Why Evaporated Milk Makes Pasta Creamier Than Regular Dairy

Pasta and its many sauces. These are a source of joy and consternation in equal measure. White and cream-based sauces can be especially bedeviling. From curdling to breaking and even, the very worst, burning, there are many ways your white sauce can go wrong. But what if there was a solution to your saucy woes? Well, there is. In fact, there is one ingredient that may very well beat creams and milks as a base for your pasta sauce and, no, it's not in your fridge. It's in your pantry.

Evaporated milk, the canned wonder perhaps known best for its use in pumpkin pie, might just be the thing to fix up your Alfredo (American-style only, some Alfredo pastas contain no milk or cream at all) or macaroni and cheese. Evaporated milk, which is milk with about 60% of the water taken out, has a high protein micelle content, which help with the emulsification process: a key component in forming smooth sauces. Evaporated milk also has a lower fat content than cream, which means it is less likely to split. This is especially important in cheese-based sauces, as these sauces are typically high in fat already. And the higher the fat content, the more likely a sauce is to split, leaving pools of oil floating on top. Plus, evaporated milk offers a delicious, intensely milky and warm taste that can enhance the taste of your sauce.

Before making your next sauce with evaporated milk, there are a few things you'll want to keep in mind. For starters, it's important that you snag a can of evaporated milk and not condensed milk at the grocery store. Both kinds of milk are found in the baking aisle of most grocers. And they are similar products. However, condensed milk is much thicker than evaporated milk, and is also sweetened. Adding condensed milk to a pasta sauce will not yield good results.

Additionally, if you're making a dish such as macaroni and cheese, you needn't make a flour-based roux when using evaporated milk. Roux is often made for these sauces to help with thickening and providing stability, but it is also quite easy to mess up, and may leave your pasta an oily mess. Thanks to its protein content, evaporated milk is already sturdy, and thickens well on its own. This can really help the cheesy flavors of your sauce to sing. This is great news for anyone who can't cook with gluten products, or for anyone who dislikes roux-based sauces. Plus, evaporated milk only contains about 6.5% fat compared to heavy cream's 36% fat content.