Made on milk

[Glizdka]

My wife hates when hot chocolate is made by mixing cocoa and water rather than milk, which is what you sometimes get when ordering hot chocolate at a restaurant. Some restaurants even have the nerve to serve cocoa mixed with water and a bit of milk added to it, which doesn't seem to be good enough for her, and when asked if said hot chocolate is made with milk before ordering it, they deceitfully say that it is made with milk, imagine that.

Last time we went to Ireland, she wanted to order some hot chocolate, but she also wanted to make sure it's cocoa and milk, not water. She asked "Is it made on milk?", not with milk, and it didn't sound right to me. She literally translated it from Polish, which has two different prepositions that collocate with the Polish equivalent of made. One of these prepositions, which is often translated as with, means "with x added as an extra ingredient"; the other preposition, often translated as on, means "with x being one of the main ingredients". She expected that important distinction to also exist in English.

Does her sentence make sense to you? Can the method of preparing hot chocolate preferred by her be called "made on milk"? if not, does English have a preposition that could be used with made that would simply and effectively communicate what she means? If not not, is there some other way she could inquire about the way they prepare their hot chocolate that would be handier than elaborating on the subject to the poor server and would help me avoid listening to her complaining that they used water and not milk again?

 

[Skrej]

No, 'on' doesn't work in English to the extent it's borderline nonsensical.

I can't think of any other way to specify it in English other than 'made with milk'. You'd have to ask if it was made with milk or water, but I don't know that you'd necessarily get the fine distinction you're looking for.

The problem is that many cocoa/hot chocolate concoctions are a mixture of cocoa, sugar, and powdered milk (at least the higher quality ones). So, they may well be perfectly justified stating that it's made with milk. If you look at recipes for homemade hot chocolate, you'll see that many of them are simply a mixture of cocoa, sugar, and powdered milk.

Ergo, the line gets a little blurry when you add hot water - are you adding hot water to cocoa, or are you simply rehydrating the powered milk? I mean, what if they added the water to the dried milk first, then added the cocoa and sugar?

I guess the only way to be completely sure is to just ask how it's prepared. Honestly though most places are going to use a mix versus preparing it from scratch. Some haughty-taughty coffeehouses might use steamed milk and chocolate syrup with a dash of snobbery, but you'd just have to ask the process. I can't think of a simple way to express it.

Go for Mexican hot-chocolate made from Abuelita's. It's hard chocolate mixed with coarsely granulated sugar that you have to dissolve in hot milk. The sugar isn't actually dissolved in the otherwise bitter chocolate, it's just mixed in. Only in the hot milk does it become palatable.

 

[probus]

I'd be utterly baffled by "made on milk." If your wife wants to be certain she should say something like: hot chocolate made with milk only, no water. Or perhaps: warm milk with sugar and cocoa.

Cross-posted with @Skrej.

 

[emsr2d2]

If you want to be really specific, ask "Is it made with just hot milk, with no hot water added?" As has been mentioned before, one of the ingredients of the hot chocolate powder used in many outlets is powdered milk, so asking "Is it made with milk?" could be misconstrued.