boiling point of water. This has made cans of
sweetened condensed milk a favorite shortcut
to a creamy caramel sauce: many people
simply put the can in a pot of boiling water or
a warm oven and let it brown inside. While
this does work, it is potentially dangerous,
since any trapped air will expand on heating
and may cause the can to burst open. It’s safer
to empty the can into an open utensil and then
heat it on the stovetop, in the oven, or in the
microwave.
Intentionally Curdled Milk
For most cooks most of the time, curdled
milk betokens crisis: the dish has lost its
smoothness. But there are plenty of dishes
in which the cook intentionally causes the
milk proteins to clot precisely for the
textural interest this creates. The English
syllabub was sometimes made by squirting
warm milk directly from the udder into
acidic wine or juice; and in the 17th