Milky Way

Through his Havana-born father, there is a certain amount of sweetened condensed milk flowing in David Guas’ veins.

“When my sister Tracy and I were little, we loved it when our dad would demonstrate his quick-method for making dulce de leche. All it involved was peeling the paper label off a can of sweetened condensed milk – Borden’s or Eagle, it didn’t matter which – and boiling it, completely sealed, for a couple of hours. I happen to like mine really dark,” he points out, “so now I let the can simmer for a good six hours.” Their father still never tires of telling the story of when he and his brother, as children, forgot to keep the boiling pot topped off with water: after a while, the can exploded, blasting dulce de leche all over the kitchen – ceiling, light fixtures, you name it. They got in big trouble, but that didn’t put them off the sweet stuff.

And sure enough, when Guas made a pilgrimage to Miami to learn about Cuban desserts first-hand from his aunts and cousins there, he found sweetened condensed milk in abundance. Their friend and housemate, Teresita, who cooked homemade desserts for a number of local eateries, made her great big sheets of flan with nothing but sweetened condensed milk and egg yolks. “My own technique is a little more complex – a few more ingredients keep if from setting as firmly as hers – but it just goes to show you how they use the stuff in the old country. It’s a real staple.”

“Oddly,” he reminisces, “one of my favorite condensed milk memories growing up is not at all Cuban, but pure New Orleans. Sno-balls were a regular treat of my childhood, and the ‘crème de la crème’ version of this summertime delicacy was to choose your favorite flavor and have it drizzled liberally with sweetened condensed milk. I loved strawberry syrup – also chocolate – on the fluffy shaved ice with milk; if you were going all-out, you’d also have it ‘stuffed’ with soft serve ice cream. Nothing cooler, nothing sweeter.”

These days, sweetened condensed milk is a key component of Guas’ key lime tarts, lemon ice-box pie, and, of course, flan. He likes his dulce de leche [very dark] with ice cream. He drizzles it on top, heating it up for more fluidity, and often swirls it right in when churning his own. His father? “He would dig out a great big spoonful for himself – to eat plain – whenever he transferred it from the boiled can to a jar or Tupperware container to store in the fridge,” says Guas, “Too rich -- and believe it or not -- too sweet for me!”