Condensed Milk Toast

October 30, 2018 8:20 AM

When I think of a childhood sandwich that creates the same enthusiasm that PB&J does for many Americans, it has to be a Hong Kong-style sweetened condensed milk sandwich.
Another recipe.
posted by growabrain (42 comments total)

I grew up on this...condensed milk and toasted wonderbread...so comforting.
posted by tipsyBumblebee at 8:26 AM on October 30, 2018 [3 favorites]

Seems closer to a grilled cheese than PB&J but cool stuff anyway.
posted by exogenous at 8:34 AM on October 30, 2018

Well, I'll try anything twice. Never been a fan of condensed milk except for its use in making fudge or my mom's mashed potatoes, though that might have just been evaporated milk? I think I'd need to try it to get this image out of my head of eating toast soaked in milk. Stranger things have turned out to be quite delicious, if I can advocate for waffle-burger with mustard only, then I can't turn my nose up grilled milk.
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:37 AM on October 30, 2018

This looks tasty - seems analogous to toast with honey except better to me since I don't really like honey except in baked things. You could even lightly carmelize the milk syrup if you wanted.

Also, she mentions cafes in Texas serving Hong Kong food. This is my first real incentive to visit Texas, especially since they seem to offer egg-and-tomato, which is totally my favorite.
posted by Frowner at 8:47 AM on October 30, 2018

I mean, having grown up on toast and honey, this seems to be along the same lines for a culture that has more ready access to sweetened condensed milk in the rest of their diet.

So sure, I'd have some.
posted by Kyol at 8:47 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

So interesting that it has the Hong Kong background. The first time I heard about condensed milk and toast was in the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. There’s a passage saying that the Nolan family had one inalienable right as a family and that was three cups of coffee a day. Francie would take hers with spoonful of condensed milk (but not drink it, she would just keep her hands warm around the mug and take in the scent). Her brother Neely would not drink his coffee either but spread his ration of condensed milk on some bread. I’ve always wanted to try it.
posted by like_neon at 8:48 AM on October 30, 2018 [4 favorites]

When I was a kid we had 'milk toast' which was toast, buttered, sprinkled thickly with sugar, in a bowl with whole milk over it so the milk soaked into the bread. Comfort 70s food.
posted by The otter lady at 8:49 AM on October 30, 2018 [4 favorites]

"It’s not that I enjoy the taste especially, but I like the way Pet milk swirls in the coffee. Actually, my favorite thing about Pet milk is what the can opener does to the top of the can. The can is unmistakable–compact, seamless looking, its very shape suggesting that it could condense milk without any trouble. The can opener bites in neatly, and the thick liquid spills from the triangular gouge with a different look and viscosity than milk. Pet milk isn’t real milk. The color’s off, to start with. There’s almost something of the past about it, like old ivory."
posted by Iridic at 8:59 AM on October 30, 2018 [6 favorites]

Sweetened condensed milk is the basis of true Key Lime Pie, for what it's worth. A similar story with the impossibly long supply lines in the deep south of Florida, the unavailability of suitable pastureland for dairy cows, with the richly flavoured and tangy native key lime providing a cooling shot of mouth zing so desperately needed in the perpetual miasmatic humidity of the evergladed frontier. It was almost inevitable: sugar, eggs (which could be local), condensed milk, and lime juice.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:02 AM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

Also, she mentions cafes in Texas serving Hong Kong food. This is my first real incentive to visit Texas, especially since they seem to offer egg-and-tomato, which is totally my favorite.

Yeah, Texas has a pretty sizable Chinese population around Houston and Dallas. Also, here's a make at home recipe that I use for egg and tomatoes. (and approximates my mom's version really well!)
--
Also, sweetened condensed milk in coffee is also really great! Since coming back from 2 years in Hong Kong, I've noticed that I do tend to use sweetened condensed milk more often.
posted by astapasta24 at 9:12 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

Funny how condensed milk still lingers so much in the cuisine of former British colonies. Newfoundland still loves their condensed milk.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:15 AM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

My brother used to eat condensed milk from the tube. They were in his army ration packs, and they'd do that on the march.

A life lesson from simple vegemite on toast: the entire world thinks your favourite is revolting, and they are wrong.
posted by adept256 at 9:22 AM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

This is one of my comfort foods from childhood. I'd have learned it from the Filipino side of the family, and it's impossible to tell when I had my first bite. Something about the crisp toast and the over-the-top sweet creamy milk reminds me of my grandparent's house, sitting on a sofa (plastic leather, and I wore shorts so I would have to unstick myself from it every so often), reading a book, and eating either this toast or a bacon sandwich with the same squishy white bread and tons of mayo.

Every once in a great while I smuggle a can home and have some on toast in secret because it's everything I should not be eating.
posted by PussKillian at 9:26 AM on October 30, 2018 [3 favorites]

My brother used to eat condensed milk from the tube. They were in his army ration packs, and they'd do that on the march.

Ah, Milk, Sweetened Condensed.
posted by zamboni at 9:30 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

Instead of the sandwich style in the main link, I've usually had this served on a hamburger-type bun. Super tasty with a mug of milk tea!
posted by Emily's Fist at 9:36 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

I love the tube milk but the tube milk does not love me
posted by poffin boffin at 9:47 AM on October 30, 2018 [4 favorites]

Looks good! I think it would be perfect for camping. (It also makes me hungry for tres leches French toast, but I'm not sure that's a thing that exists.)
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:15 AM on October 30, 2018

Can anyone speak to the similarities between this and Fluff? As a New Englander, Fluff is one of those things you either grow up with or find super gross.
posted by cobaltnine at 10:18 AM on October 30, 2018

Fluff is basically a spreadable marshmallow-like confection with very little (if any) dairy. Sweetened Condensed Milk is a true dairy product and has nutrition value beyond calories.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:20 AM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

(It also makes me hungry for tres leches French toast, but I'm not sure that's a thing that exists.)

it is real, and it's spectacular
posted by halation at 10:34 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

A more extreme version of this is big toast, a modern Cantonese classic. Take half a loaf of the whitest, squishiest least healthy bread you can find, bread so deficient in nutrients that wonder bread seems hearty by comparison. Toast, add a half pound of butter, drenched in condensed milk. It's better than it sounds.

Garnish with berries and ice cream. Regret eating it for days.
posted by Keith Talent at 10:36 AM on October 30, 2018 [5 favorites]

Picture of typical Big Toast.
posted by Keith Talent at 10:39 AM on October 30, 2018

Can anyone speak to the similarities between this and Fluff?

It's not as sweet as Fluff and the texture is very different. Fluff is... well, it's fluffy, kinda sticky/gummy, and airy. Milk toast is... well, it's milky, kinda sticky/silky, and dense. Fluff toast coats your lips and sticks to the roof of your mouth a bit; milk toast coats your teeth and slides across your tongue. I prefer milk toast, although Fluff sandwiches with peanut butter are nice, and the savoury peanut butter helps offset the sweetness for me. (Fluff's fine on white, though it's a bit cloying, and better on seeded rye, in my opinion; milk toast really is best enjoyed only on white bread, or brioche if you're fancy.)
posted by halation at 10:40 AM on October 30, 2018

I have never heard of this before and it sounds wonderful. I think I will try it with my kindergartener.
posted by slogger at 12:32 PM on October 30, 2018

This sounds delicious and immediately reminded me of Kaya toast which is also delicious.
posted by grumpybear69 at 12:35 PM on October 30, 2018 [5 favorites]

Okay fine. I'll try it. I even happen to be currently in possession of white bread and sweetened condensed milk, both unusual items in my house.

One thing about this--I recently went to open one of the cans of sweetened condensed milk and discovered that I no longer own a church key. I had to open it all the way with the can opener. And that got me trying to remember what all we used to use those things for. Sweetened condensed milk, yes. Also Hi-C and the like--we would punch two holes in the lid. But what else? Surely we used them for other things as well but I can't for the life of me think what.
posted by HotToddy at 12:47 PM on October 30, 2018

reporting from the hip young kids of the southeast asian cafe scene: last week i had my first avocado + marmite mashed with a bit of sweetened condensed milk on (black rice) toast. i still don't know what to think about it. my mouth is still confused.
posted by cendawanita at 1:11 PM on October 30, 2018

avocado + marmite mashed with a bit of sweetened condensed milk on (black rice) toast.

that seems like... a lot. like, i get where it's going, but i feel like either marmite or milk (not both!) is what i'd prefer. either alone sounds tasty, but both together just seems clash-y -- like a sweet avocado milkshake with onion and jalapeno thrown in it guacamole-style.
posted by halation at 1:23 PM on October 30, 2018

i was honestly looking forward to the avo+marmite, which was what was listed on the menu, so the surprise!condensed milk was definitely A LOT. but even you're trying to be trendy you can't run away from your cultural upbringing, i guess.

you know what else goes well with condensed milk? i think it's a very regional thing, but roti canai/prata.
posted by cendawanita at 1:27 PM on October 30, 2018 [3 favorites]

Condensed milk with Vietnamese coffee is the potential jet fuel for a new Enlightenment.

Do you know that you can sit with a dragon's hoard of dulce de leche if you put unopened cans of condensed milk in a slow cooker covered with water on low for 8 hours?

There is the Vietnamese avocado smoothie dessert of crushed ice, avo and condensed milk, too.

The best handpie/pierogi/runza dough uses condensed milk.

What I am saying is that a lot of joy and diabetes can be had with that can of condensed milk.
posted by jadepearl at 1:48 PM on October 30, 2018 [10 favorites]

roti prata with milo, tho -- puts nutella toast to shame!
posted by halation at 2:49 PM on October 30, 2018

roti prata with milo, tho -- puts nutella toast to shame!

OMFG that sounds delicious. I love roti prata SO MUCH.

I also love Milo, mostly because I came down with a sudden fever flying back from Thailand to Singapore and the flight attendant gave me an iced Milo to help me feel better. That and Just For Laughs Gags got me through the flight.
posted by grumpybear69 at 3:38 PM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

I have had many a "toast meal" at Markham diners, and lo they are good. Everything with condensed milk in it (except perhaps Halifax donair¹ not made by King of Donair) is good. My coworker from HK wouldn't let me try deep-fried condensed milk because he insisted that it was "girl food", though.

--
¹: yes, the sauce is sweetened condensed milk, white vinegar and garlic powder. Potentially revolting, but the folks in Halifax do magic somehow.
posted by scruss at 3:47 PM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

Do you know that you can sit with a dragon's hoard of dulce de leche if you put unopened cans of condensed milk in a slow cooker covered with water on low for 8 hours?

My boss served sweetened condensed milk prepared like this on wonderbread (un-toasted, as we don't have a toaster in our break room) to me last week. It was fantastic and tickled my sweet tooth brilliantly. I can only imagine how wonderful it is on toast.
posted by carsonb at 4:55 PM on October 30, 2018

And that got me trying to remember what all we used to use those things for. Sweetened condensed milk, yes.

They started canning beer in the 1930's. Pop top cans weren't a thing until the 60's, so if you wanted a can of beer during those 30 years, you needed to punch a pair of holes in the top of a can*

*cone top cans, which were capped excluded
posted by mikelieman at 6:05 PM on October 30, 2018

We had a different preparation than the ones described ... you would butter the bread and drizzle the condensed milk on, then broil it until the edges were crisp and the milk part gets kind of brûlée. You had to watch it closely, so as to not catch it on fire.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 10:04 PM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

People who grew up in the Soviet Union / Russia / eastern Europe have fond childhood memories of condensed milk as well - it seems the whole world can finally agree about one thing: condensed milk.
posted by Termite at 12:22 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

When we were sick as children, our mother would have "milk toast" made for us. In her prescription this was buttered white toast cut into bite size pieces, and sauced with hot milk and spiced with black pepper. I read above that some kids got SUGAR!
posted by Cranberry at 12:33 AM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]

Forgot to mention: the milk was fresh, not canned.
posted by Cranberry at 12:34 AM on October 31, 2018

@GoblinHoney "except for its use in...my mom's mashed potatoes"

wait, what? is that a thing?
posted by alchemist at 12:54 AM on October 31, 2018

One time out of boredom I opened a can of sweetened condensed milk and started dipping Hanover pretzels in it. Not little pretzels, the big jumbo ones. The crunch, the sweetness, the salt. Omg it was heavenly.

I'd eat the hell out of some condensed milk toast.
posted by ian1977 at 5:52 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

I think the problem here is that there are some countries in the world that sell condensed milk in tubes, and there are the sad and blighted countries that don't. I have, unfortunately, lived in one of the sad and blighted countries my whole life.

So when a person is wanting condensed milk toast, the inertia of opening up a whole can, combined with finding a way to glop just enough on the toast and finding somewhere to put the rest, is just too much. So the condensed milk toast just doesn't happen.

I still consider a critical point in my growing up to be that moment when I was still young enough to consider consuming a whole can of condensed milk and yet old enough to have the freedom and wherewithal to actually do so. I'd like to report that I made it about ⅓ of the way through before being thwarted by rising nausea. Writing this as a much older and wiser scruss, it definitely put me off condensed milk for a very, very long¹ time indeed.

---
¹: about 20 minutes.
posted by scruss at 11:27 AM on November 2, 2018