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To Sterilize Milk

A method to sterilize milk and cream by heating and cooling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,399 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

To Sterilize Milk

Ingredients

Directions

Heat the milk

  1. Heat milk and cream rapidly in a double boiler to nearly boiling point.

  2. Maintain this temperature for 30 minutes.

Cool

  1. Remove from heat and cool quickly by pouring into clean, scalded pans.

  2. Place the pans in cold water to cool further.

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.

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Milk
Forms the main liquid base of the dish, carrying the flavour and body of the final product.
Cream
Adds fat, giving the finished milk a richer body and smoother mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Holding the temperature for 30 minutes. The milk must stay at nearly boiling point for the full time. Too little heat or time may not sufficiently reduce microbes, while too much direct heat can scorch the milk. A double boiler limits direct heat, which helps prevent burning.

“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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