What you need:
1 gallon Whole milk
Cheese cloth, or tea towel [worst case scenario, I've used a regular kitchen towel]
lemon juice or vinegar
- Heat milk on Med/High heat.
- Stir gently until this reaches a simmer [this is the point right before boiling]
- I notice that as I get near the simmer point I begin to smell the sweet warm milk aroma and the top of the milk usually gets a little bit frothy. Once you have reached a simmer, turn your heat down to Med, add 1/3 cup lemon juice/Vinegar at a time, stir very gently just to incorporate and not to break up the forming curds.
- The liquid should be somewhat transparent yellow whey, and the curds should be clearly separated from the yellow liquid. If not, add more lemon juice/vinegar.
- strain the curds from whey
Salt to your taste, wrap curd ball tightly and hang to allow the salted whey to fall into a reserve for sauces, or pour down your drain.
Troubleshooting tips:
- If you forget to salt before allowing the cheese ball to firm overnight, simply make a salt brine, cut cheese into "Apple slices" and allow to sit in salt brine for a few hours - overnight.
- If you add the lemon juice/vinegar before the milk has heated enough, the curds may not separate as cleanly or firm up. Gently ladle into your cheese cloth to strain as much as possible, trying to get the curds primarily [The small soft curds tend to block the cheese cloth and hold onto the whey]. This will still be usable for cream sauces or desserts.
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