter in a cast iron pan. After they've softened, remove from the pan and place them on a serving dish covered in foil. In the same pan, cook the onions, using olive oil as necessary. Once they're soft and slightly golden, remove the tenderloin from the marinade, turn up the heat and sear the meat. Then, add the remaining marinade and onions back into the pan and cook the meat in the preheated oven for 20-ish minutes. After removing the tenderloin and placing it under the foil with the apples, in the same pan, over med-high heat, reduce the marinade, finish with a tablespoon of butter or so to make a nice glaze and serve it drizzled over the plated sliced tenderloin and apples.

I make tenderloin in this fashion often, sometimes with unsweetened cranberry juice and balsamic vinegar, sometimes with other flavorings instead of dijon and rosemary.

You get a glaze instead of a heavy sauce. The meat is so tender from the marinade, and the flavors of the dijon and rosemary permeate the meat instead of staying in the sauce.

If I have it on hand, I sometimes add a couple of large dollops of creme fraiche at the very end after the heat is off and the wine is reduced. This gives the glaze a creamy texture, but the quantity used on the meat is much less than your recipe above.

Just a thought...

In general, I'll take a recipe in a slightly different direction rather than just trying to substitute ingredients.

Gibby, I would definitely be interested to know the outcome if you exchange evaporated skim milk for the cream. I've tried exchanging several items for cream in several recipes and it didn't work for me. Nevertheless, because of my health I need to cut back on cream too when I can find a way to do it that the recipe doesn't suffer dramatically.

Johnliu, thank you for the hint about adding some flour to skim milk in a recipe to help with the curdling. I've noticed that curdling has been a problem with many of my recipes when I've tried to cut back the cream and I had not though of that idea.

Beverly

I'm with you in finding ways to dine wonderfully well while keeping calories and sodium in check. I find that I am rethinking my relationship to food in general. I love good aged cheeses and can easily eat far too much. After Alice left I slacked on cooking at all and just worked and nibbled here and there as I felt the urge. Usually it was a bite of cheese and chunk of whole grain bread, some fruit, and in the evening a glass of wine or two. Yummy for me, but my body rebelled! I haven't purchased cheese since. Oddly I don't miss it as much as I thought I might.

I think there's no real proof that dietary fat makes you fat, and I don't think I'd skip the cream--the calories per serving can't be that much.

I've linked to a study in the scholarly journal Nutrition, and here's an excerpt from the abstract:

"The DGAC Report does not provide sufficient evidence to conclude that increases in whole grain and fiber and decreases in dietary saturated fat, salt, and animal protein will lead to positive health outcomes. Lack of supporting evidence limits the value of the proposed recommendations as guidance for consumers or as the basis for public health policy. It is time to reexamine how US dietary guidelines are created and ask whether the current process is still appropriate for our needs."

Here is a link that might be useful: In the face of contradictory evidence: Report of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee

If a recipe calls for heavy cream, I either just don't make it or I would substitute evaporated milk. Though I love cream, it's just not something I keep on hand. And I happen to love the taste of evaporated milk. Not so much the evaporated skim milk, though.

So, I would definitely give the recipe a go w/ evap milk. So it won't be like the original? As long as it tastes good, what do you care? Maybe it would be even better with the cream but then there's almost always something that would tweak a recipe to gastronomical nirvana.

We should start a series of threads, or maybe one long one, about how to lighten up whatever recipe is posted. Yes, it's a change of the recipe, but many heads are better than one to come up with a variation that may shave off some fat calories. But sometimes it takes more than simple substitution. Yes, a new recipe, based on an old one. And we can try to avoid fake foods (fat-free half and half? I know I saw it on the shelf at the store. EEK!).

sushipup, I like that idea. I've "healthied up" several recipes, and some I liked better and some were abysmal failures.

As for cream, I never keep it on hand. If I'm making something special I'll buy it, if not I just use whatever I have whether it's milk or evaporated milk or whatever.

I don't much miss cream, and I don't particulary care about cheese. It's good, but not something that I love, so maybe that's why I don't care whether or not some substitutes something for the cream. I do love butter, though, and will not substitute margarine, I'll do without first, so we all have our "taste" issues I think.

I'd sub the evaporated milk and see how it goes. If it's not good, then you won't do it again and you'll never know if you don't try it.

Annie

I read that article, and while it seems to correctly point out some inconsistencies in previous literature, and makes a reasonable case for low-carb diets over low fat ones, it didn't say anything shocking. As Gibby already mentioned, the substitution cuts the calories by more than half. Few people debate the importance of paying attention to calories, whichever macronutrient percentages they favor. I don't consider myself fat-fearful, but I rarely dump a cup of cream into a sauce. I certainly agree with the folks who say that it's bad to feel deprived and it's good to eat the things you like, but it's about maximizing pleasure-to-calorie ratio. When I've subbed evaporated milk, I've found it creamy and nice tasting. I would feel sick to my stomach if I ate that much cream.

Sushipup, I go to a weekly morning bible study for women and at least half of the hundred or so women are in their twenties, thin and toned (it's a college town, btw).

The older ladies set out snacks, coffee and juice. And the only creamer for the coffee is fat free half and half.
I hate it!
That is one area I will not budge on- I want real, plain, half and half in my coffee.
But I'm not as skinny as they are either. :(

It occurs to me that a common ''healthy cooking'' trick is to replace heavy cream with yoghurt. I don't like yoghurt personally, and I think I've done this just once (and it was against my will), but just saying.

I want to be skinny with abs of steel. But I also want butter and cream. As Mick and the boys say, you can't always get what you want, but [blah blah] you get what you need. I think I need butter and cream.

I feel the same way about coffee cream. Espresso with skim milk is appalling, and I want nothing to do with it. A drizzle of cream is perfect. And fat free half and half probably makes you just as fat. Not sure if they're all the same, but I read the back of one, and it had high fructose corn syrup AND hydrogenated soybean oil. Not healthy things.