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Artificial Milk

A homemade milk substitute made from water, sugar, egg white, soda, oil, and optional gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Artificial Milk

Why it works: Grape and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,110 recipes. Both carry cis-2-hexenal, which smells grassy. The science ↓

Artificial Milk

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a warm bowl, combine water, sugar, dry egg white, and carbonate of soda.

  2. Whisk in olive oil or other pure fat to create an emulsion.

  3. Add more water to achieve the consistency of milk.

  4. For a cream-like texture, mix in gelatin before adding additional water.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Grape + olivetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,110 recipes

    Shared aroma: cis-2-hexenal (grassy).

  2. Grape + gelatintop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together95 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

  3. Egg + gelatintop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Grape + eggtop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + olivetop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Dry egg white
Its proteins help stabilise the emulsion and add body to the liquid.
Olive oil
Supplies fat, giving the mixture richness and a creamy mouthfeel.
Sugar
Adds sweetness so the mixture tastes like milk.
Gelatin
Thickens the liquid and gives a creamier texture when used.

The step that matters

Whisking in the fat to create an emulsion. Oil and water do not mix on their own. Whisking the fat in gradually, with the egg white helping to hold it, breaks it into tiny droplets spread through the liquid. If the fat is added too quickly or not well dispersed, it separates and the mixture looks greasy and broken.

Swap the grape

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, olive, gelatin):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, olive, gelatin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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