Hello!

Welcome to our mid-life crisis! These are the chronicles of Laura and Patrick, their young son Jack, and their goofball Labrador Retriever named Evinrude (Rudy), as they travelled the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific coast of mainland Mexico in their catamaran. We went cruising in search of a change of pace, a closer knit family, and peace of mind. We found all three and more. The fun all started in October, 2008 and nearly four years later the Mexican adventure came to an end August 3rd, 2012. With our mid-life crisis cured in Mexico, we are excited to start a new adventure - life back in America.

Candeleros Chico

Candeleros Chico
Just another beautiful day at anchor on the Baja. 2010

Dolphins at play in the bow wake 2011

Dolphins at play in the bow wake  2011

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Mexico's Greatest Invention


Media Crema. And no, I am not being facetious. I LOVE the stuff. We buy it by the case!

Media Crema, for those of you who are Spanish challenged like I am, means "half cream" or what we would call "half and half." Now I am one of those people who believe that butter should be butter and that adding 2% milk to coffee instead of cream is disrespectful to your taste buds. (As you can imagine, I have been known to have high cholesterol but my high number of good HDL's cancel out the lower number of bad LDL's - or was it the other way around? Anyway, that's what the doctor said so I am not changing my game plan!)

In Mexico, they have taken 1/2 and 1/2 and elevated it to a whole new level of useful goodness. Mexico's milk products are ultra-pastuerized so they do not need to be refrigerated. All the milk products are found in plasticized cartons on the regular grocery shelves. You only need to refrigerate them after they are opened. So they are very useful on a boat. The Media Crema comes out a much thicker consistency than our 1/2 and 1/2 - it's so thick that our other name for it is "cow goo."

What makes Media Crema so amazing? It's not just for coffee! Over the course of the last two years we have learned its versatility.

Media Crema can be used to make:

Sour Cream - simply add a tablespoon of vinegar to a cup of Media Crema, stir well, and it magically becomes thick, tasty sour cream. If you like a little tarter sour cream, just add a little more vinegar (or use lime juice instead if vinegar)

Buttermilk - Simply thin the cup of Media Crema down with about a 1/3 cup of water, then add in the tablespoon of vinegar. Voila, you can make your grandmother's buttermilk biscuits.

Alfredo Sauce - This is the best alfredo sauce ever. Lightly saute a couple cloves of fresh minced garlic and whatever meat/vegetables you want (chicken, scallops, lobster, red pepper?) in butter (what else?). When the meat is cooked, remove pan from heat and then pour some Media Crema into the pan, as much as you need for a nice amount of sauce. Stir it up. Dinner in minutes!

Chipotle Cream Sauce - Mix a store bought chipotle sauce with Media Crema to the heat you prefer - Patrick likes it hot, I put in less chipotle sauce. Yum. Try cooking strips of chicken breast or shrimp in this sauce on the stove top.

Tomatillo Cream Sauce - Mix a store bought can of green salsa (made of tomatillos) with some Media Crema so it turns a light green color. Pour this over fresh fish in a baking pan and cook it in the oven until done. Yummy.

Milk in a pinch - Thin it out with water and use it instead of milk in recipes.

Well, you get the idea. We love the stuff. We eat it every day, starting with the cream in our coffee, through to sour cream at lunch, and on to sauces for our dinner. I would hate to have my cholesterol checked now since I am clearly addicted to Media Crema.

13 comments:

  1. Are you sure half-and-half in the US is the same thing? I got the impression that american half-and-half is sweet. (Funny to see a post about this, though! All I was trying to do was figure out if it existed in the US so I could tell a friend a recipe... Thanks!)

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    1. Well, it's not REALLY the same thing because it is so much more versatile and thick, but it is the equivalent of half and half. Now home in America, we have been looking for LaLa brand media crema, but have not found it. We have found the Nestle brand of media crema in a can, but it is not as good (it is an unpleasant tan color and not as thick).
      Laura

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    2. Old post, but just want to say that you save me.
      I'm looking for buttermilk sustitute in México and now thanks to you I have a recipe.

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    3. Glad I could help. I still miss cooking with Media crema...

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  2. Can it be used as whipping cream?

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    1. Well, that is a good question and one that I don't have the answer to. Someone will have to investigate. Unfortunately, the don't sell LaLa media crema here in the states, so I can't give it a go.
      Laura

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  3. nice blog, did you ever get up north to puerto penasco/rocky point? we are on the mainland of mexico, sea of cortez, 1 hour to the az border. i found you when i googled media crema, i just nought more at the store today and was looking online for the carb gram count and found you article. i love media crema! i just introduced it to a friend today so she bought it, she will get hooked too.

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    1. HI
      I am glad you liked the post. We never made it to PP. Home over a year now, so our stock pile is used up. I still miss it every now and then. Soak up some sun for me, today is sideways rain and 48 degrees. Nasty!

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  4. I make a pasta sauce with this. I roast 2 poblano peppers and clean them. Then I blend them with a can of media crema, 1/3 cup milk, and 1 Tbsp of chicken bouillon. I saute half a medium onion, diced, in some oil, add the blended cream sauce, and add in cooked pasta. Yum!

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  5. Can media crema be used in place of heavy cream? Thank you for the great uses.

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    1. Are you trying to make whipped cream? I have never tried that, but it sounds like a fun experiment. I would add in powdered sugar for sure. Otherwise, if a recipe just calls for heavy cream, I think it would substitute nicely just as it is, since it is so thick. Happy experimenting!

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