Whole Milk Ricotta and Beyond

Mascarpone and Paneer were great, but I was pretty pumped to work on something more familiar. Homemade ricotta cheese... come on now!  We went with the whole milk ricotta recipe vs. the whey ricotta which looks a little more complicated. The instructions were very similar to Panir... You slowly warm up milk, introduce acid, the milk coagulates, the curds and whey separate, drain, and add salt.  Dazzled again that such small adjustments create completely different products.   

This Organic Valley milk we used came from the Nezinscot Farm in Turner Maine.   The farm is owned and run by Gregg and Gloria Varney , and was the first certified organic dairy in the state of Maine.  They have about 100 cows and grow most of their animal feed on their farm.  Only 45 minutes away from our house, this just got added to the destination list. 

 

One of the noticeable different in process was the length of time in which the milk is brought up to temperature.  The previous two cheese recipes called for a more gradual warming, taking around 40 minutes. This was a much faster 20-25 minutes to bring to 195F.  Not quite sure how this difference plays into the cheese, but figured it needed extra stirring to avoid scalding.  I wonder what role the frequent stirring plays in curd size? I remember reading that over stirring can break up the fat globules, so my guess is that more stirring = smaller curd size?

Oh... the book called for a 4 quart pot. Not quite sure how that would work with a gallon of milk and 1/2 cup of cream.  My best alternative was a 6 quart pot.  Almost botched the entire effort as the thermometer didn't fall deep enough into the milk to register temp properly.  It was down enough to show some change in temp, so I assumed it was fine. Then it got stuck on 140F for what was clearly too long because it had been 20 minutes and curds had started to from. At that point I took the gauge off the rim, dipped it a little further down and the temp shot up to 185F.  Not sure if I dislodged the thermometer at some point, or maybe the milk level had gone down past the thermometer.  I suppose the lesson is to be attentive... I bet another minute would have scalded the milk beyond use.

Had to improvise on the initial curd strain as our metal strainer was overflowed! Clearly need to invest in a flat ladle or some type of curd scooper as well.

We had decided earlier to use some of the ricotta to make Ricotta Salada. Now this goes against my original plan to follow the book more or less linearly, but couldn't resist the opportunity to experiment with aging.

  

Kate bought this plastic food storage container that came with a strainer.  Not really convinced of its intended functionality, but we made good use it using the strainer as a cheese mold and the container to store the fresh ricotta

   

Ricotta Salada: line mold with damp butter muslin>fill with curds>press for one hour>undress, unmold, flip, salt, redress place back into mold>press for an additional 12 hours>into the fridge crisper>flip and salt once a day for 7 days>age for 1-3 more weeks in fridge!

You can see the mold imprints... not perfect, but I think it will work.

Above and below pics are after the first (1 hour) press

 

Back to the fresh ricotta; it tasted fantastic. Full on deliciousness! Fresh, creamy, a little sweet, and a  salty. We compared it to some store bought ricotta and it wasn't even close. Without a doubt the best cheese we have made so far.  I'm sure some of this is simply the type of cheese... but I still think this was our best effort.  I would say that it came out pretty dry and not as "fluff" as some of the pictures I have seen of fresh ricotta... not necessarily a negative quality, but noticeable for sure.

Labor Fruits

Party Paneer

There's so many cheeses I simply don't know well.  Maybe I've had them without associating a name, or there is some connection to a particular cuisine. but it's still unfamiliar. Paneer is a perfect example of this... "Oh yeah... that's those pieces of cheese in that Indian dish." It's unique enough to hold memory, but not present enough to really know.

Anyway... Setting out on a cheese recipe in which your perception of the product is the description in the actual recipe and vague recollections of Indian food is kind of intereseting.  Honestly, I did not know know what to expect at that end.  I've had grilled halloumi before and that was my best reference point because I read Paneer was not a meltable cheese
A good friend of ours helps steward Winter Hill Farm  a family run farm in Freeport, Maine.  They sell raw milk to a local market and we intend to use this for a lot of our cheese experimentation including this one.  I also found the farm referenced in a database of milk sources kept by New England Cheesemaking Supply Company Good Milk List for Maine.  I should add that there website states this a list of places customers have found good milk.

Reading through the instructions we were both excited to see the separation of curds and whey.  I had no idea what this was going to look like. 

We used Whole Cow Milk vs. 2 percent

The recipe didn't say to stir, but we ended up top stirring a few times as the surface seemed to be thickening

Even though the recipe said it would happen, I was surprised how fast the milk coagulated and formed into curds once the buttermilk was added. Very Cool.

The directions said to slowly bring the temp up to 195F after adding the buttermilk. I wish the recipe gave a range of how long that should take because it took a while and the curds had had all lumped together in a mass well before the temperature got back to 195. I also think it would have helped if we had taken he buttermilk out the refrigerator sooner and given it more time to get to room temp.

Our makeshift draining satchel.  I believe this is the part in which I later found a revision posted on Karlin's Artisan Cheese making website.  Instead of draining the curds for 10 minutes in the strainer and then another 10 in tied sack, the revision suggests to drain for 5 minutes for each of these steps.  The results is that the curds would still be hot, which I'm guessing makes both the incorporation of salt and cumin and brick forming more manageable.

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ready for salt, cumin, and shape.

Per recipe, "place the packet of curds on a draining rack set over a tray and set the weight on top." OR... place classy bottle of cheap wine on top of cast iron pan!  Hey, it worked.

We left the weight on for less than 30 minutes as it had stopped draining.  I think it came our just fine.  The texture was soft but still kept its integrity for forming cubes.

We used most of the cheese for the Saag Panir recipe that was in the book.  It was well worth the price of my Tumeric stained fingertips!

Allons! Mascarpone

After a lazy Sunday morning, Kate and I headed to the grocery store to purchase our ingredients.  We are fortunate to have a quality nearby dairy farm that sells heavy cream to the local Whole Foods.  I later confirmed with Smiling Hill Farms that their cream was 100% dairy with nothing added... just pasteurized at 145F for 30 min. So all set there!

With much anticipation we gathered our new supplies and reviewed/followed instructions for preparation and cleaning.  We ended up using a 3 quart pot when the recipe asked for a 2 quart pot... not sure if that would make a difference?

For the record, the lemon was not bleach washed!!

So there's a lot of stirring involved... lot of stirring. I know that now!

 Ingredient 3 of 3 added to the mix

The cream starts to coagulate and coats the spoon just as the recipe referenced... we think so anyway.

The heat had to be adjusted towards the end to keep in tune with reaching 180 degrees over 40 minutes, but everything seemed to come together right... into the fridge it goes!

First inspection the next day revealed cheese that looked creamy & smooth with a mellow buttery yellow color.  I actually woke up in the middle of the night and checked on it.  It had been over 8 hours so I figured it couldn't hurt to peek. Some other recipes I looked at mentioning leaving the cheese to drain in the butter muslin for up to an hour. I stuck to the recipe in Karlin's book, drawing the ends together and squeezing the cheese into a ball to ring out excess moisture.

I was not sure if the muslin should be layered or not.  I only used one layer and I don't think it needed more.  I was surprised by the thick consistency and how much it stayed together. 

Voila.... Mascarpone Cheese!

Tasted and looked great! Creamy & a little sweet. 

I would say my first cheese making experience was a huge success.  Kate and I had a lot of fun. It's quite the operation, but that's kind of the best part... the ceremony of it all.  Gathering the ingredients, getting out the equipment, cleaning and prepping the work space, the mixing of ingredients, the time and attention, the watching and waiting.  And at the end of all these things,  there's a finished product that is a direct result of those steps and the quality of the process. 

Most of the cheese we used to make an entree for a dinner party.  It was a hit with enough left over for lunch.  Great Success!

Creamy Farfelle with Cremini, Asparagus, and Walnuts

I thought it would be a fun project to learn how to make cheese. Simple as that.  Aside from knowing that I enjoy different types of cheeses, I'm a bona fide beginner in the world of cheese and certainly in cheese making.  Researching online, I was instantly fascinated by the history, the process, and the product.  After looking around a bit I purchased "Artisan Cheese Making At Home" by Mary Kaplin. 

I was really attracted to the timeline of difficulty in cheese making.  You could start with recipes requiring items you most likely already have in your kitchen and a trip to the grocery... but the recipes soon included all these things I had never heard of like rennet, cultures with fancy names, and things like Penicilliun candidum mold powder (lots of words my spell check doesn't recognize).  I immediately liked how the book I purchased was structured to mirror this curve.  It's how my brain works... kind of captures the healthy sentiment of the intimidation inherent in a new challenge.

Scrolling through the recipes in the book I was full-on fascinated by the simplicity of the ingredients... that you take just a few core items and turn them into something completely different.  That the success and quality of the product is in the science and discipline of the process.

Peter Reinhart writes in the forward of Karlin's book "... each of these foodstuffs represented a type of transformation of one thing into something totally new and different.  And the artisans who new who to perform those transformations attained a vital, honored, and almost shamanistic role in their communities."  How awesome is that!

First Order

The list of necessary equipment is a bit overwhelming, but the piecemeal approach, recipe by recipe, makes it significantly less daunting.  I found a regional Cheese making supplier, New England Cheese Making Supply Store, that was also referenced in the book and placed my first order.  Three days later the package arrived!  Mascarpone Looms!