Cooking(!) tea in milk

[MEversbergII]

I gave this the other try last night using some material off a Fu brick and some milk on the stove. It was vile.

SO, while the basics are pretty self explanatory - simmer milk, put in tea - vital details are missing; the ratio of milk to dry mass, whether or not pu (or fu) should be blanched first, how long it's to be simmered at a minimum.

I was playing it by ear and the result was hilariously toxic.

I've heard this method is one of two common ways Fu is prepared in Tibet (the other being a reduction of the leaves to a syrup, which is mixed with butter and milk to make Tibetian Butter Tea), so I'm interested in this method mostly within the context of using Fu. However, that's not the only tea possible (strongly cooked Assam in milk is the base for some forms of masala chai), so I'm leaving this in "General" unless Chip says otherwise.

En avant!

M.

[jayinhk]

Sounds like quite the experiment! If you're going to cook the tea, use a lot less than you would for a pot as it will overbrew and be horrendous otherwise. I'd throw some butter in for the fat content too, as it is removed from milk in the modern world.

[MEversbergII]

I use whole milk exclusively - 3.25% by legal definition. Unhandled milk varies from 1.5% - 4.5%; is skim the norm in HK?

M.

[jayinhk]

No, we use whole milk here too, but nothing seems to have the fat content of the milk we get in India, where you find lots of globules of fat sitting on top if you boil it. It might be that the cows we use here are Friesland and the cows over there are Jersey, but I really don't know. Most of the milk we use at home here in HK is Australian now, or pasteurized milk in cartons from India. Milk is really expensive here (most people don't drink it, kids included).

[MEversbergII]

I could attempt to live off milk India aside, I don't think Asia in general is well known for being a land of dairy...well, except the Mongols and Tibetans... Ok so China, Japan and SE Asia then.

I'm guessing the milk you're thinking of hasn't been homogenized. I don't think law requires homogenization anywhere in the US, but it's overwhelmingly the norm. I have gotten non-homogenized milk and there's always a blob of cream floating up top (called a "button"). It's a rarity though.

Pasteurized milk is also the norm, as selling raw milk is illegal in a vast majority of the US. Some places have a work around like cow shares, but my state doesn't allow that...which implies if I own my own cow, I can't consume the milk it produces, I think. I also can't give it away.

M.

[jayinhk]

That's ridiculous. In India milk is often delivered to front doors by the doodhwala (milk dealer) every morning, and raw milk is pretty common.

True, there's not much milk/cheese consumption in Asia outside of India/Pakistan/Bangladesh/Central/Western Asia. The East Asians aren't into it so much.

[MEversbergII]

Yeah, the politics of raw milk are pretty wild around here. The issue actually has its roots back in WW1... Recently the UHT pasteurizing process has taken the forefront, which I'm a bit skeptical of. Hard to find grass fed milk as well. Common milk is from grain fed cows.

The milkman stopped being a thing here in...eh, 1970 or thereabouts. Gotta get your own these days.

I think tomorrow night I'll try cooking a few cups worth. Tentatively 1g/100ml ratio. Not sure how long to simmer the tea in there for, though, so I'll try 2 minutes, same as if it were water. I'll blanch the Fu first though!

M.

[jayinhk]

How did it work out? Yeah I realize milkmen are a thing of the past most places in the world. In New York I bought milk in quart/gallon jugs at the store like everyone else. lol. Here in HK it's all cartons at the supermarket too, but we tend to buy cases of UHT since it's substantially cheaper.

I actually avoid grain-fed beef and milk (easy to do here since most of our beef and dairy is Australian)! That and the rBST in American dairy is scary stuff.

[MEversbergII]

Ah yes, I forgot you were in the US a while! The brand milk I stick with is supposedly rBST free, which is a good thing.

I haven't gotten to making it yet - been busy/distracted lately.

M.

[Suutej_Tsaj]

Not exactly what you're looking for, but I often make Mongolian salted tea (suutej tsaj, hence my nickname). It's usually made with low-quality pu'erhs or Chinese greens, but it tastes good with Indian blacks, too.
Bring the water to a boil, throw in 3-4 g of tea, let it simmer for a couple of minutes, then add the milk in a 2:1 water to milk ratio. Wait until it starts to boil again, then add butter and salt according to your taste. Don't stir it, but pour it from above with a ladle.
It's easy to make, can substitute a light meal and, believe it or not, tastes great, too.

[jayinhk]

I'm going to try it with some Borneo black.