An interesting question which I found in my webstats this morning, and I thought I would attempt an answer.
Basically, it all depends on the recipe. Evaporated milk is whole milk that has been cooked to remove some of the water and make it thicker. Basically it is thicker and subsequently sweeter than whole milk, and contributes a great deal more to a dish. While there is no law that says you cannot replace the evaporated milk in my family’s rice pudding with whole milk, it would be less rich than with.
I sometimes find when a recipe calls for evaporated milk. Here are a few alternatives
- Homemade Evaporated Milk :- Try combining powdered milk with half the normal of liquid to make a thicker version. To make it even richer try combining a measure of powered milk with a half measure of whole or low fat milk.
- Half Cream / Half Whole Milk :- Useful for replacing evaporated milk in some pumpkin pies.
- All cream :- Useful for a lovely rice pudding – replace all the evaporated milk with single cream. Makes a whiter rice pudding.