Has anyone here tried making ricotta cheese?

imasinger

Wed, Nov 11 2009, 10:30 pm

Here's the recipe he gave to me from the internet. It doesn't sound too hard, just a bit of a patchke, and I like that it keeps milk from being wasted:

1 gallon milk (whole or skim) -- 1 gal = about 1 lb cheese
white vinegar or fresh lemon juice
Large colander lined with fine cheesecloth (butter muslin is preferred)

Put milk in large non-reactive saucepan (I.e. enamel or coated) and heat slowly to 200 degrees, stirring enough to prevent scorching. When milk reaches 200 degrees, add about 1/4 cup of vinegar or lemon juice. If milk is really at 200 degrees, it will instantly curdle. If not, keep heating. Use a thermometer -- dairy or candy -- but sometimes they aren't quite accurate. Once you get the reaction, let it sit a few minutes with an occasional stir.

Place lined colander in sink (drain open) and carefully pour entire contents of the pot into it. Take your time, and allow the water to drain through the cheesecloth. It will go pretty quickly if you have used butter muslin. If it goes too quickly and nothing is left behind, your cheese has gone down the drain. Do not despair, this has happened to many experienced cheese makers, just get finer cheesecloth and try again.

Assuming that all goes well, allow the ricotta to drain and cool until you can handle the cheesecloth comfortably. Gather the ends of the cloth up and tie into a bag which must be suspended over the sink until it stops dripping. You can hang it on the faucet or drape it from a wooden spoon lad across the sink. The ricotta will be finished draining in about an hour and be ready to use in a recipe. You can add a bit of salt if you like. If it is to be used in a dessert, add a little cream and mix in well to make a richer product.

If you aren't going to use immediately, pack into a container and either refrigerate or freeze. It freezes well and will always be available that way. It keeps in the fridge for a few days.

One way to use milk that is starting to go over is to make ricotta from it. If you don't have a full gallon, just reduce the vinegar a bit -- this is not critical, however; too much won't hurt. The only real difference is that you will get less cheese from less milk. Any cheese at all is better than just pouring the milk down the drain.

alpidarkomama

Thu, Nov 12 2009, 4:23 am

"Ricotta" means "re-cooked." You take the whey left over from making cheese and let it sit out (covered) for a day or so to acidify a little more (or you can add a very small amount of vinegar). You boil the whey until the cheese appears in tiny little chunks.

The other kind, where you take milk, heat it and add vinegar or lemon juice is actually called panir (Indian) or queso blanco (Spanish/Mexican). It's delicious in an Indian dish like palak panir. (Now I'm getting hungry!)

We really like making cheese. Besides the two above we've made mozzarella, cream cheese, and goat cheese. We'd love to get a cheese press and make our own cheddar cheese. And blue cheese too! (Oy, better go to bed before I really start getting hungry...)

imasinger

Thu, Nov 12 2009, 8:00 pm

alpidarkomama wrote:

You are exactly the voice of experience I was hoping to find. Any tips, tricks, recipes? If this isn't really ricotta, how exactly (measurements please) do you do it? Can you use the whey from panir making, or is it compromised by the acid?