I slept in. Just finishing up cooking Swedish pancakes -- I used "shelf milk," the UHT-processed processed stuff that's long-term-storable at room temperature and you know what? You can't tell. I've now got my plate of non-rising pancakes in a stack with butter and sugar between each layer, and it's just as good as the pancakes made with milk I'm rarely able to use up before it turns. (Purists put lingonberry jam between the layers and it's good, a nicely balanced sweet/tart, but I grew up eating them with butter and sugar.)
There's a small repertoire of pastry-type things which I rarely make because I don't keep milk around. This may make it easier. Still probably won't do popovers until I replace the stove -- 450 degrees is something of an adventure with an old gas stove, and not one I'm eager to try. Though damn, they're good, and a cold winter's day is exactly the right time for using the oven.
(Why popovers, you ask? I think of them now because the batter is almost the same as for Swedish pancakes, just add some melted butter and perhaps a pinch of salt. The result is different indeed, glorious hollow explosions of tastiness waiting to be filled with butter and jelly, or scrambled eggs, cheese and breakfast meat, or whatever else strikes your fancy. I was addicted at my first exposure, at the age of nine or ten at the Jordan Pond Tea House in Acadia National Park in Maine. You will be too, if you try 'em. The closest recipe to the one I use is here, from good old King Arthur Flour, but even they don't fully emphasize that you must grease, grease, grease the muffin pan or custard cups, a good coating with no gaps. Crisco works perfectly well for this, though don't substitute it for the melted butter in batter! The popovers must pop up, you see, and they've only got chemical energy for the task. Smooth the way and they will reward you richly.)
Canned evaporated milk, too. My mom uses it in bread (she bakes bread regularly) despite keeping fresh milk on hand - she says her grandmother always did it that way. I find canned evaporated milk is good in many things, just not to drink or put on cereal.
ReplyDeleteOn the rare times we need milk for baking, we dig the powdered milk out of the freezer and mix as needed.
ReplyDeleteImagine that it is three fifteen in the morning, you are getting ready to go on watch in the engineering spaces, you have gone to the forward mess deck of the Forrestal, you have dug through the serving size boxes of cereal until you found the only remaining sugar frosted cereal, (no surprise that there were lots of healthy cereals left) you put the cereal into the melamine bowl and add milk from the milk machine. But you forgot to do the sniff test first! Your irreplaceable cereal is ruined by spoiled milk.
On the other hand, the mess cooks might have mixed powdered milk. Then you would have had a bowl of cereal and a strange, warm, lumpy, and odd tasting liquid.
Consider using the lactose-reduced type of milk. They have a longer shelf, and opened, life than regular milk. A bit sweeter tasting, but that may not be noticeable in baking/cooking use. I suggest sticking with whole milk.
ReplyDeleteI love the KAF Popover recipe. Its the only one I can consistently get to pop, and pop they do! Its also my favorite "I need to warm up the house more, what shall I bake" recipe.
ReplyDeleteWe usually have milk around cause my husband goes through a ton of it in his morning cereal every week, but I have powdered milk too.....never thought to try popovers with powdered milk, might have to try it.....
Interesting quasi fact.
ReplyDeleteThe wife brought home a gallon of milk from Wal*Mart and then hid it with the kids Christmas presents.
48 hours later the room temperature jug was discovered.
The wife was going to throw it away but it smelled sweet and wholesome.
I saved it to make yogurt which was fine, but then the kids started drinking it until it was gone (with no ill effect.)
The internet claims that this is un-possible.
I believe the pasteurization process has improved since Louis was around.
Your milkage may vary