I hope someone can help me on this. I was with a friend who planned a
corn chowder in her Crock-Pot. She put the corn and milk, and a little
butter in the pot, set it, and off we went on a hike. Several hours.
When we came back it had curdled and looked awful. We didn't eat it.
Has this happened to any of you? Have you cooked milk=based soup in a
Crock-Pot successfully? Any suggestions gratefully accepted.
TIA
Nancree

"nancree" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>I hope someone can help me on this. I was with a friend who planned a
> corn chowder in her Crock-Pot. She put the corn and milk, and a little
> butter in the pot, set it, and off we went on a hike. Several hours.
> When we came back it had curdled and looked awful. We didn't eat it.
> Has this happened to any of you? Have you cooked milk=based soup in a
> Crock-Pot successfully? Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

I described below (Lunch: Five dollars, etc.) how I made potato soup in the
crock pot. I didn't start it in the crock pot, I started it on the stove,
and once I had made the roux and added/heated the milk, I dumped it into the
crock pot along w/ the potatoes. Covered it and put it on low for two
hours, maybe a bit less. The soup had formed a little buttery-looking skin
on top by the time I got back, but it didn't look awful. I stirred it up,
and it was fine; it had thickened a bit during the two hours (it thickened
like crazy once the soup cooled...we had to thin it with a lot of milk to
reheat the leftovers) . This was the only time I've tried making a
milk-based soup in the crock pot.

Maybe it was the several hours thing that didn't work for your friend? Did
she have it on low or high? Not sure what went wrong? If it was me, I'd
check out a recipe site like allrecipes.com, and search for soup recipes w/
milk in a crock pot or slow cooker. See what their technique is, and check
the user reviews for tips/tricks/tweaks. Hope her next attempt is more
successful...what a bummer to come back from a hike all hungry for soup, and
find a curdled mess!

Chris

nancree wrote:
> I hope someone can help me on this. I was with a friend who planned a
> corn chowder in her Crock-Pot. She put the corn and milk, and a
> little butter in the pot, set it, and off we went on a hike.

Well there's your problem. You need some sort of broth or stock, not just
milk.

Several
> hours. When we came back it had curdled and looked awful. We didn't
> eat it. Has this happened to any of you? Have you cooked milk=based
> soup in a Crock-Pot successfully? Any suggestions gratefully
> accepted.
> TIA
> Nancree

I have made cream soups and cheese soup and veggie-cheese soups in a crock
pot but *never* without adding water or broth or stock as well as the milk
or cream. I am assuming she had it set for HIGH, which is a no-no for cream
(milk) soup in any case, crock pot or not. Creamy soups require low and
slow. And attendance.

I wouldn't hike off (pardon the pun) and leave a crock pot with anything in
it for more than a couple of hours on the HIGH setting. Obviously not all
crock pots are the same. But all of mine get rather hot on HIGH and I
rarely use that setting.

Jill

"jmcquown" > wrote in message
. ..
> nancree wrote:
>> I hope someone can help me on this. I was with a friend who planned a
>> corn chowder in her Crock-Pot. She put the corn and milk, and a
>> little butter in the pot, set it, and off we went on a hike.
>
> Well there's your problem. You need some sort of broth or stock, not just
> milk.
>
> Several
>> hours. When we came back it had curdled and looked awful. We didn't
>> eat it. Has this happened to any of you? Have you cooked milk=based
>> soup in a Crock-Pot successfully? Any suggestions gratefully
>> accepted.
>> TIA
>> Nancree
>
> I have made cream soups and cheese soup and veggie-cheese soups in a crock
> pot but *never* without adding water or broth or stock as well as the milk
> or cream. I am assuming she had it set for HIGH, which is a no-no for
> cream
> (milk) soup in any case, crock pot or not. Creamy soups require low and
> slow. And attendance.
>
> I wouldn't hike off (pardon the pun) and leave a crock pot with anything
> in
> it for more than a couple of hours on the HIGH setting. Obviously not all
> crock pots are the same. But all of mine get rather hot on HIGH and I
> rarely use that setting.
>
> Jill
>
I agree with Jill on the high setting. I only use that when I'm at home to
attend it. I use low if I want to leave and let it do it's work for several
hours. I've not done a lot of milk based things, but the recipes I have
that call for some say to stir it in at the end and then cook for an hour or
so.

Lynne

I've been told by quite a few different people to use Evaporated milk
in the crockpot to prevent it from curdling. not sure of the science,
but it's what I used and so far it's always been successful!

Thanks for the info, Jill
Nancree

Thanks, Chris, for your response
Nancree

All very helpful answers from, also, Chris, King's Crown and Jude. What
a great group this is!
Nancree

"nancree" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>I hope someone can help me on this. I was with a friend who planned a
> corn chowder in her Crock-Pot. She put the corn and milk, and a little
> butter in the pot, set it, and off we went on a hike. Several hours.
> When we came back it had curdled and looked awful. We didn't eat it.
> Has this happened to any of you? Have you cooked milk=based soup in a
> Crock-Pot successfully? Any suggestions gratefully accepted.
> TIA
> Nancree
>
Was it possible that the milk was not quite fresh (ready to sour)?

Jude wrote:
>
> I've been told by quite a few different people to use Evaporated milk
> in the crockpot to prevent it from curdling. not sure of the science,
> but it's what I used and so far it's always been successful!
What ratio compared to using regular milk? Do you thin it with water
to equal? Thanks...Sharon

All the crockpot recipes I've used add a can of evapmilk but no regualr
milk........no need to thin it.......I would guess it could sub 1 to 1,
but I'm pretty new to the whole crockpot thing.

I've got a great recipe for a crockpot mac & cheese that turns out like
baked mac & cheese casserole. It uses 1 can of evap milk along with the
butter, cheese, and a couple eggs. I've made a creamy broccolo soup
with sauteed onions, chopped broccolie, stock, and a can of milk, plus
some shredded cheese, basically. Seems like a 1 to 1 replacement from
those 2 I've done.