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I recently attempted to make myself a Strawberry Milkshake Smoothie (as what is defined here, that is, no ice cream used) and failed miserably. This made me wonder about two things regarding this drink.

This time I tried to make it using powdered milk instead of the liquid one usually contained in Cartons. What I did was to put all those three ingredients (water, powder and strawberries) into the blender and then blended it until it had the desired consistency and color. The result was not as I expected, as the drink was not too flavored (tasted like water mostly, and seemed like it did not blended properly).

Could the order of preparation have affected the quality of my Beverage? I am no master chef at all, but I have at least prepared Lemonade to know that order sometimes matters here.

Also, that made me wonder if using powdered milk versus liquid milk could affect somehow the preparation of drinks like Milkshakes or Smoothies? I tried this time the powdered option, as I think I saw my favorite Milkshake seller use it instead of Carton milk so I thought it could be worth the try.

Other possibly important details on my failed attempt: The Strawberries were cold (not frozen but considerably cold), powdered milk was whole and fresh and used "standard" measure and added at most 2 cups of water (was a drink for one).

DarkCygnus
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    This seems obvious, but why not ask your favourite milkshake seller for advice here? –  Oct 19 '17 at 06:39
  • Yes I could, maybe I'll try that :) although not sure if he will reveal his secret to me... I still could appreciate advice from other sources here anyways. – DarkCygnus Oct 19 '17 at 06:41
  • It sounds like you are making something that we would call a *smoothie* in the US. You might find some ideas searching for that term. – Jolenealaska Oct 19 '17 at 06:46
  • Vendors are usually good giving advice about things like this if you show an interest. –  Oct 19 '17 at 06:50
  • @Jolenealaska thanks for clarifying, I tried to include the ingredients as well to avoid ambiguity, hope that is ok – DarkCygnus Oct 19 '17 at 06:59
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    I wonder if you didn't add enough powdered milk – Journeyman Geek Oct 19 '17 at 10:58
  • @JourneymanGeek the powder envelope indicated aprox. 4 Tbsp. per cup, so I added that much plus a bit more (as I had more than 1 cup). Maybe too much strawberries? (added about 7 of them). – DarkCygnus Oct 19 '17 at 17:40
  • You might want to consider just editing your question to say "smoothie"; it's confusing to me as well as the couple others who pointed it out already, and I think it may've led SnakeDoc's answer astray as well - everything there is definitely talking about normal (for the US anyway) milkshakes. – Cascabel Oct 19 '17 at 18:00
  • @Jefromi thanks will do. I thought that including a link to another question that specifies what Milkshake is would clear those doubts. Also is why I included the ingredients to reduce any ambiguities. – DarkCygnus Oct 19 '17 at 18:01
  • @Jefromi done, is it better now? – DarkCygnus Oct 19 '17 at 18:08
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    @GrayCygnus Yup, thanks! You weren't entirely wrong that the other version would clarify if people read really carefully, but a lot of people are going to assume they know what a milkshake is or just miss it. It was kind of like saying "I'm making a cake (this kind)..." and then the link turns out to be bread. – Cascabel Oct 19 '17 at 18:10
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    @Jefromi funny that you wanted such a change, since for me it fits the "milkshake" description than the "smoothie" description. I guess we have hit a mine of hidden cultural differnces here. – rumtscho Oct 19 '17 at 18:12
  • @Jefromi I see, terminology is important for quick readers :) I also gave a better read to the question linked and see why you suggested the edit (as I never used ice cream, apparently essential for it to be considered milk shake). Thanks again for your help – DarkCygnus Oct 19 '17 at 18:12
  • @rumtscho I also thought it was milkshake, but seems that the Line between both of them is really thin, probably the big difference according to that post I linked is that *Milkshakes have icecream, smoothies dont*. Besides that they both can/cant have milk and other ingredients. Probably worth to give more attention to that question as to come to a consensus on some term. – DarkCygnus Oct 19 '17 at 18:13
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    Oof, possibly there's some UK vs US difference here? Sorry, I didn't realize I might be dictating US terms here. Smoothie still seems more unambiguous in this case, though - as far as I can tell, it's understandable in UK English too. See also https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/300547/when-talking-to-american-clients-should-i-say-smoothie-or-milkshake – Cascabel Oct 19 '17 at 19:02
  • @Jefromi yep, that English SE post seems to agree with the definition used in the liked question I posted. Therefore this is more Smoothie than Milkshake but still seems that the terms may be somewhat interchangeable. – DarkCygnus Oct 19 '17 at 19:05

1 Answers1

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I've never heard of Powdered Milk being used in a Milkshake, personally.

When I worked at a restaurant, majority of our shakes were made from a Soft Serve machine. Having had shakes at other locations, I gather most use Soft Serve unless they specify "hand-scooped" or "real ice cream", etc.

We'd pour the Soft Serve into a tall metal cup, and add some milk (not too much at first, you don't want it too runny), and then blended with a milkshake blender (can be imitated at home using an immersion blender).

We also had Simple Syrup to add on occasion (can be made at home, or found in your local grocery store, usually in the alcohol/bar isle). You can add flavors, like strawberries, bananas, pineapple (chopped or diced and then thrown in before blending), chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, etc. Top with whipped cream and candied/maraschino cherries.

We also offered hand-scooped shakes, which were made exactly the same way, except we used real ice cream instead of soft serve.

The trick was to not put too much milk in, you can always add more and blend again. Blending will thin it out too, if you do it too much - so be careful.

SnakeDoc
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