Dulce de Leche

Despite my grandparents living in Argentina, my mother was born in Uruguay as they did not want her to be conscripted if she were a boy. As I understand it the Argentines are not always well liked in South America so my mother is often quite firm on the fact that she was born Uruguayan.

Despite largely growing up in England I was exposed to a fair chunk of another culture for which I will always be grateful. A significant part of that is South American cuisine. Dulce de Leche (Milk Jam) is one of the elements of South American cooking that plays no small part in a number of my family's stories.

The recipe for Dulce de Leche is deceptively simple:

• Two cups of milk.
• One cup of sugar.
• A pinch of cream of Tartar.
• Vanilla.

One can use vanilla sugar, good vanilla essence or infuse the vanilla into the milk before cooking the rest.

Simply place all the ingredients into a thick pan over a low heat and cook until the mixture turns a medium caramel brown and thickens, stirring occasionally. This can take anything up to an hour and a half.

The resulting concoction can be eaten with a spoon, used in cake and pastry fillings or just spread on bread.

A rather more simple way of preparing it (not without its own risks) is to boil a can of sweetened condensed milk for 2 and a half hours. Remember to keep an eye on it and top up the water if necessary. Do not open the can in any circumstance until it has had a chance to cool. If the can starts bulging while cooking take it off the heat immediately and stand well back.

The Dulce de Leche produced in this way tends to be a little coarser and less flavoursome.

An english cousin was shown the simple recipe once but unfortunately forgot that it was cooking. 6 hours later the pan had boiled dry and the can had exploded spraying hot metal and hot overcooked Dulce de Leche everywhere. As it was my mother's kitchen and it still smelled of Dulce de Leche 3 months later she was less than pleased.

Another time a very old friend of my mother's was living in the States and started to crave real Dulce de Leche - just like grandmother used to make. She had been using the condensed milk recipe but this time it just wasn't good enough.

She called her Argentine friend in the next town, who after some deliberation said 'No I don't have a recipe for it, but if you take a tin of sweetened condensed milk...'.

My mother's friend then called an Argentine friend in the next county, who said, after some thought, 'Well if you take a tin of sweetened condensed milk...'.

Calls were placed to assorted Argentine friends throughout the Eastern Seaboard. Who without exception replied: 'I don't know the proper recipe but if you take a tin of...'.

My mother's friend not being one to give up without a fight said to herself 'Right, I'll call up the Argentine Embassy in Washington D.C.'.

The operator receiving her call was more than a little surprised by her request and had to reply that she didn't know but if my mother's friend would hold then the operator would ask around in the embassy.

Twenty minutes passed and the operator returned to the call.

'Well I asked everybody, even the Ambassador's chef and the Ambassador's wife and none of them had the recipe, but if you take a tin of...'.

A few weeks after, my mother received a letter from her friend telling this story and my mother was able to send back her own grandmother's recipe as I have recorded above.