Sour Cream: What Is It and How Do I Use It?

I grew up with tubs of sour cream in the fridge.  My mother sometimes served individual bowls of it for lunch.  She’d cut up a cucumber, some radishes and a few tomatoes, mix it all together and Voila!  I guess it was a forerunner to today’s vegetable yogurts.

Out of habit, I too keep a tub of sour cream in the fridge.  But I don’t eat it with cut-up vegetables.  I use it to make Baked Stuffed Potatoes, Chocolate Icing and Chocolate Cheesecake.  I put dollops of it in Salmon Chowder, Hungarian Goulash, Ground Turkey Stroganoff and Shrimp Florentine.   

With potato salad, I prefer sour cream with just a little mayonnaise.  The taste is milder, and the calories are much fewer.  1 tablespoon mayonnaise is about 57 calories, while 1 tablespoon sour cream is about 23 calories.

Unless I want to make whipped cream, I never buy heavy whipping cream.  Sour cream is cheaper, and it never goes to waste because I use it so frequently.

For the record, sour cream is made from cream and lactic acid bacteria, which causes the cream to thicken and become sour.

Mom’s Potato Salad – serves 8-12

2 pounds potatoes
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
4 scallions, thinly sliced
2 large celery stalks, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon celery seeds  

Scrub the potatoes but leave the peel on.  Put the potatoes in a large pot and half-fill the pot with water.  Cover and bring the water to a boil over high heat.  Reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the tines of a fork can penetrate a potato without much resistance.  Remove from the heat, drain the potatoes and cover them with cold water.  Set aside to cool. 

Combine the sour cream, mayonnaise, scallions, celery, garlic, powdered mustard, salt, black pepper, paprika and celery seeds and mix well.  Set aside. 

When the potatoes have cooled, pull off and discard the skins and cut the potatoes into 1/2-inch cubes.  Add them to the sour cream mixture and stir until the potato pieces are covered.  If the mixture seems too dry, add another tablespoon or two of sour cream or mayonnaise.  Cover and refrigerate until needed. 

For the record, sour cream is made from cream and lactic acid bacteria, which causes the cream to thicken and become sour. 

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