I often remind my Lovely Vegetarian Wife that it is because of her that I am such a big steak lover. Although her response to this varies between “Whatever” and a mere roll of the eyes, it is indisputably true. Because meeting my Lovely Vegetarian Wife led me to meeting my in-laws, both of whom are from Argentina, where, it seems, steak is ubiquitous. You can’t swing a dead cow in Buenos Aires without hitting a restaurant that serves incredible grass-fed beef, expertly grilled over wood fires. It wasn’t until my in-laws treated me to a real Argentine-style asado that I appreciated the sheer genius of having several different cuts of steak at one meal along with chorizo, morcilla, and whatever else is on the menu. Hence, I am now a rabid steak lover.
This posting isn’t about steak, however. It’s about the other thing that makes Argentine cuisine so compelling (well, besides the empanadas, the Malbec and the first-rate Italian food): dulce de leche. Imagine the thickest, creamiest caramel you’ve ever had—that’s dulce de leche. It’s great with pastries, on toast, on ice cream, with old socks… Unfortunately, we don’t get to Argentina nearly as often as we would like, and my mother-in-law (who makes fantastic dulce de leche with the help of a pressure cooker) lives on the other side of the country.
But then I decided to use my brain. Brain, I said, what are we talking about with dulce de leche? We’re talking about taking sweetened condensed milk and caramelizing it. I caramelize things all the time: onions, Brussels sprouts, you name it. Why can’t I caramelize sweetened condensed milk? All I have to do is avoid scorching it. What’s the easiest way to do that?
By putting the sweetened condensed milk in the oven, I can apply even, moderate heat to make sure that everything browns but doesn’t blacken. Wikihow added the extra brilliant idea of using a bain-marie (or water bath) to ensure that the milk heats evenly.
To put things over the top, I decided to add the seeds of a vanilla bean to the finished dulce de leche. It’s pretty darn fantastic. It’s not as good as my mother-in-law’s, and it’s not quite like being in Buenos Aires, but it will do in the meantime.
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 vanilla bean
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Remove the condensed milk from the can (this is an important point: a lot of recipes call for heating the can directly) and pour into a Pyrex baking dish.
Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil, place it in a roasting pan and fill the roasting pan with hot water about halfway up the side of the baking dish. Bake for 1 1/2 hours.
Carefully transfer the dulce de leche to a mixing bowl. Slit the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the dulce de leche (reserve the vanilla bean pod for another use). Whisk the dulce de leche until it is smooth and silky.
Eat with unrestrained abandon.
holy hand grenade, that looks amazing. and why do you figure old recipes call for cooking the can? seems dangerous, what with the lining and all.
re: steaks – best one i even had wad at a backyard asado in, oddly, Chile. guess they’re neighbors enough to have similar beef. but I haven’t really experienced Argentina. how does your mother-in-law make dulce de leche? will she tell you?
My mother-in-law puts a whole can right in a pressure cooker, which is a tool I don’t have. I’ve also seen recipes for punching holes in the top of a can, putting it inside a saucepan with some water, and simmering for several hours. So I think cooking in the can is a fairly standard practice.
Using sweetened condensed milk is the newfangled way of making dulce de leche. The traditional way starts with fresh milk: 4 liters + 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. Bring to a boil, then add 1 kg (2 lb) of sugar. Mix, and let boil until it starts to take color. At this point, mix with a wooden spoon continuously until it thickens…
I did it that way several times until I decided that the condensed milk way was liberating, and besides it tasted really good.
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