What causes cooked milk to curdle?!
What causes cooked milk to curdle?
what cuases cooked milk to curdle?
Answers:
Cooked milk starts to curdle because of the proteins in the milk. During the cooking process the bonds between the proteins start breaking apart. Its when these proteins start looking to form new bonds that they start creating lumps. These lumps are just chunks of protein. Out of the three major componets in foods (Carbohydrates, fats and proteins) proteins are the most unstable. That means that they are the most willing to change with time.
The techincal term for this is called coagulation. However its this same process of proteins bonds breaking and forming new bonds allows us to cook eggs. If they did not coagulate you would never have firm eggs. They would always be runny.
There are a couple ways to prevent milk from curdling. One is to change the pH of the milk with either an acid or a base (Vinegar or baking soda). However if you add too much of thoes indrediants you will also curdle your milk. The other way to prevent it is to avoid boiling the milk. If you heat the milk to no higher than 190 degrees you should be fine. Boiling is 212 degrees at sea level.
If you need to curdle mild for a recipe, a little bit of vinegar. If it's curdling while you cook it, it's either a) bad or b) you seriously need to clean the pot.