Sweeten corn
The veggie world’s candy on a stick is usually already sweet enough but if yours isn’t, try boiling it in a mix of water and milk. We’re not entirely sure why but this extracts its natural sugars and makes it taste even better.
Sweet corn Source: Pixabay/keem
Up your fish game
Fish for dinner? If you’ve pre-frozen it, the best way to thaw it out is in a dish of milk. The proteins in the milk maintain the fish’s flavour so it tastes as good as if it were line caught that day.
Tassal Group has lifted full-year profit 20 per cent, helped by a focus on high-margin wholesale. (AAP) Source: AAP
Freeze it!
We all lose the race against the use-by date clock some weeks. Before you pour all that liquid gold down the drain, try pouring some into ice cube trays and freezing it. Then, when smoothies call, add them to a blender with fresh fruit.
Frozen milk cubes are a welcome addition to smoothies. Source: Getty Images
Tenderise meat
Milk is a popular way to tenderise your meat in Italian cooking while Indian and Middle Eastern cuisines use yoghurt in abundance. Meanwhile, over in America’s south, buttermilk is favoured. It’s believed that the calcium in milk reacts with the enzymes in the meat to soften the protein. The best way to use it as a tenderiser is to cover the meat completely in the milk, pop a lid or some cling wrap over the top and into the fridge for up to four hours.
This Southern fried chicken uses buttermilk as a tenderiser.
Source: Brett Stevens
Get cooking
Braising pork and lamb in milk is another popular Italian pastime for the same reasons as above: milk is a wonderful tenderiser! This pork neck by O Tama Carey also uses lemon zest as it helps the milk to curdle and create delicious ricotta-like particles in the sauce.
Source: Benito Martin
Curb saltiness
Love your feta and haloumi but not all the extra salt it sometimes packs? Soak your hard salty cheese in milk for 10 minutes to rid them of the excess salt.
Learn how to make your own haloumi with help from Matthew Evans.
Matthew Evans homemade haloumi Source: Gourmet Farmer
Turn it into paneer
Got a spare litre of milk lying around? Bring it to the boil in a clean saucepan, remove from heat, then add the juice of one lemon and one teaspoon of salt. Stir and set aside. Once the curds have separated from the whey. Now all you need to do is pour them into a colander lined with cheesecloth, tie the top of the cheesecloth and weigh it down with weights or cans for 30 minutes until it’s firm. Read more here.
Source: Supplied
Culture up!
Forget starter cultures – for a super express way to make a DIY yoghurt, blend those last few tablespoons of natural yoghurt with two litres of milk in a saucepan. Temperatures matter – go here for Matthew Evans’ fail-proof instructions.
Source: Getty Images
Love to bake? Make your own buttermilk!
Buttermilk is used to lighten batters in pancakes, scones and some cakes. If you don’t have any in the fridge, just add one tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to one cup of milk, and let it sit out at room temperature for about ten minutes. If you need more than this, just keep the above ratios.
Brown-sugar ripple buttermilk Bundt cake with wine-roasted pears and caramel sauce.
Brown-sugar ripple buttermilk Bundt cake with wine-roasted pears and caramel sauce Source: Alan Benson
And, what about all that soy milk?
We've got just the recipe: this ramen recipe skips on time and fuss - but not on flavour. The broth uses stock, aromatics and unsweetened soy milk for a creamy, punchy, lick-your-bowl-good noodle soup. Check out this vampire slayer ramen express.
Gourmet Farmer airs 7.30pm Wed nights on SBS. Visit the Gourmet Farmer program page for recipes and to find out more about the show.
The vampire slayer ramen express Source: Mandy Lee
