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Artificial Human Milk

A recipe for making artificial human milk using skimmed milk, whey, rennet, sugar, new milk, and cream.

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

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Artificial Human Milk

Ingredients

Directions

Make the curd

  1. Heat the skimmed milk to about 96°F (just warm).

  2. Stir in the Walden's Extract of Rennet until well combined.

  3. Once set, break up the curd into small pieces and let it stand for 10-15 minutes until the curd sinks.

Prepare the whey

  1. In a saucepan, boil the whey quickly.

  2. Dissolve the sugar of milk in a third of a pint of the whey.

Finish

  1. Once cold, add the new milk and cream, stirring well to combine.

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Whey + creamtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together36 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Whey + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together58 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Skimmed milk
Forms the base that rennet sets into a soft curd.
Walden's extract of rennet
Enzyme that clots the milk proteins into a curd.
Whey
Liquid that carries the dissolved sugar and adds milk solids.
Sugar of milk
Lactose that adds mild sweetness.
New milk
Adds moisture and body to the finished liquid.
Cream
Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Heat the skimmed milk to just warm, about 96°F. Rennet works best at a gentle warmth. Overheating can weaken the enzyme, so the milk may fail to set into a proper curd.

“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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