How to thicken milk?

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georgevan

Senior Cook
Joined
Nov 9, 2020
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480
Location
Appleton
a ham and potatoe soup recipe calls for thickened milk. Never heard of it before but how is it done?
 
That is highly unusual in a potato soup recipe. They want you to use flour or starch to thicken the milk before adding it to the soup. Potato starch is a thickener itself. Most recipes call for adding the milk to cook the potato in, then if it needs more thickening, adding flour. (Always dissolve the flour in a little cold liquid before adding it to a hot liquid).

I think I would find a more traditional style recipe if this is your first time making it.
 
I would make a basic cream sauce using the amount of milk called for in the recipe.

This will make a thick mixture similar to a can of condensed cream soup.

1⁄2 cup butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
ground black pepper to taste

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour and make a paste. Add milk and cook over low heat until thickened. Add pepper to taste.

For a thin sauce reduce amount of butter and flour by 2/3. For a medium sauce reduce the amount of butter and flour by 1/3.

This basic sauce can be flavored with chicken bouillon, minced mushrooms, onions, etc…
 
Thickened milk is a separate procedure within that recipe, and if they're not providing the guidance to facilitate that, I would look for a different recipe altogether, simply because that's just lazy and unprofessional. A quick google search for potato ham soup showed 1.2 million results. imo.
 
Where is the recipe from? Does "thickened milk" translate badly from another language? Is it made in an area where people can buy something called "thickened milk"? Is it listed as an ingredient?
 
I make potato, cheese, and bacon soup often and when I want to thicken the milk, I put about two tablespoons of flour into two tablespoons of melted butter in a pot and cook a couple minutes to get the edge off the flour. I believe this is a roux?

Anyway, once I've done this, I add cold milk to the butter and flour. Chef John always says a hot roux with cold milk will keep you from having lumps.

I don't have the heat on real high, but I do stir the milk for about 10 minutes and you can tell when it starts getting thicker. When it's thick enough for me (or when I get tired of stirring), I remove the pot from the stove and then stir in the cheese. I don't let my milk get real thick because the cheese will thicken it up as well. When the cheese is all melted, I add the whole thing to the potatoes and bacon.

Recently, I've been using Parmesan cheese, cream, and Alfredo sauce in my potatoes and bacon in the slow cooker, and then stirring the cheese in when the potatoes are tender. I'm still experimenting with that, though.
 
Where is the recipe from? Does "thickened milk" translate badly from another language? Is it made in an area where people can buy something called "thickened milk"? Is it listed as an ingredient?
Maybe they meant heavy cream, who knows, maybe like you said translating language properly isn't always a given.
 

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