Coconut Cream vs Coconut Milk in Thai Chicken Sauce

Question

Hello,
I recently came upon a clipped recipe for "Thai-Style Chicken in Coconut Sauce". The clipping did not show the source, but had a publication date of 9/14/98.
You first cook and remove the chicken.  After aromatics, flour and curry powder, the recipe then calls for coconut cream - and the directions say to bring the liquid mixture (sherry, coconut cream and chicken broth) to a boil. Then later in the recipe, (after the vegetables, etc. have been added and cooked) boiling it again to reduce this same mixture to half the volume.
My questions are: first, do the really mean coconut cream (again, 1998) or do they actually mean coconut milk? Second, I always thought that once you add the coconut milk or any cream you should not let it boil. Doesn't it break or curdle? Is that correct?
Thanks,
Mike in Cleveland, OH-I-O

Lynn Clark · Accepted Answer

Hi Mike -
They probably \do\ mean coconut cream and it likely has to do with all of the boiling done in the recipe. That's because coconut cream is higher in fat than coconut milk (about 20% for coconut cream and only 9-15% for coconut milk). This higher ratio of fat to water allows you to boil coconut cream without it curdling in the same way that heavy cream added to a sauce can be reduced but milk (or even half-and-half) cannot.
We still think you could make this with full-fat coconut milk you would just need to keep the liquid at a simmer rather than a rolling boil to reduce which, obviously, will take a bit more time.
Best,
The Milk Street Cooking Team

Coconut Cream vs Coconut Milk in Thai Chicken Sauce

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