Benefits of soy milk in cooking
After having employed soy milk with great success and satisfaction, I felt I had to give some highlights on the advantages on using it in the kitchen. I must admit that soy milk never blew me away. The thing that disturbed me the most was that floury aftertaste that stays, not matter what, in any recipe where it takes part. Honestly, between cow milk and soy beverage, the first one wins, no doubts. Anyway, I found that soy milk is a valid ally in vegan recipes and not just as a substitute for cow milk, but also as an emulsifier and a jellying agents.
Soy milk as an emulsifier
The preparation of vegan custard gave me the ultimate confirmation of the emulsifying power of soy milk. Thanks to the relatively high content of lecithin and proteins, soy milk allows obtaining a custard in a time record. One of the advantages is that the custard can be brought to boil, without that unpleasant aftertaste of omelette that comes when you cook an egg custard at too high temperatures.
Soy milk as jellying agent
Another pleasant surprise is the jellying property of soy milk. Still during the preparation of the vegan custard, I discovered that the custard, after some resting time in the fridge, had jellied so much to resemble a pudding. Well, also the classical egg custard thicken a bit after restano in the fridge, but not as much as the one prepared with soy milk. It is possible that some jellying proteins allow the gel formation, in a similar fashion of what happens to eggs in quiches. I am still looking to confirm this. So, soy milk has this interesting property, in particular when we are looking for replacements for gelatine.
Of course, the soy milk custard has a bit of different taste than the classical made with eggs. But still, it remains an interesting alternative to use in the preparation of vegan recipes or for people who can’t digest lactose.
Have you ever tried soy milk? What do you think about it? Let me know in the comments :)