Let it cool.
But....Is it a baked custard? Or a stove top boiled custard? Havin g trouble figuring out why to scald the milk...
Can you post the recipe?

I'm not too good at posting. The recipe is from a latose-free search I did. It is for pumpkin pie and says to scald the milk before adding it to the pumpkin mixture.

Is the pumpkin mixture hot or cold? Have eggs been added to it? Normally these days, milk would not be scalded except to heat it up, although the scalding may have something to do with the lactose - I'm not sure about that. It does change the milk proteins somewhat. It won't hurt to cool the milk before adding it, although it may increase the cooking time.

Linda's questions are still unanswered - is the pie baked in the oven, or is the custard fully cooked on the stovetop and then added to a prebaked pie shell? I've made it both ways - baking is easier, but I like the result from the stovetop cooking a bit better. One Thanksgiving I made 27 pumpkin pies for the restaurant where I worked, and so they had to be baked, as it would have been impossible for me to make that much stovetop custard in the time I had.

Lars

the pie is baked in the oven. the milk gets added to the mixture of canned pumpkin, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. This is then poured into a pie crust and then baked in the oven.

If you want to add it while it is still hot, make sure that you only add a small amount at first and stir vigorously when you are adding it. There is really no need to cool the milk before adding it if you incorporate it quickly. It might affect the texture somewhat if you dump all the milk in at once, but it you add it slowly, that should not happen.

Lars