Showing posts with label cottage cheese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cottage cheese. Show all posts

Monday, September 06, 2010

Little dabs of garden produce

I strolled out to the garden to see what needed doing.  My first little late crop of green beans had a few beans ready; I went to fetch a bucket, and was rather disheartened when I ended up with only about a double handful, not really enough to do much with.  
Then I checked the zucchini plant; blossom end rot has been a problem, so the only zucchinis available were three or four inches long; cute little things that they were, I picked them.  I was thinking if I got enough stuff, I could stir-fry veggies for supper.  
I found a bell pepper I had missed.  OK, that still didn't seem like enough for a decent stir-fry for two people.  Maybe I should pick an eggplant?  
I've never stir-fried eggplant, but it's OK on the grill.  Surely a little soy sauce wouldn't hurt it.  
Alrighty then; if I add a store-bought onion, this might work.  I certainly hope so.  One thing in the garden of which I have an abundance is okra, but no way am I going to add okra to a stir-fry.  I'm pretty sure bad things would happen.  


I have experimented with cottage-cheese-making a lot this week; the first batch I tried, using only buttermilk as a starter, was my favorite, and Cliff liked it.  The second batch, using rennet, was a total fail, or so I thought. I dumped it into the cheesecloth in the colander, saw no curds had held their shape, and considered it a total waste.  Then Cliff suggested a motorcycle ride; I set the colander atop a pan because it was draining, and forgot about it.  
Back home that evening, I started to toss it; but when I picked it up out of the colander, it seemed like something a person might spread on a cracker.  Or something.  I got a knife and tasted it.  
Not bad.  It's similar to what some people call farmer's cheese, I think.  
I had some a while ago on a piece of celery, and I've decided that if it were salted a little, and perhaps flavored with some onion or garlic powder, it might be really good.  
My dog likes it, too; I know this because I dropped a couple of pieces of it on the floor.  

Saturday, September 04, 2010

Win some, lose some (Marcia, HELP)

I decided to experiment with making cottage cheese using rennet.  
It should have been good; the milk was all "set" like it should be this morning.  I think I just got in too big a hurry; I should have kept it heating longer.  
Marcia commented on another post that she was making cottage cheese using rennet.  I have questions for you, Marcia.  
Do you use a thermometer to make sure the milk is the right temperature?  
Do you place the pan in hot water? How does your method differ from the recipe in THIS POST, the one on which you commented?  
I already can see that the recipe that comes in the rennet package is different than the one I posted here; I should have followed that one, because I had great success with it.  The only reason I wanted to try using rennet is that I wanted a larger curd.  

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Cottage cheese: Success!

The way I grew up making cottage cheese, you would let skim milk sit on the counter until it clabbered, which sometimes took several days.  Then you dumped it into a large pan, put the burner on low, and gently stirred until the curds separated from the whey.  You'd put cheesecloth in a colander, place the colander over a pan or bucket, and pour the contents of your big pan into this.  The whey was then poured into the slop bucket (wow, it's been ages since I've heard that term) to give to pigs or chickens.  The curds were rinsed off, drained as well as possible, and hung on the clothesline so any remaining liquid could drain away.  
Using an online recipe as a guide, I changed a couple of things.  Rather than wait for the milk to curdle on its own, I added some buttermilk to hurry the process along.  After twenty-four hours, it was nicely curdled.  The recipe suggested that I should pasteurize the milk first; I did not do that.  A different recipe suggested adding rennet, as did one of my readers.  I will try that next time, if I can find rennet at the store.    
The most drastic change from my old way of making cottage cheese was that I used a big enamel canner, put water in it, and set the container with the clabbered milk inside it, so it worked like a double boiler.  Using a cooking thermometer, I followed the rules on temperatures.  It wasn't nearly as "hit-and-miss" as my old method.  
 Here is the stainless steel pan sitting inside the canner.  Curds and whey are all in there, heating up.  


Here are the drained curds.  


This is my kitchen after making low-fat brownies and healthy bran muffins for Cliff, followed by the cottage cheese-making.  


I saved the whey because it tasted good, and whey is good for you.  With my old method of making cottage cheese, the whey was not so good.  The pigs and chickens liked it, though.  


I added salt and pepper and rich Jersey cream, and took a couple of bites of the best home-made cottage cheese I've ever tasted.  

Monday, August 30, 2010

The land of milk...

Eventually I will only be milking Bonnie when I need milk, which is once or twice a week.  Until the calf is able to take all her milk, though, I'm milking every morning.  I end up with a little over a gallon each time.  
I could pour it down the sink, but I want to make some butter, since I have to milk anyhow.  So I'm skimming off the cream.  As I was about to pour the skimmed excess milk down the drain, I remembered how I used to make cottage cheese and decided to try it again.  
Now, the way my mom and grandma taught me was just to heat the clabbered milk very slowly over a low burner until curds formed.  Recipes I've found on the Internet is a little different and a lot more complicated:



Pasteurizing and Setting the Milk Raw skim milk must be pasteurized by bringing it to 145oF and holding at that temperature for 30 minutes. Pasteurization can be accomplished by placing the milk in a microwaveable container and heating with the temperature probe in place. Another way to pasteurize is to place the skim milk in a double boiler and bring to temperature. Pasteurized skim milk should then be cooled to 70 to 75oF. Next, inoculate the skim milk with 1 1/2 cups (5% level) of buttermilk or sour cream, used as "starter" if you want the curd to set within five hours. Use only 1/2 cup if you want to set the curd over night. In this case it is most convenient to add the starter in the afternoon so that the curd will be formed and ready to be cut by the following morning.
Cutting the Curd The proper time for cutting the curd is determined by the condition of the curd. If the curd breaks cleanly away from the sides of the vessel when depressed slightly with a spoon, the proper cut time has been reached. The curd should then be cut (not broken) into cubes approximately 3/8 inch in each dimension. Do this by cutting horizontally with a spatula or knife, then rolling the strands gently over so that they may be cut crosswise. At this time the whey will be expelled from the curd. Dry cheese will result if curds are cut too small.
Heating the Curd Heat or cook the curd by placing the vessel containing the cut curd in a larger vessel containing water at a temperature of 140oF. The curd should be stirred gently with a large spoon while bringing the temperature to 120 to 125oF. Hold at this temperature for about half an hour, stirring gently from time to time. One of the common mistakes in making home-made cottage cheese is heating at too high a temperature and for too long. High temperature causes the pieces of curd to contract, squeezing out too much whey and making the cheese too dry. To determine when the cooking is done, place about 1 tablespoon of curds in ice water for 3 minutes, then squeeze them in the palm of the hand. A rubbery texture indicates that cooking should be ended.
Draining the Whey Pour or drain off the whey. Wash the curd (with about the same amount of ice water as there was whey) by filling the kettle with ice water and pouring it off 3 times. This will wash a good deal of the acid from the cheese so that it will not taste so sour, and at the same time it will cool the cheese to about 70oF. The last water may be drained away either by placing the cheese in a small cheesecloth bag or on a piece of cheesecloth spread on a rack or colander. Draining may be hastened by changing the position of the cheese in the bag or on the cheesecloth.
Working, Seasoning, and Creaming the Cheese After nearly all the water has been drained away, or at least stopped running in a steady stream, the cheese should be removed to a clean dish and worked to an even texture with a spoon. Salt may be added to suit the taste. Usually salt at a level of 1% of the weight of the curd and cream is appropriate (about a half ounce or 1 tablespoon). About 1½ cups of half and half cream (approx 12% fat) or light cream (approx 20% fat) will improve the taste of the cheese a great deal, although it is not necessary. If light cream is added at this level (about 1/3 the weight of the curd) a creamed cottage cheese of about 4% fat content will be produced. For a low-fat cottage cheese add 1½ cups of pasteurized/homogenized milk. The cottage cheese thickens after about 20 hours of refrigeration.  


Now, I happen to have a little cultured buttermilk in the refrigerator, so that's no problem.  But pasteurize my raw milk?  Grandma never did that.  Of course, she and my mom didn't use cultured buttermilk with their method, either.  
Decisions, decisions.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Home-made cottage cheese

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.