Cottage Cheese
This recipe is not to be confused with lemon cheese or vinegar cheese (which do not taste ANYTHING like cottage cheese to me, despite all things to the contrary that I have read). This tastes just like cottage cheese you buy at the store. Please remember, do NOT use aluminum or cast iron. Use only stainless steel or enamelware pans to make this recipe in. For some reason, if you use aluminum especially, this recipe will NOT turn out (and many other cheese recipes won't either).
1. Start with one gallon fresh milk, raw or room temperature or refrigerator temperature.
2. Mix 4 ounces of mesophilic starter culture into your milk.
3. Dissolve rennet in 1/4 cup cool water. Use 1 junket tablet, or 1/4 tablet regular rennet, or 1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet. Mix rennet into the milk thoroughly using a wire whisk, stir for at least 5 minutes.
4. Cover and set aside to ripen for at least 20 hours at room temperature (normally 70 degrees F or above). The milk will be a firm curd within that 20 hours, but the full 20 hours is needed to develop the correct flavor. I put mine aside at about 10 p.m., then it is ready to work with by 6 a.m. the next morning. More than 20 hours (up to 24 hours, for example) is fine, but less will not work.
5. After 20 hours, cut the curds into 1/2 inch cubes.
6. Cover and Allow curds to sit and firm up for about 15 minutes.
7. Over the next 30 minutes, cook slowly and slowly raise the temperature of the curd to 110 degrees F. Pan should be uncovered for this.
8. Cook for an additional 45 minutes at 110 degrees F, stirring often enough to prevent matting or clumping. By this time, the curds should have greatly shrunken and sunk to the bottom of the pan. Keep in mind, the more you stir, the smaller curds you will get. If you like large curd cottage cheese, use a slotted spoon to stir... If you like small curd, use a wire whisk to stir. Don't over stir, though, or your cheese will turn into mush...
9. Line a colander with your cheesecloth and drain the curds, allowing them to drain for 5 minutes.
10. Lift the curd filled cheesecloth from the colander and repeatedly dunk into a bowl of ice cold water for at least 3 minutes. Drain curds again and place in a bowl or container with lid.
11. Add about 1/4 cup milk to curds. Season to taste with salt or herbs, whatever you wish. We liked this without salt or any seasonings, or maybe with just a dash of salt. It tastes just like cottage cheese from the store!
Visitors since 11/2/2000