Welcome back to another lactose free recipe. This week I am going back to basics and creating another tutorial for a baking staple, evaporated milk. Evaporated milk is used to add a delicious creamy richness to dishes like mashed potatoes, pasta sauces and desserts. You can purchase it at most stores however I have yet to find a lactose free version, and so this recipe is born.
Evaporated milk is a creamy concentrated milk that has been cooked at a low heat until a large portion of the water has been evaporated. This process does take quite a while. If you do not have the time, you can also make a quick alternative by mixing ¼ cup of cream and ¾ cup of milk. for one cup of cheats evaporated milk.
Evaporated milk and condensed milk are quite similar in the sense that they are both concentrated milk products. The biggest difference is that condensed milk is a lot sweeter making it an unsuitable alternative to evaporated milk in recipes.
The recipes here have been tested with lactose free ingredients multiple times to ensure their success and deliciousness. As always, this recipe is lactose free providing you use the right ingredients. Always make sure your ingredients are safe.
Ingredients
Instructions
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Pour the milk into a large saucepan.
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Use to skewer to measure the height of the milk. This will help you keep track of when to stop cooking. The evaporated milk will be done when it is 50 to 60% reduced down, so half the height of your measurement at the start.
- Bring the milk to a simmer, make sure to stir it periodically so it doesn’t scorch.
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Once it simmers reduce the heat down to low.
- I know it can be tempting to cook it at a higher temp so that it doesn’t take as long. This will scorch the bottom of the pan (which is a pain to clean after) and also make the milk turn a brown color. Low and slow is the best, even if it feels like it is taking forever.
- Like I said before if you do not have the time, you can also make a quick alternative by mixing ¼ cup of cream and ¾ cup of milk to yield 1 cup of cheaters evaporated milk.
- When I made this on my stove I had an issue where the milk would stop bubbling every now and then due to inconsistent heating. This is fine if there is steam coming off the milk. The steam means that it is evaporating. Keep the milk on the lowest heat possible that is still bubbling and steaming.
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Here is the fun part. You want to keep the milk evaporating until it is 50 to 60% reduced. This can take quite some time. You will need to check on the milk every now and then to break up the skin that forms on top (which will be removed at the end with the sieve).
- The evaporating process can take a good hour or two depending on how much milk you start with.
- Keep checking and stirring at a low heat (every 5 - 10 minutes) making sure there is still steam coming off the milk.
- Once it has been reduced to a good level and turned a cream color you can remove it from the heat.
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Place the sieve over a large bowl and drain away all those skins that formed. Discard the skins.
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Place some clingwrap onto the surface of the milk so that no more skins form.
- Leave to cool down to room temperature then place in the fridge.
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Congratulations you have just made evaporated milk. Use within 5 days as a substitute for milk to make dishes extra rich and creamy.
