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Evaporated Milk as Milk Substitution

Can I reconstitute evaporated milk and use it in place of ordinary milk in recipes?

Can I reconstitute evaporated milk and use it in place of ordinary milk in recipes?

Who hasn’t run out of milk at an inconvenient time? We knew that substituting reconstituted evaporated milk (1 part water to 1 part evaporated milk) for whole milk wouldn’t matter in small amounts but wondered if it would make a difference in recipes where milk was a primary ingredient. We compared these milks in recipes for vanilla pudding and vanilla cake as well as in a béchamel (white) sauce. The reconstituted evaporated milk performed reasonably well in all of these, though it did result in deeper, toastier colors and slightly sweeter, faintly caramelized flavors. Well and good in the pudding and the cake, but some tasters found the sweetness off-putting in the béchamel.

THE BOTTOM LINE   Reconstituted evaporated milk is ok for desserts. For savory sauces and soups, go to the store and buy fresh milk.

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