About that Evaporated Milk...

The post "What You Don't Know..." had a reference to evaporated milk and how to use it. I'm not sure, but it seems that powdered milk is more popular than evaporated when it comes to shelf life. Evaporated milk can be more expensive, but it keeps better in humid conditions, doesn't have to be stored all in one place and sometimes you can find a good sale on it, so I use it at times.

You can use evaporated milk like you use real milk in just about anything, but its unique flavor works better in some things than in others. Even if you stretch your imagination thin, it doesn't taste like "real" milk, though.

• In coffee, of course.
• Reconstitute it and use when you bake cookies.
• It's good in dark cakes (reconstituted), not so good in white or yellow cakes (But you might think differently).
• Use it in scalloped potatoes.
• In the summer when yellow sqash is cheap or free, boil chunked squash and chunked potatoes together, then add evaporated milk.
• Take the potato and squash a step further:Slice them and mix them in a casserole dish layered with crushed cracker crumbs, then pour a can of reconstituted evaporated milk over them. Cover and bake until tender.
• Yet another potato dish: Start with peeled, cubed potatoes and diced onions in just enough water to cover. Simmer until tender, add salt, pepper and evaporated milk. With a pan of cornbread, this is so good!
• It goes very well with potatoes, but if you like the taste, try it with bananas and a little sugar (bananas and "cream") or put it on your breakfast cereal.
• Use it in chowders or cream soups of any kind.
• Any kind of creamy based dish, like stroganoff or creamed meats or vegetables.
• Use evaporated milk to make cheese sauce or macaroni and cheese.
• Many desserts have been created just for this canned milk. Pet Evaporated Milk has some really good dessert recipes, so I won't try to duplicate them here.

Watch for sales when you can stock up. I've also found that generic or store brands of evaporated milk is just as good as name brands that sometimes are twice the price, so it literally pays to look around.