We attended an extended family reunion in Mount Pleasant, Utah. It is about 2 hours south of Salt Lake City in a very small farming community.
There were about 40-50 people there – including aunts and uncles and cousins that we didn’t even know we had. Two of the popular events at the reunion was the Chinese Auction (ping me if you would like more information about that) and the other was dinner. It was a milk can dinner!
The milk cans (or cream cans) come in various sizes, the biggest being 10 1/2 gallons. That can is about 3 1/2 feet tall and about a foot in diameter.
There was enough room for Grandma to put in ~25 lbs of potatoes, carrots, onions, peppers, and several roasts. They spiced everything up nice, added some water and put it on a propane burner with the lid slightly cracked to allow the steam to escape and slow cooked it for several hours. You could smell it all over the yard and garden. When it was done, the roasts were so tender they fell apart with your fork and the vegetables were done – but not mushy.
It was so good! You ought to try a milk can dinner for your next big gathering. Sorry – I don’t have a source for used milk cans…let me know if you do. However, I did find a source for new cream cans.
I had a great contact with AG from CA who offered to provide Milk Can Dinner tips and tricks. She provided awesome information that I wanted to include in the post.
Please continue to post comments and suggestions on making the ultimate “Milk Can Supper”.
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I am what is known as a “dump cook”. My Mother always said I’d be my happiest cooking for a thrashing crew and she was right. I heard about Milk Can Dinners years ago and had my first opportunity in April ’09 to make my dream come true.
Our little club built a float for the Petaluma Butter and Eggs Days parade. We built the float on one of our members ranches so I took the opportunity to cook this dinner for everyone. IT WAS A SMASH HIT!
I first had a Milk Can Dinner (I prefer to call it Supper as it goes more toward the “Okie trend”) on a motorcycle run in Kings County California several years ago.
Prior to that trip, I had purchased a 10 gal. milk can from a surplus store just for grins.It was aluminum and brand new and cost me a total of $10.00. It still had the Norwegian manufacturers documentation in it.
The group that put the “Supper” together on that motorcycle run turned out to all be children of the dust bowl travelers and let me tell you, the supper was great!
I have cooked it twice now and learn each time. I cooked this supper both times on a portable propane burner.
This is such a fun meal, good food and the men just hang around with the aromas and asks questions. It’s fun to see the guys get so involved, it’s almost primal. This last time, I served 50 and the cost was $102.00.
Here are some things you probably already know but I have been writing items down as I go.
- This needs to be done when corn is in season
- For a 10 Gal can: 2″ of liquid to start = 1 1/2 gal. I started with 4 cans of beer and then the rest of the 1 1/2 gal. liquid was water. The cabbage on the bottom of the can takes any “burn” that might happen. My guests wanted more cabbage and I had a total of 6 heads….quartered, four on the bottom and two on top.Next time I’ll add more cabbage I guess!!!
see below - Break the corn cobs into halves for easier handling when turning out and for the guests use also
- If you use small pre-packaged pre-peeled carrots they cook too fast and break down. I used 5 lbs of bulk carrots and could have used more. They were cut into approx. 5-6″ lengths
- Pour off all the liquid (retain some) before you turn your prepared food into bowls. It not only keeps from splashing hot liquid but it’s easier to separate the individual product into containers, all corn, all brats, all potatoes, etc. Also, food does not continue to cook when out of the hot liquid
- Try and buy potatoes all the same size so they will cook evenly
- I put in 50 brats and 2 large ham shanks (quartered). The ham shanks were plenty of seasoning so I didn’t have to salt and pepper. Some people salt and pepper before they even taste the food anyway. I figured I’d let them do that but it didn’t appear that too many did. The ham shanks were in demand and I may use more of them at a later time. As the brats are close to the top, I could spear one after 1 1/2 hours of cooking on the propane burner and determine if all was done and ready
I used a portable propane burner to cook my dinner on. I had all items at room temp. when I put them in the liquid in layers and had already turned the burner on medium high. My first one burned some of the cabbage so I didn’t turn the burner completely up. I did start at 5:00 and turned the food out at about 6:45 when I was satisfied the brats were cooked.
My first dinner was supported by salads made in wooden buckets…I have inventive and precious friends.
My friend in Grand Prairie Texas wanted information on where to get a milk can so I found some on e-bay and sent that info to her. I’m keeping my information in a binder as I know this is going to come up again.
Let me know if you need a cook to help out at your next shindig! Strangers are just friends we haven’t met! My apron is washed and ready to go………….
AG
Picture of the Now famous Milk Can on a hay bale wagon
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About Dave
Tell me more about the Chinese Auction!
Heather asked about the Chinese Auction process.
Each family coming to the family reunion was asked to bring items to donate for the auction. These were great as all of my aunts would bring homemade quilts and other incredible handmade items. There would be toys, kitchen items, quilts, homemade goodies and treats, and some junk too
.
The Chinese Auction actually was a separate auction or raffle for each donated item. For each item, my Grandma would put a cup. Then she would sell reffle tickets 10 for $1. The kids would all put their raffle tickets in the cups in front of each item that they wanted. If they wanted it really bad, they would put a lot of tickets in the cup.
At the end of the auction time, each item was brought forward, the cup full of raffle tickets was dumped into a bowl and my Grandpa would choose the winning ticket. You had to be present to win.
Often times, the person who put the most tickets in the cup would win, but sometimes the 5 year old who put one ticket in the cup would win a huge kingsize 50 year old quilt or something like that.
It was always an exciting and fun event…there were lots of tickets sold and every family usually came away winning something.
What a fun and memorable day! I have been inspired by your story and will be hosting a milk can supper of my own! I found milk cans in the classifieds section of a local online newspaper. A couple of questions about the dinner:
1) Did one milk can feed 40 people?
2) How did you serve the dinner–did it turn out like a stew, and did you simply dump the contents of the can into a large serving bowl/bucket?
3) Any other tips or useful advice for preparing and serving would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Answers to Heather’s questions:
1) Did one milk can feed 40 people?
The milk can had room for a bag of potatoes, carrots, and 3-4 roasts. They filled it with some water (I wasn’t there when they started, but I am guessing several inches in the bottom of the can) flavored with beef bullion cubes and spiced up the roasts really well before cooking. The rest of the seasoning for the vegetables was just salt and pepper.
Along with the Milk can contents, there were tons of salads and side dishes, drinks, desserts, etc., so I don’t remember if there were concerns with there not being enough food. I guess it would depend on how many kids and how many adults are part of that 40 people count.
2) How did you serve the dinner–did it turn out like a stew, and did you simply dump the contents of the can into a large serving bowl/bucket?
As dinner started, they dumped the contents of the milk can into a couple of big cooking pots and that is how they served it. The meat was so tender they could divide it up with a fork. The vegetables were soft, but not mushy.
3) Any other tips or useful advice for preparing and serving would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I would recommend that you play with it once or twice for your own family before trying it on a large group of people…that way you figure it out and don’t end up having an unexpected result in the middle of a big gathering.
I would also figure out how many potatoes, carrots, and how many roasts you are going to need and stuff the milk can to see if you are going to be able to fit everything that you need into the can before cooking for the group.
Best of luck and let us know how it goes.
Hello,
I fell in love with this cream can cooking concept and discovered the cans are hard to find. Soooo we now import pure stainless steel ones in 4 sizes. We are constantly testing recipes and are even working on one for prime rib! Early results are lookin’ (and tastin’) good!
Have fun out there!!!
John
When you say you put roast in, was it cooked first? I am not sure about putting raw meat in and all the juices in the corn and etc.
Shelley asked about putting an uncooked roast in with the vegetables.
I put the meat in raw. Cooking it for 5-6 hours in a milk can creates a pressurized cooking environment that is similar to cooking in a crockpot hours and produces very tender meats and vegetables.
I did cut the meat up into smaller chunks to help with the cooking…about 2-3 inches square to help with the cooking process.
The meats were completely done by the time the dinner was ready to cook. No problems with raw or undercooked meats. Not only was the meat done, but it was very tender as well.
Our area church groups and boys scouts serve this often and they call it the “Pig Trough Meal” when its ready the main cook calls out “soooooeeeeee here pigs, pigs”, and the the boys come running. They dump it into big sanitized trough metal pans then all the kids serve themselves and dish up the parts they love. Its a tradition for our Malad, Idaho area. No one has ever gotten sick with this meal and it is always requested for scouts, camps, family reunions and youth conferences.
ps…of course we dont use beer – we prefer chicken and beef stock.
If you want to speed up the process you can also put in pre-cooked hams / turkey breasts/ spicy sausages. Then you’re only cooking the veggies. This is how my Dad does it.
I’m on the hunt for a milk can that is in good shape to start doing this myself. I’m in Lehi, Utah so if anyone knows of a place I’d appreciate it.
thx!
levicress@hotmail.com