Tip Of The Day

TIP OF THE DAY: WHY DOES MILK SOMETIMES CURDLE WHEN COOKING?

Milk is basically an emulsion of butterfat, proteins and water. What happens when you boil milk is that the emulsion breaks: the milk proteins coagulate and separate from the water, producing what is commonly known as curdled milk.

Evaporated Milk is milk that has been slowly cooked taking away about 60% of the water, but leaving behind virtually all the nutrients of fresh milk, such as calcium.

To reconstitute evaporated milk back to regular milk, add 1 1/4 evaporated milk can of water to the 1 can of evaporated milk.

There a lot of recipes that require a cream sauce and warming or boiling of milk. Milk tends to curdle when added with acidic ingredients such as meat, vegetables, and citric acids.

To help prevent curdling sometimes flour or cornstarch added to the milk once warmed helps the curdling from happening.

Or

You could use evaporated milk. The slow cooking of the evaporated milk alters the milk just enough that when heated should prevent curdling and make a smoother sauce.

Some great recipes I love to make with cream sauces are my Grandma Blair’s Scalloped Potatoes and Ham and my Fettucine Alfredo.