Got milk...burned to the bottom of your pot?

Recipes that begin with "Scald the milk..." or "Heat milk to almost boiling..." have always meant that I will be scrubbing burned milk out of the bottom of the pot later. I'm not a "stir constantly" person (not even for risotto or caramel, and they turn out fine, really!); I simply don't have the patience for it. So, I can't say that if I stirred the heating milk constantly, I would avoid the burnt milk issue, but I suspect not. It's just one of those cooking inevitabilities. Until now.

Thanks to Alana Chernila (yes, I have now mentioned her two posts in a row, go read her blog, seriously), I can now avoid the cooking milk = strenuous pot scrubbing cycle, by using her tip to "ice the pot," which I read about in her book, The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making. And no, she's not paying me to plug her book, and yes, I will probably write about it again. This is one of those books that immediately captured my attention and, as soon as I got it home, I read it cover to cover, and marked dozens of recipes to try.

Anyway, back to that burned on milk issue. I have been cooking for a long time, read many cookbooks and websites and blogs about cooking, and I have never seen this helpful idea before. Simply put an ice cube in the bottom of the pot and let it melt (before turning on the stove). Then pour the milk into the pot on top of the melted ice and proceed with the recipe as directed. Proteins in the milk float above the icy water. Or something. I'm no scientist, but this technique has now saved me much pot scrubbing.

So, is anyone wondering why am I heating so much milk? Well, I have recently become a yogurt maker. No, not a small appliance, just a home cook who loves yogurt but hates paying the money for the good brands of yogurt at the store. I have made it several times and it's easier than I thought, tastes much better than store bought (yes, even better than the expensive Greek-style stuff), and is even cheaper than the store brands that are filled with...fillers and other undesirable ingredients. I promise to share my method in a future post. Stay tuned! I also regularly make ricotta, which is another use for the handy ice cube trick.