Have not made this in a while though a favorite from Marcella Hazan.
A hint from these directions...and what i remember,

"By the time the loin is cooked the milk should have coagulated into small nut-brown clusters on the bottom of the pan. (If it is still pale remove the loin, uncover the pot, raise the heat and cook briskly until the milk bits darken.)"

Here is a link that might be useful: Pork Braised in Milk

I think it was invented by someone trying to be mockingly non-kosher! ;)

I've read many good things about it, keep meaning to try, but somehow it just doesn't sound good. You've just bumped it up a few notches on my to-try list even though you sound less than enthused.

Welcome to the KAW side!

Hi Ginny!

I remember my time on Kitchens fondly. I still check it out every now and then, but I don't feel I have anything new to say. Is marcolo still active there?

Anyway, I've made the Marcella Hazan version and don't recall the milk turning very brown. No worries, it still tastes good.

Thanks for the feedback. I do think this is worth trying, foodonastump. The pork is really good. The lemon peel, sage, and garlic sort of melt into the sauce. I used half of a pork shoulder. But you need to allow a lot of time.

sleevendog - I think I will try that another time. Samin was very insistent that the heat be incredibly low because milk burns so easily, and I couldn't stand over it constantly so I was afraid to simmer it faster. That instruction does suggest that I may have had the heat too low. Good to know it can be corrected after the fact.

johnliu - marcolo has been awol recently, to the dismay of many of us who enjoyed his wit. I think he hit a big roadblock on his project.

Maybe I'll try the Marcella Hazan version next time to compare. The one I made was tasty, even if not brown.

How can milk even be mentioned without...

quote

"The best part is not actually the pouring of milk on the salad. It's the telling of the story, which I did several days later to a friend.

"I poured milk on my salad."

Friend: "So?"

"What do you mean, 'so?' I POURED MILK. ON MY SALAD. ON MY SALAD. MILK. SALAD. Don't you find that odd? A bad sign? Something?"

Friend:"Everybody does that."

Me (screaming): "Are you f&*&^% nuts?? Who pours milk on their salad? Are you even listening to me? SALAD SALAD SALAD."

At that precise moment, I realized that, while I had meant to say "salad," I had actually been saying "cereal" the entire time.

"I POURED MILK ON MY CEREAL!!! YOU REALLY DON'T FIND THAT ODD? ARE YOU NUTS?? Milk? On my CEREAL?!?"

Screaming, mind you."

Here is a link that might be useful: i poured milk on my salad

This post was edited by sleevendog on Tue, Nov 5, 13 at 22:57

I used to visit marcolo when I was in Boston on business trips. We'd drink wine in his kitchen and he'd fill me in on the project plans and status. I haven't seen him for a year, though. Need to get in touch in the New Year.

I cooked pork in milk 2 - or was it 3? - weeks ago after it was mentioned here.

I doubled and perhaps even tripled the amount of milk, and simmered it for 3 hours on very low heat with the lid slightly off to let the steam out and then 1 more hour on medium heat with the lid totally off to reduce the sauce.

Result: whitish soup with various sized lumps of whitish coagulated milk. Boy did it look bad! And boy did it taste great!

Next time i'll stick to the recipe now I've developed trust in it. I'll try to caramelize the milk.

Yeah, Wintercat, it does look kind of strange. My husband says I should run it through a blender to make it smooth, that you could never serve it to guests looking like that. I don't know if that would work, and I think it defeats the purpose. It's supposed to look disgusting and then surprisingly be delicious, right? Actually,since I was expecting it to look like baby spit up, I didn't think it was so bad, just not as dark as I expected.

Thanks for that hilarious old post, sleevendog. It was before I joined, and I never saw it before. I recognized lots of names in the thread, though, people who aren't active on Kitchens any more.

johnliu - If you do see Marcolo, let him know we're all still wondering how he and his kitchen are doing.

I had an uncooked ham that I wasn't sure how to prepare. While looking for ideas I came across the milk recipe. Sounded so gross, but the reviews convinced me to try it. Good Golly, it was so tasty! But, the milk didn't caramelize for me either. If I ever do it again, I'll remember the hint.

It isn't pretty, lol. I nearly threw it all out the first time years ago. A local elder Italian neighbor, back in the day, told us to use a big onion sliced, a can of whole tomatoes, and the milk. Leave it be for two hours simmering. That was a good addition but the milk does not get the brown bits it needs. Better yet is to make a nice roasted onion/tomato/garlic/celery sauce to top and have with, or a side sauce. And fresh parsley.

I just made a similar recipe last weekend with veal. I have been making veal roast this way for years after reading the recipe for pork chops cooked in milk(Modern Italian Cooking by Biba Caggiono). I browned sage in butter, browned veal neck (fat and bones removed, pieces pounded and seasoned) added a few cremini mushrooms. I added milk to cover, and added the bones. I cooked it in a heavy pot on the stove for a few hours until tender. I served it with boiled Arborio rice and peas, broccoli, cauliflower.
It looked great and tasted great.