so much milk, so little time

March 12, 2008 8:39 AM

What should I make with all of this milk?

I've got a half a jar (maybe a little over a quarter-gallon?) of Oberweis skim milk - which, incidentally, is really very good. Unfortunately, I'm leaving for a week-long trip in 3 days, and there is no way that it will be finished before the house is empty for a week. The milk is set to expire the day I return.

I don't want to freeze it, as was the topic of this thread, but I do like to cook and would like to make something that will freeze easily or keep well that uses a good amount of milk. I thought of ice cream, but I don't have an ice-cream-maker. Butter - but no churn or patience.

Bonus points if the ingredients are easily obtainable from a standard grocery store. Comments on other things to do with a bunch of milk (besides freezing) are also welcome.

posted by k8lin to food & drink (25 comments total)

White sauce for any number of dishes, like creamed onions. Mmmm.
posted by Melismata at 8:43 AM on March 12

Oh, and you can churn butter (add 1 tsp. salt) with an electric mixer, doesn't take more than 20 minutes. Even more mmmmmmm!
posted by Melismata at 8:45 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

Is "set to expire" the same thing as a "sell by..." date?
Most (mainstream, commercially processed) milk will last at least a week after that date.
Is it different with your brand? The site does say it is Pasteurized and homogenized, which leads me to think there aren't any "freshness" risks like those sometimes associated with raw products...
If not, you're safe!
posted by Dizzy at 8:47 AM on March 12

(I thought it was not possible to make butter from fat-free milk. Am I wrong?)
posted by Dizzy at 8:48 AM on March 12

You could make chai with it. I usually make my chai 2:1 milk to water, but I use whole milk.

The Yogi chai tea bags are OK. Cut open the bag into the saucepot of cold milk, bring to a gentle boil, turn off, add a tea bag and let steep. Strain, add honey and have w/ toast.

I also like mint tea steeped in hot milk and sweetened w/ honey before bed.
posted by JulianDay at 8:53 AM on March 12

Homemade Cottage Cheese!

1 gallon milk
1/2 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon salt

Heat the milk to 190°F.
You will need a thermometer for other cheeses but you can get by here turning off the heat just before the milk begins to boil.
Add the vinegar and allow the mixture to cool.
When cool, pour the mixture, which now consists of curds and whey into a colander and drain off the whey.
Pour the curds into a bowl and sprinkle on the salt and mix well.
You may wish to use less salt or more, depending on your taste.
A little cream could also be added, for a more silky variation.

Cut this down to your amount: 1/4 gallon milk, 1/8 cup vinegar (about 2 tbsp), 1/4 tsp salt.
posted by LN at 8:55 AM on March 12 [7 favorites]

Don't try to make butter out of skim milk--you'll be mixing from now until the end of time and you'll still have nothing but salty skim milk.
posted by agent99 at 8:56 AM on March 12

Panir.
posted by bricoleur at 9:00 AM on March 12

Make pudding and give some to your neighbors. Add some to scrambled eggs.
posted by mkb at 9:11 AM on March 12

mozzarella!
posted by parmanparman at 9:15 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

Biscuits! It doesn't use terribly much, but it is tasty. Flour, baking powder, salt, butter, milk.
posted by that girl at 9:15 AM on March 12

A quart of milk is about what I drink in a day. Make cookies, invite friends over and have cookies and milk.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 9:15 AM on March 12

Make a cake or cookies or brownies and stick them in the freezer until you come back.
posted by LoriFLA at 9:16 AM on March 12

Heat the milk to 203 degrees, then let it come down to 108 and pour it into containers. You can add sweetener or preserves at this point if you want, but wait to add fresh fruit. Wrap in a blanket or towel in an ice chest, then throw into your fridge in the morning. Yogurt!
posted by littlegreenlights at 9:17 AM on March 12

Did I mention adding about a tablespoon of yogurt to the 108-degree milk? Cuz that part is important. :)
posted by littlegreenlights at 9:18 AM on March 12

Hot chocolate (made with cocoa, sugar, and the milk), pudding (can do a simple version from milk, cocoa, sugar, and corn starch), or make a soup for dinner that uses milk (corn chowder, clam chowder). Actually, a soup might freeze ok.
posted by yarrow at 9:18 AM on March 12

Milk freezes and thaws very well.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:37 AM on March 12

yogurt?
posted by goethean at 9:38 AM on March 12

Cheesemaking is fun—in the future, you should try it—but if you've only got a quart of milk it's probably not worth the effort. A gallon of milk produces enough curd for a cheese about the size of a fist, so ... imagine 1/4 of that. You're probably better-off finding a bisque recipe and making soup. Pity it's skim, though.
posted by mumkin at 9:40 AM on March 12

Just a quart? No need for special recipes; just have some cereal.
posted by Justinian at 10:12 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

It's so obvious - Dulce de leche
posted by leigh1 at 10:52 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

It's so obvious - Dulce de leche

No alcohol in the recipe? I thought that was the alcoholic drink in "Guys and Dolls". That would work too. :)
posted by Melismata at 10:58 AM on March 12

Paneer really needs whole milk. And a quart will get you...maybe 2 oz of cheese. Not worth it.

Rice pudding, on the other hand, needs about exactly a quart of milk, and skim will do fine (I might add a shot of cream or half-and-half but that's because I'm a fatoholic).

1 qt, less 1/4 C, cool homogenized milk
1/2 C granulated sugar (I use a bit less)
1/4 ts salt
1/2 C uncooked rice; do not wash
2 eggs yolks or
1 whole egg combined with
1/4 C whole milk, stirred well
1/2 - 1 ts vanilla
cinnamon to taste

Combine milk, sugar, salt, and uncooked rice. Stir well and bring to a boil. Now cover pot, lower heat, and let simmer gently (not boil) for about 1 hour, stirring several times. After 1 hour remove from stove.

Add about 1/2 C hot pudding, a little at a time, to the beaten yolks and cool milk. Then pour the yolk mixture into pot of rice and stir continuously for about 1 minute. Add vanilla, stirring well. Pour at once into medium sized casserole and let remain on cake rack until cool enough to serve, or may be refridgerated after it has cooled and served cold.

Top may be sprinkled lightly with cinnamon if desired.
posted by fuzzbean at 11:08 AM on March 12 [2 favorites]

You say the milk is set to expire the day you return. This means the milk should still be good. As long as it's kept cold, milk keeps for at least a few days past the expiration date. The expiration date is just the date after which it can't be legally sold. It can still be safely consumed well after the expiration date has passed.
posted by wsg at 4:29 PM on March 12

Compound butter or things that use compound butter, like chicken kiev or croquettes or whatever. Making homemade butter is, I learned from Saveur recently, really really easy.
posted by ifjuly at 8:03 PM on June 16