Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Any Bakers Out There??

OK, so I'm not a baker ... never aspired to be, and don't pretend to be ... but I do attempt to bake something occasionally & it's usually edible, albeit sometimes just marginally. So, with that caveat implied ... here's the deal: I'm gonna haul off and bake a pie tomorrow ... a homemade custard/chess pie ... got my ol' Granny MeMaw's recipe, and it sez to scald the milk. Does anyone scald milk anymore?? I'm assuming that scalding was done back in Granny's day to kill any cooties that might have been in dat milk (since they were prolly using fresh whole milk right out the dang cow) ... right? With pasteurized storebought milk we got today, is scalding necessary?

5 comments:

Lady K said...

I know it's supposed to do something to the proteins in the milk to help the custard set up right. When in doubt - do it how Granny did and don't F it up. :)

Chez said...

lol ~ that's prolly good advice ... cain't go wrong doin' it like granny did. i remember how good her pies were. we be scaldin' now...

David said...

I found this link: http://kitchensavvy.typepad.com/journal/2005/05/scalding_milk.html

It lists four reasons: killing bacteria, killing enzymes, encouraging yeast to grow and other ingredients to dissolve, and to bring out flavors. The author concedes that the first two are no longer necessary with pasteurization.

Doing custards, tho, it always helps to bring all ingredients at least to room temp. Dunno why, but the results are usually better.

Anonymous said...

Ah Egg Custard. My Mom still makes custard for me. She knows I love it. I do know she still makes it the way she did 57 years ago. She scaulds the milk John. I have never asked her why, cause that's all I have ever known. It works, it's good, and don't last long at all. And yes, I eat ALL of it. That is 6 BIG bowls of it. By weeks end, the ole tummy kind of hurts, but I look at it a Motherly love talking to me.

barbqr
aka Kenny

Stacia said...

All I know is that if you don't scald the milk properly, the custard won't set. Made mom's chocolate meringue pie a few months ago and didn't scald the properly... let's just say tears were shed. I couldn't tell you the chemistry behind the scalding, I just know it's necessary.