I had the water boiling and the noodles were ready to go and I discovered that there was no milk to be had in the fridge.
What would you do? Opt for the butter and garlic route? Use some Ragu? Not I said the fly, I used milk and it tasted exactly the same. Why is milk so necessary in recipes? Is it only to add flavor and taste or does it cause a special chemical reaction that can only happen with the presence of milk?
You said you used milk and it tasted exactly the same… I’m guessing you meant “water”…
Milk seems to add flavor and body to the recipe. Not to mention calories, but that’s not the question.
…what Tedster said.
I’m guessing that what you were making was along the lines of packaged noodles with a sauce packet? If so, most likely substituting water would be just fine. Adding milk to a recipe like that adds richness, some nutritional value and does aid in coagulation (to thicken the sauce), but isn’t entirely necessary because often the packaged sauces have some form of powdered dairy/protein already there(like Mac & Cheese). But, if you were to make a sauce from scratch, such as a cheese sauce, I wouldn’t forget the milk there.
I’m guessing you were making Kraft Dinner, or some other brand of the same? If so, I’m with Tedster - using water works just fine, especially if you added the requisite 4 Tablespoons of butter. The butter alone adds enough flavor and body - no need to use milk as well.
Interestingly enough, you can cut the butter in half, and it still tastes the same. I dunno about cutting the butter in half and using water - at some point, you’re going to notice the difference.
On whether a “special chemical reaction” happens, nope, not with milk. Like chicken/beef/fish stock, wine, and other flavored liquids added to recipes, using milk simply adds flavor. You can always use water, and the recipe will at least turn out, as opposed to omitting an egg from a cake recipe, or not using the proper amount of yeast in a bread recipe. 'course, that chicken soup might not taste as good just using water instead of chicken stock, but it’ll at least be the same consistency as if you’d used stock. The bread sans yeast, however, will be a brick.
Actually, you can leave out both the milk and the butter and cut your fat and calories significantly on most packaged noodle/rice dishes. The only thing I think might suffer (tastewise) is Mac & Cheese. Things like Rice A Roni/NoodleRoni/Lipton Noodles & Sauce and Farmhouse rice mixes taste identical with the milk & butter left out entirely.
Yea, I’m reminded of the times in college when I couldn’t afford milk for my Macaroni and Cheese.
I’d use extra margarine, if I had it. Once I used mayonnaise. Another time I used a bit of the oil drained from the can of tuna I was going to stir into it…
I had roommates that would just use water, but I never resorted to it.
I travel extensively in the wilderness. Those prepackaged pasta dinners that call for milk and butter are excellent fare. (Thank you Knorr!) Of course, I can’t bring milk and butter with me. I either go without, or substitute oil or margarine, which travel extremely well. Even without any subtitution, the meals taste pretty good. Oil or margarine add extra flavor, but aren’t really necessary. Any meal that requires you to turn a cheese powder into a cheese sauce will suffer greatly. If possible, buy the varieties that come with the sauce pre-made and packaged in foil.
While someone is always willing to drink the last of the milk and travel off in silence, but no one bothers the dry skim milk. So I always can re-constitute it and have “milk” for cooking, puddings, sauces and all. To replace the fat missing in dry skim milk, just add a little margerine, butter, oil, even mayo.
Jois
On the other hand, try substituting water for milk in a from-scratch recipe that is largely milk and flour - say, pancake batter - and the result will resemble wallpaper paste more closely than any known food product.