Gelatina de Leche?

Anybody have any recipes for these incredible Mexican gelatins made with canned milk? Their taste is really subtle and refreshing and I want to make one for Thanksgiving. This is really a cut above the usual Jello mold. Thanks.

Nestle in Mexico published a book of desserts, all using La Lechera condensed milk, called Dulces Sorpesas, Recetario de Postres (Sweet Surprises, a Dessert Recipe Collection).

There are 10 different gelatin recipes, all containing some additional flavor such as guayaba, strawberry, chocolate, mango, rum, guanaba, tangerine, pineapple, etc. If any of these sound like what you are seeking, I'd be happy to key it in for you.

Bill/SFNM

Bill/SFNM wrote:Nestle in Mexico published a book of desserts, all using La Lechera condensed milk, called Dulces Sorpesas, Recetario de Postres (Sweet Surprises, a Dessert Recipe Collection).

There are 10 different gelatin recipes, all containing some additional flavor such as guayaba, strawberry, chocolate, mango, rum, guanaba, tangerine, pineapple, etc. If any of these sound like what you are seeking, I'd be happy to key it in for you.

Bill/SFNM

Handicapped by the fact I don't speak or read Spanish , I nonetheless think this site may have some of Bill's recipes.
Nestle Mexico dessert recipes website

I don't speak Spanish either, so I plugged one of the recipes from the site Ann Fisher found into the Google translator. Here's what came out:

MOUSSE OF GUAYABA
(8 portions)

2 tins of Average Cream NESTLÉ Lite
12 guayabas, cooked
4 spoonfuls of bee honey
2 spoonfuls of grenetina (14 g)
1/4 water cup (60 mililiter)

It liquefies Average Cream NESTLÉ Lite with guayabas and the honey, previously adds the grenetina hydrated in the water and dissolved to Bath Maria, empty in a mold and refrigérala 2 hours or until it materializes. Ofrécela.

Time of Preparation: 20 minutes

It cooks guayabas in 2 water cups during 10 minutes. Nutriconsejo: We invited to serve the pieces to you as gelatin on sweet integral cakes to include in your dessert a rich food of the group of the cereals that will give to energy and fiber you for sentirte well.

Good luck!

Wow! -- Thanks for the response, everyone! I appreciate all your help! But unfortunately, while these were good suggestions, they still weren't the sort of gelatina that I was thinking of. I would venture a guess that the mothers of first generation Mexican-Americans might know what I'm referring to & have a recipe for this -- it's pretty popular as party food for baptisms, 1st communions, etc. So if someone has a mother that is from Mexico & is a great cook, please ask them for their recipe for a "gelatina de leche." I bet that would work!

The Nestle site has some interesting gelatinas, but the dairy base of these were all yogurt. The ones that I'm thinking of often have several dairy sources in them, such as regular milk, canned condensed milk & canned evaporated milk. (This may have you thinking of the "pastel de tres leches," but this is a cake instead of a gelatin mold.) The guayaba mousse doesn't have any dairy in it at all, but looks delicious nonetheless.

So I guess I'll keep searching, and would welcome any additional help that you may come upon. I do happen to read Spanish so if you just happen to come across any more recipes in Spanish, feel free to pass me their link. (One problem: I never know if these "jello" molds are considered salads or desserts in the websites online)

I promise to pass along the final recipe on here when I finally find it so you'll know why I'm jones-ing for one of these slippery, cool & delicious desserts. Thank you all!!!

I've got a bunch of Mexican cookbooks with "gelatina de leche" recipes, but none of them call for "canned" milk as you orginally requested (except the one from Nestle). Would you be willing to try one using fresh milk?

Bill/SFNM

Artemesia wrote:The Nestle site has some interesting gelatinas, but the dairy base of these were all yogurt. The ones that I'm thinking of often have several dairy sources in them, such as regular milk, canned condensed milk & canned evaporated milk. (This may have you thinking of the "pastel de tres leches," but this is a cake instead of a gelatin mold.) The guayaba mousse doesn't have any dairy in it at all, but looks delicious nonetheless.

What's "media crema" if not dairy? I thought it was canned cream.

Does the dish you're looking for differ substantially from panna cotta?

Here's a recipe from northern Mexico that you might like better since it calls for a can of condensed milk.

http://www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx/recetas/nID/133897/

(It's also in Spanish, google-translator fans.)

Hi,

The crema LAZ pictured I have found recently in Big Lots (sometimes called) Odd LOts, which sells discontinued items. Not suggesting this is discontinued but it is for an orphan market and may have ended up where transportation was an issue and offloaded it cheap.

Regards,

Amata nabbed it! Thanks! This is what I was looking for. It differs a bit in that it just has condensed milk in it & I thought they used more dairy, but this will do nicely.

As promised, I did translate it for any of you foodies out there interested in tasting it. The only thing I'm confused about it the lemon/lime thing. The majority of the juice is lime juice, which is HELL to squeeze out of those things! And only a 1/4 cup of lemon juice. But what gets weirder is that in Mexican Spanish, BOTH lemons & limes are usually called "limones" -- only limes are "limones verdes," or green lemons. Here they're calling it lime juice. Anyway, I would think whatever you had the most of would do, as they're so much alike.

The Recipe of the Century / Lemon/Lime Gelatin
(Yes, that's the name...)

Ingredients for 8 portions:
3 Cups Lime Juice
¼ Cup Lemon Juice
1 Can Condensed Milk
30 Grams of Plain Gelatin, like Knox (A packet of gelatin is 7 grams [1/4 oz.], so you’ll need about 4-1/3 packs)
½ C. Water

Decoration:
2 Cactus Fruits - sliced for decoration
4 Cherries – halved for decoration
1 Circular Mold – 1.5 liter capacity (medium-size), oiled

Preparation:
1. Place the gelatin in a small bowl and add the water & dissolve in a bain Marie (set in a larger container of warm water)
2. Add the rest of the ingredients with the gelatin & mix well. Add a little of the gelatin to the mold. Arrange the some of fruit pieces on the bottom of the mold and put the mold into the refrigerator to allow it to set up. Then add the rest of the gelatin up to the top of the mold.
3. Refrigerate until it is set throughout, de-mold onto a plate & serve it with the remaining fruit slices to decorate.

Friendly disclaimer: I can't tell you how this turns out because I haven't tested it yet, so you're on your own. Let me know how it goes for you.

Artemesia, I'm glad this recipe does the trick for you! Yes, I thought the reference to "lima y limon" was unusual too (actually I thought lemon was limon amarillo on the infrequent occasions when it's called for).

This may indeed be the recipe of the century, but, for the benefit of those who didn't follow the link, I'll just note that the source is a newspaper in Torreon called "El Siglo" (The Century).

Artemesia – I’m happy you brought this topic up. I’m afraid what I have to say won’t be directly relevant to your question but might be of interest to others.

There’s a mini-chain on the Southwest side, Gelatinas Cris, specializing in these desserts. I could never bring myself to eat there because I have an irrational dislike of gelatin in its many forms (I’m slowly getting over it). I’m afraid I can’t find my menu but I remember, other than gelatinas, an interesting variety of drinks and desserts as well as a small selection of food including Oaxacan tamales and pambasos.

Gelatinas Cris 1
6534 S Pulaski Rd
Chicago
773-735-5394

Gelatinas Cris 2
2716 W Cermak Rd
Chicago
773-582-8162

Gelatinas Cris 3
3530 W 63rd St
Chicago
773-776-3650

Just to reply to a few questions posed here...

Bill: I would love to see any recipe you might have that is dairy based -- Send 'er on over!

Laz: "Media Crema?" I have to admit, that was a new one on me. I never heard of the stuff before. But then I got to thinking about it. So much of Mexico (& other Latin American countries) is rural & therefore sometimes people don't have access to refrigeration & fresh dairy products. Here's where a canned cream product would come in handy for cooking. I guess that's why you don't see it on the shelves in this country because we have such free access to fresh dairy. Makes sense.

And BTW, I guess this is very much like a panna cotta. I'm sure most of these dishes have a European point of origin & then were transported to the New World. (The wonderful history of boiled bovine hooves??)

Cathy: I imagine that the shelf life on these products is probably longer than the date stamped on it, so it was probably still good to use. But then, I'm always sort of squeamish about using past date products. NOTHING's worth getting sick over! It's good to be careful.

Amata: That's funny about El Siglo (the Century). I thought they just were VERY proud of their recipe!

Rene: That was very interesting about Gelatinas Cris. Thanks for passing that on to me. I think I might call them & request a product list, as much for the Oaxacan tamales as the gelatinas! Sounds good.

So, thanks for all the help, guys. I'm a newbie here & you all made me feel right at home!

BTW, I'm going to include one more recipe that I just got from the mother of one of my daughters' friends. I had a tough time reading the handwriting & translating it, so be advised.

MEXICAN MILK GELATIN
2 C. Pineapple juice
2 packets Knox unflavored gelatin
1/2 packet cream cheese
1/2 can Evaporated milk
1/2 can Condensed milk
2 drops vanilla extract

Boil pineapple juice and unflavored gelatin until fully dissolved.
Pour into blender along with cream cheese, condensed milk, and evaporated milk. Blend until smooth.
Pour into a bowl or mold and refrigerate.

Sounds simple enough. If you try this one, please let me know how it goes.

Thanks again all!!!!

Damn!

Driving up Cicero I noticed a place called Gelatina Cris and was going to post my amazing discovery-- but who else should have already noticed it but Rene G, of course. (Although I'm having a hard time seeing which of the ones he mentions was the one I saw. I think it said #2, in which case that one seems to have moved, or gone through a Vito & Nick's-like mitosis into multiple lines of descent.)

Ah well, file it in the back of my head for somewhere to get dessert after a visit to the new Tacos del Pacifico in about 5 months....