How many of you have heard of or tried Confiture de Lait? Roughly translates as milk jam or milk conserve.
I have seen this in supermarkets in France, but never tried it. Recently I came across a recipe in a French cookbook that used this as a part of a Creme Caramel. So I thought as the French seem to have a real talent for sweet and tasty lushciousness why not give it a go?
So what is Confiture de Lait? Well it's not jam (confiture is french for jam) in the sense that we understand it - though it does contain a lot of sugar. It's a rich and creamy reduction of milk and sugar. High in fats and sugar and goodness knows how many calories! But you don't eat a lot at one sitting - so that makes it ok!
As I started to assemble my recipe and ingredients I thought that it might be a little like condensed milk - yum yum! But not quite - not quite so sweet and gooey, and more 'milky'. But it is truely delicious - especially on porridge. The French eat it on slices of brioche - I've tried it on crusty white bread and that works really well, as does just eating it straight from the jar. I've read that you can use it as a topping on cheese cakes as well. I think it tastes a bit like really rich and creamy rice pud - only smooth.
Well, what is the recipe?
I work in old money - so it's pounds and ounces - if you work in metric then you will need to convert the measurements.
You need:
- Full fat milk
- Sugar
- Vanilla pod or paste or essense (optional).
- I used 2 pints of gold top (full fat would work just as well) which equals 40 fluid ounces of milk.
- You use half the weight of milk in sugar - so I used 20 oz of sugar - 1 lb 4oz. And a teaspoon of vanilla paste which is the equivalent of 1 pod.
- Put the milk, sugar and vanilla pod in a heavy based pan. Bring to the boil and boil for 2 mins. Then reduce the heat to the lowest point necessary to just lightly simmer the mixture. You need to simmer for 1 - 2 hours (or perhaps a bit more), stirring from time to time.
- You will seek the connoction start to gradually darken to a golden, milky colour. As the mix starts to thicken stir every 5 mins or so and keep going until the mix is thick enough to coat the back of your wooden spoon. It mix will thicken as it cools.
- If the finished item is not thick enough when it cools you can always put it back on the heat and reduce it a bit more.
- Pour it into a warm and sterilised jar.
I sterilise my jars by washing them in warm soapy water, rinsing well under the hot tap and them pop them into the oven set at 150 C for about 20 mins. Be careful when taking them out as they will be hot. It's a good idead to put them on a baking sheet with a folded kitchen towel between the jars and the tray. Leave them on the cloth and tray while filling them with the hot confiture.
The mixture is quite thick and not as hot as jams so I just used a ladel to put it in the jar. You can use a jam funnel - but sterilise it first along with the jars.
Here us the finished article. Rubbish photo - hehe!
As you can see I save jars (waste not want not). This one started out with chestnuts in it that I got from the supermarket in France at some point. Mostly I make preserves just for myself and family so I don't really bother about getting the labels off if they don't just fall off in the washing up. What do they stick them on with?I haven't bothered with a paper seal disc as I don't expect this to last long before it gets gobbled up. However, as everything was nice and hot when the mix went into the jar and I got the lid on quickly, the lid has 'popped in' as a vacum was formed.
I can't advise on keeping, but would certainly recommend it's kept in the fridge once opened. It might be an idea to use smaller jars or make smaller portions. This jar holds about 2 lbs of jam when full to the brim.
I would be happy to hear about your experiences of this lush concoction and any recommendations.
Well there you go! Happy Eating!!
