One of my faithful readers left this comment recently: "Have you found the blog homesick Texan on blogspot? Her most recent entry is for homemade cheese with raw milk. It looks so easy! I want to make it but don't know where to get a gallon of milk! Will you find it and make it?"
Indeed I do read that blog; in fact, I link to it; you probably discovered her here on my blog. For those who are interested in the entry about the cheese, click HERE.
Now in my growing-up years, we didn't use lime juice or vinegar to curdle the cheese. My mom, and my grandma, just set the milk on the counter, kept it covered, and waited for it to curdle all by itself. And that's how I did it after I grew up and had my own cow. For those of you who are horrified at the thought of actually drinking raw milk obtained from a family cow, as we do here, I imagine you are now gagging at the thought of consuming curdled, four-day-old, raw milk. I'm sixty-five years old, and I survived it!
I recall my late father-in-law saying, "I love clabber." Yeah, that's curdled milk he was talking about. Now even I wouldn't go so far as to eat clabbered milk as is. Not that I'd be scared to, but it just doesn't sound good.
Actually, what the Homesick Texan calls cheese was "cottage cheese" to us. We drained it by putting it in cheesecloth and hanging it on the clothesline, left it crumbly, added cream to it, and that was that. The whey was given to the pigs or chickens.
I've heard the Kansas City Russian talk about making something similar back in Russia. Meesha, if you ever want to make that for old times' sake, let me know and I'll have a gallon or two of raw milk waiting for you next time you pass by. Lindie, that goes for you too, if you want to try making this cheese. Just don't both of you come on the same day; I only milk two or three times a week, and I'm sharing with her calf, you know.
I do hope I haven't ruined anybody's breakfast with this entry.
I probably did link from your web site! I've gotten a lot of good ones from you, especially PW! I wouldn't want to steal from Sir Loin but maybe I'll take you up on it sometime.
ReplyDeleteI used to see clabbered milk a lot but at that time I had never heard of cottage cheese. Helen
ReplyDeleteModern milk doesn't go sour,when we first got here we didn't know that and couldn't believe it stays OK after a few days on the counter.If you want to do it now with the store milk you have to add some cultured buttermilk,let it go sour,then heat up slowly until it separates and then strain through cheesecloth overnight.You'll get something that I think here is called "farmer's cheese".Buttermilk here is so sour it's undrinkable.My Mom now is using something called "kefir grains",it's a live culture that ferments milk in 24 hours without any additions.
ReplyDeleteI remember my grandmother and my mother making cottage cheese just like you. It was soooo good and nothing like what you buy in the stores.
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