Evaporated milk is one of those things I remember having in the cupboard all the time when I was a kid.  My Mom used it quite often for a variety of reasons.  It was convenient, cheap, and kept for a long, long time.  Living out in the country, fresh milk was not easily available, so was guarded and kept for drinking and not cooking.  So, to make cream soup, chowder, or even frostings or other desserts, Mom would pull out the evaporated milk to substitute for cream or fresh milk.

I actually prefer using evaporated milk in my Fish Chowder, and other creamy soups.  The texture is very nice and you don’t have to worry about scorching the milk if you let the temperature get away from you a little.  I’ll share a Real Simple Fish Chowder recipe that I use when I want to make it simple, but good.

• 3 cups of cooked fish, any kind you like, flaked up a little
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 big potatoes, cooked (mash half, cube half)
• 2 strips bacon, fried, drained, crumbled
• 1 tsp, more or less, salt
• black pepper to taste
• 1 1/4 cups evaporated milk

Melt the butter in a soup pot and lightly saute onion.  In separate pot, cook potatoes, mash half and cube half.  Fry the bacon in separate skillet, drain, and crumble.  Now, add all the ingredients once they’re ready to the soup pot with butter and onion.  Give it all a good stir and heat through.  Refrigerate, and reheat the next day… it always tastes better the day after.  Serve with crusty bread, and sprinkle a little fresh chives on top of the chowder.  Very simple and good.

I’ve used half-and-half instead of the evaporated milk in this recipe and it just doesn’t taste like home.  How do you use evaporated milk?  Any fun new recipes?  I’d love to hear from you!