Evaporated Milk In A Pinch

The other day when I went to make my Pain Patate, I ran into a little problem. I realized I did not have any evaporated milk to use in the recipe that was not expired. I made sure to check that we had evaporated milk on hand before the errands were run, but I did not check the expiration date on it. Well, obviously I could not use that, and I really did not want to make a last minute trip to the store. I had already began preparing the pudding, so what to do next? The internet saves the day. I knew evaporated milk is used in recipes for creaminess, and that usually using fresh milk instead will result in a poor texture. I knew sweetened condensed milk is not the same thing at all, and is much too sweet, especially since I had already added the sugar in the recipe. I also knew cream, half-and-half, and powdered milk are reasonable substitutes, but I did not have any of those on hand either. I managed to find a short recipe that can be used in place of evaporated milk. Basically, you heat some milk with a little sugar and some cornstarch until it thickens and reduces by half. It is easy to scorch the milk this way, but it does make a great substitute. It can be used right away if the temperature of the milk does not matter. In my case, there were other hot ingredients in the dish already, so this made no difference. Otherwise, it can be prepared ahead and refrigerated. 

For every one cup of fresh milk, add one teaspoon of sugar and one and a half teaspoons of corn starch.  Heat in a saucepan over low heat until thickened and reduced by half. I thought since the mixture reduced, I would need to double the amount of milk to end up with the right amount. I ended up with a little extra, but this can keep in the fridge for a few days. 

Bottom line: check to make sure you have all ingredients you need before you go out, and again before you begin assembling the dish. I know we don't always have time to do this, and usually we have everything anyway, but some ingredients just do not have quick substitutes like this one.