Hot Milk with Dulce de Leche

[therdogg]

I'm going to have to try the simmer-the-can method and do a side-by-side tasting with the long-suffering-all-day-burbling-sticky-mess version.

Simmer-in-the-can is soooooo easy. And the results, in my experience, have always been excellent. I learned this trick from an Argentine chef that I used to work for. At the restaurant we used it as a dessert sauce, a plate decoration for desserts, swirled in ice cream (the BEST!), etc. Not a single guest ever complained that it didn't taste homemade.

So I decided to try this since I have a can of Carnation scm here- then I noticed that the can says "do not heat in can." So I called up the folks at Carnation, wondering if they'd actually had any lawsuits over explosions. The guy said he can't go into it for legal reasons, but then also mentioned that you can make dulce de leche in the microwave. He emailed directions. It takes all of 16-20 minutes using the can of milk and a Pyrex container, and it won't heat your whole kitchen like having the stove on for four hours will (in summer that might be a big plus). So I gave it a whirl- not so bad. I added some to hot milk, which was quite delicious. Inspired, I then added a square of Lindt bitterweet chocolate as well. It was a bit too much like drinking a melted candy bar for my taste, but it might appeal to somebody else.

[LittleMissCrepe]

Would it be possible to pass along the microwave recipe? I was going to try the 4-hour stove method this weekend, but I'm in the middle of summer and am absolutely going to melt. Thanks...

[Suzanne F]

Tried the ddl in hot skim milk last night: YES!!

And it works very well in a cafe con leche, heated/melted into the milk in the microwave.

When I use up the jar, I'll probably make more with the ancient cans of scm in the closet. Which, by the way, start to caramelize on their own after a few years (I've made some pretty weird-looking key lime pies).

[lia]

tried it with diluted 1% milk and an argentinian brand jarred dulce de leche. After it cooled a bit, tasted exactly like Sugar Babies.

[hillvalley]

tried it with diluted 1% milk and an argentinian brand jarred dulce de leche. After it cooled a bit, tasted exactly like Sugar Babies.

Drinking that as we speak. I have a new favorite winter drink

Now all we need is some snow

[therdogg]

Would it be possible to pass along the microwave recipe? I was going to try the 4-hour stove method this weekend, but I'm in the middle of summer and am absolutely going to melt. Thanks...

Sure. Place the can of sweetened condensed milk in a large Pyrex container and microwave on 50% power for about four minutes, stirring halfway through. Then microwave on 30% power for 12-16 minutes, stirring every couple minutes (or more frequently if you need to) with a wire whisk until desired level of caramelization is reached.

[sandra]

In Mexican markets look for Coronado brand (or other Mexican brand) cajeta. That's the Mexican "dulce de leche." It's light years better than US products.

You can order it from

MexGrocer

It even comes in squeeze bottles which you can just hold over your ice cream, pound cake, apple slices, hot milk, etc.

Yes, cajeta is delicous, and there are several varieties of it, BUT it is an entirely different animal, it's made with goats milk - this is the big difference between it and dulce de leche.

So maybe goats milk not so good in cow milky tea or coffee....

Try both cajeta and dulce de leche rolloed up in crepes, or spread over a chocolate cake.... or spread on a chessmen cookie....

Dulce de leche ice cream in South America is not what you know from Hagen Dazs with the swirls of the stuff, it's even better, it's used in the base and it has a caramelly colour throughout....yum...

[hillvalley]

Last night, while drinking my hot milk with DdL, it occured to me how great it would taste in iced tea. Sort of a fusion Thai tea.

Question: what's the difference between ducle de leche and sweetened condenced milk?

[Jaymes]

Question: what's the difference between ducle de leche and sweetened condenced milk?

Dulce de leche, and cajeta, are caramelized versions of sweetened condensed milk.

[Jaymes]

In Mexican markets look for Coronado brand (or other Mexican brand) cajeta.  That's the Mexican "dulce de leche."  It's light years better than US products. 

You can order it from

MexGrocer

It even comes in squeeze bottles which you can just hold over your ice cream, pound cake, apple slices, hot milk, etc.

Yes, cajeta is delicous, and there are several varieties of it, BUT it is an entirely different animal, it's made with goats milk

Oh great. You just HAD to go and tell them.

Now they'll NEVER try it.

[GG Mora]

Question: what's the difference between ducle de leche and sweetened condenced milk?

Answer: Dulce de Leche is a thick, sweet, caramelized milk jam (Argentinian in origin) that's used for a variety of soul-soothing treatments. It's traditionally eaten spread on toast, or used as a filling for a cake, or as a sauce on desserts.

Sweetened condensed milk is milk that's been sweetened (WAY sweetened) and condensed (not quite sure how) to form a thick ivory goo that's used as an ingredient in all sorts of sweet stuff. You can cook SCM to make DdL (sort of) but the two aren't remotely interchangeable.

I'm in the process of experimenting with the cooked-SCM version of DdL & comparing it with the "real" thing made from raw milk, sugar and vanilla cooked for hours. I'll prepare a brief report with photos and, er, "tasting notes". Things aren't looking so good for the cooked-SCM version (sorry, kids).

[hillvalley]

Question: what's the difference between ducle de leche and sweetened condenced milk?

Dulce de leche, and cajeta, are caramelized versions of sweetened condensed milk.

*smacks self upside the head* duh

GG, scm is one of my ultimate comfort foods. I love drizzling it out of the can. I knew the two had to be related. Can't wait to try it on toast.

[Jaymes]

Question: what's the difference between ducle de leche and sweetened condenced milk?

Dulce de leche, and cajeta, are caramelized versions of sweetened condensed milk.

*smacks self upside the head* duh

GG, scm is one of my ultimate comfort foods. I love drizzling it out of the can. I knew the two had to be related. Can't wait to try it on toast.

But remember, as is stated elsewhere on this thread, in the case of true dulce de leche and cajeta, the milk is condensed and sweetened and caramelized by the cook from scratch -- not just from the canned product with which we are all so familiar.

Edited February 10, 2004 by Jaymes (log)

[fifi]

Now I am wondering how much of it in Mexico is still made "the old fashioned way" like GG Mora does? (I can't wait for her taste comparison.) I say that because I have had it all over the place in Mexico, a lot outside of tourist areas, and it all tasted the same to me. I have to believe that starting with milk and sugar it might turn out differently. I am beginning to think I may have never tasted it other than starting with SCM.

GG... Can you elaborate on your method? I can't get raw milk, though. Would that really make a difference? Is the vanilla added toward the end? I can't imagine it surviving the long cooking.

[GG Mora]

Cher Fifi –

This recipe from Saveur is exactly the method I use. Whole milk from the grocery store works just fine. And the vanilla bean (or, should I say, the vanilla flavor) holds up just swell over the long cooking.

I recently found that the farm where I get my milk has a couple of Jersey girls mixed in the herd

Wow...I just got called away in the middle of this post. There's been a large owl around the property of late...my husband was out to empty the compost, and the owl was watching him from a nearby tree, so hub came in and called me up to see. There he was, about 20 feet up in a maple tree just on the edge of the dooryard: a Great Horned, I'm pretty sure. He waited just a moment and then took flight; had at least a 4-ft. wing span. Fucking awesome.

um...and the Jersey's are being milked into the bulk tank with all the Holsteins. Farm hand said he'd be happy to "bucket milk" the Jerseys for me, so I can get pure Jersey milk. ::dancing the Snoopy jig:: So, Jersey milk DdL, here I come (and butter and yogurt and CHEESE, if I dare).

Okay, here's the bad news. I've experimented with cooking Sweetened Condensed Milk to make Dulce de Leche, using the simmer-in-can method, the microwave method and, just for kicks, simmering it stovetop in a sauce pan. The brand I used was Carnation, so if there are differences between brands (which doesn't seem likely) perhaps I can blame the brand for my misfortune.

First, I simmered a can in a large pot of water for about 2 1/2 hours. Web research indicated that cooking for longer periods would produce a progressively thicker and, at 4 hours, nearly solid product. This is what the "Dulce de Leche" looked like after cooling slightly:

Next, on a whim, I just opened a can and dumped it in a sauce pan set over medium low heat. Before the contents even got hot enough to simmer, the bottom started to burn, but I persisted, stirring gently...until I just couldn't stand it any longer:

Then I tried therdogg's recipe for Dulce de Leche in the microwave:

I stopped before it got just too damned gritty.

It's quite possible that there's a learning curve here, but I've been cooking long enough to trust my instincts; I can't have gone that far wrong (can I have?). So, those of you that have made the SCM DdL, using whatever method, did yours look anything like any of my trials? Is it possible that a different brand of SCM would yield better results? I have to be careful here. My husband watched all of this and warned me I would probably be accused of rigging the trial, because this is what Dulce de Leche looks like when I make it (sorry about the fancy jar – that may be rigging enough):

I should mention that this one was snapped at room temperature. The others were all photographed when still warm enough to be uncomfortable at first bite.

As for taste, the actual flavor of the SCM versions (I only tried the simmered-in-can and microwaved versions; that other stuff the dog wouldn't even touch), it's close (ish) to the real thing, but only in that it has some milk flavor, some caramelization, and some sweet. But the SCM stuff has way too much sweet, sweet being the overriding presence. It has none of the depth, the richness, the (forgive me) complexity of the long-cooked DdL. And the texture is so far off...the simmered-in-can was like a chalky corn-starch pudding, the microwave version was offensively gritty, and the other stuff was like partially coagulated wallpaper paste.

This was, of course, an entirely unscientific trial, given my strong personal bias. And I'm open to suggestions for improving the quality of the SCM DdL – believe me, if I could get an equally good product with the minimal fuss involved, I'd be all over it.

I wish I could send you all a sample of the real stuff, or that you could find some in a jar close to home – you really don't know what you're missing.

[hillvalley]

Great post GG.

Now that I have a new love in my life, and I used up my virgin container, I am ready to committ to a larger size.

How long does this stuff last in the fridge?

[GG Mora]

Hard to believe, but I've actually had a jar in the fridge for over a year (subsequent batches were so much better, this one's been sort of orphaned). Other than some crystalization of the sugars, it seems just fine...no mold, no slime. If I wanted to be compulsive, I could melt it down with a little water to get rid of the crystals but, to my mind, they just make it more interesting when sucking the DdL off my finger.

One of my husband's coworkers is an Argentinian woman & I got chatting with her about the DdL thing the other day. She said that when they made it at home, they would put glass marbles in it to keep it moving around the pan & prevent build-up along the bottom and sides. Very interesting. I'd be afraid of finding broken marbles in my otherwise lovely sauce. She's going to pass on her family recipe, along with a recipe for a special cake to be filled with DdL. I promise to share.

[GrizzyLemon]

A little side note, we Argentinians always laugh when we see the word 'cajeta' which to us is slang for female genitalia.

[Jaymes]

Now I am wondering how much of it in Mexico is still made "the old fashioned way" like GG  Mora does? (I can't wait for her taste comparison.) I say that because I have had it all over the place in Mexico, a lot outside of tourist areas, and it all tasted the same to me. I have to believe that starting with milk and sugar it might turn out differently. I am beginning to think I may have never tasted it other than starting with SCM.

Sweetened condensed milk is rather expensive to be a standard ingredient in restaurants, especially in so poor a country as Mexico. I would be quite surprised if any of the restaurants "outside of tourist areas" in which you have had dulce de leche used sweetened condensed milk to prepare it. I'm certain that they used milk (although perhaps evaporated milk) and sugar and vanilla.

One Mexican friend did give me a recipe that called for SCM as an ingredient. It was for a flan. My friend laughed about it. She said that it was "la favorita de nadie, pero..." In other words, it was nobody's favorite recipe for flan, but that it was quick and easy so they made it sometimes when they were in a hurry.

And the name for this SCM version? "Gringo Flan."

Edited February 16, 2004 by Jaymes (log)

[hillvalley]

And a recipe?

[Jaymes]

And a recipe?

Unfortunately, all my stuff is packed up in expectation of my upcoming move.

But I'm sure you can find lots of recipes for it if you google it. You make it in a blender. So just google sweetened condensed milk and flan and blender. Those recipes are all pretty much the same -- you caramelize sugar in your pan, and then in the blender combine milk or cream, eggs & egg yolks, vanilla, SCM, and sometimes other flavorings like orange or rum or Kahlua.

They're really pretty good. I made that type of flan for several years before I branched out into more complicated ones.

Edited February 16, 2004 by Jaymes (log)

[sandra]

And a recipe?

Flan Napolitano

3/4 cup sugar

14 ounces canned sweetened condensed milk

1 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup milk

4 eggs

1 cinnamon stick

*Heat sugar in a 7 inch skillet over medium high heat. When the sugar begins to melt, reduce the heat to medium. Continue to cook sugar, stirring occasionally. When sugar is melted and browned, immediately spoon over the bottom and sides of a shallow 1 1/2 quart baking dish or mold. Set aside for caramel to cool.

*Preheat the oven to 325 F (165 C).

*Combine condensed milk, cream, milk and eggs in the blender. Process until thoroughly mixed. Pour into the baking dish lined with caramelized sugar. Drop the cinnamon stick into the middle of the mixture.

*Place the baking dish in a baking pan. Pour hot water into pan halfway up the sides of the baking dish.

*Bake about 1 hour 50 minutes or until a knife inserted off-center comes out clean.

*Cover flan loosely with foil if necessary to prevent excessive browning.

*Remove baking dish from the pan of hot water. Cool, then refrigerate at least 3 hours.

*To serve, run a knife around top edge and invert flan onto a serving plate.

Serve it with a BIG dollop of cajeta or dulce de leche on top....

[fifi]

Great trial GGMora.

Your simmered can looks like what I get. I do take mine a little longer and it gets a little darker but not much. The consistency is the same.

I had the same problem with the microwave method a few years ago. I haven't tried it since.

I don't think I would even attempt the saucepan method. Too much trouble.

Now to your wonderful stuff! That looks like an entirely different thing. Obviously it is darker and is more of a syrup. I have to say that I have never had anything like that either here or in Mexico. Some of what I have had in Mexico is more of the consistency as this one but lighter in color, about the same as the can, and tastes about the same as the can.

Guess what I am going to try next?

[Jaymes]

And a recipe?

Flan Napolitano

Thanks, Sandra. And may I say that "Flan Napolitano" sounds sooooo much better than "Gringo Flan."

[Jaymes]

A little side note, we Argentinians always laugh when we see the word 'cajeta' which to us is slang for female genitalia.

Well then, you must find it particularly amusing when we refer to "squeeze cajeta."