Why it works: Milk and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Method of Preserving Milk
Ingredients
Directions
Sterilize the milk
Dissolve 1 ounce of carbonate of soda in 1 quart of water to make a solution.
Add 1 tablespoon of the solution to a quart bottle nearly filled with new milk.
Cork the bottle securely and place it in a vessel of cold water.
Gradually bring the water to a boil.
Let the bottle cool in the water.
Make the preserved milk
For the improved method, mix milk with 4 ounces of raw sugar per gallon and evaporate with agitation until nearly solid.
Press the mixture into cakes of suitable size.
Alternatively, heat sweetened milk nearly to boiling.
Curdle with rennet or acid, and separate curd from whey.
Evaporate the whey to dryness.
Stir the curd over low heat.
Gradually add dried whey and a small amount of bicarbonate of soda until melted and united.
Optionally, add a small quantity of finely pulverized gum-dragée to hasten solidification.
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.
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.
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- New milk
- Provides the protein and fat that form the preserved body of the product.
- Raw sugar
- Sweetens the milk and concentrates it, helping preserve it by lowering water activity.
- Rennet or weak acid
- Curdles the milk so the curd can be separated from the whey.
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Neutralizes acidity so the curd melts and unites into a smooth mass.
The step that matters
Evaporate with agitation until nearly solid. Sugar and milk scorch easily and thicken unevenly; constant stirring prevents browning and keeps the mixture from sticking, and the sugar's concentration is what preserves it.
“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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