It was kismet. A few days at home, sick, reading up on cheesemaking; then I get back to work and, before I can dismiss the idea as the fevered ravings of a feverish fool with a fever, my coworker starts talking excitedly about her friend’s triumph in home haloumi. If that complete stranger can do it, than so can I!
And, well, I can.
Cheese is, in principle, fairly straightforward. You separate the curds and whey, set the curd, then there’s some fancy draining/pressing/stretching/salting/whatever to turn it into the kind of cheese you want. That’s also when you introduce moulds and things. I started with a basic beginner’s mozzarella, primarily because the cookware shop didn’t have the type of culture I wanted and I didn’t want to interrupt their bickering to ask for the right one. It’s an adaptation of the 30 Minute Mozzarella recipe I found on Green Living’s Home Cheese Making section. My basic mozzarella is, technically, not really mozzarella. For a start, it’s made on cow, not water buffalo, milk. Second, it’s not cultured: I separated my curds and whey using an acid instead. But you know what? I don’t facking care because I just made cheese, bitches! YEAH!
The first batch, let me be completely clear, was an unmitigated flop. The curd barely formed, with only an offputting semi-solid glaze appearing on the top of my warmed milk. I researched all I did wrong, and then threw it away with a stout heart and resolve to try again tomorrow. If nothing else, knitting has given me extensive experience in ripping back and starting over.
First up: warming the milk. I used four litres of full-fat, pasteurised, homogenised moo milk. I added calcium chloride, which is strongly recommended if you’re using homogenised milk (and if you got it from a non-specialty shop, odds on you are). I didn’t have citric acid, but I did have a bottle of lemon juice, so I added about half a cup. The acid separates the curds and whey. After I got my milk + calcium chloride + acid up to 32°C, I removed it from the heat and added a dose of vegetarian rennet. It was here that I realised I had completely failed to add any rennet, at all, even a bit, to the last batch of cheese, which is why the curd really didn’t work out. Guh. Being smart is hard.
But this time! Success! A clean break! A clean break means you’ve got a really obvious curd happening, and that’s the sign your cheese is proceeding. The curd should look like a big ol’ block of silky tofu bobbing around in the whey, which should be pretty watery. Once you’ve got a clean break, you can beard on. Here’s your curds and whey:
Chop your curd into giant, misshapen cubes as best you can, and then warm it through. The next step is the mozzarella bit. Scoop out the curds, using a slotted spoon (or pour into a colander or something) and squeeze them into a big squashy blob. Squeeze out as much whey as you can. Then pop it into a microwave-safe container and nuke it for a minute. Pour off the whey that comes out, then knead it a little, then back into the microwave for about 30 seconds. Knead again; nuke again; add salt and knead again. After a few kneads, it becomes sturdy, stretchy and shiny and HOLY CRAP YOU’VE MADE CHEESEBALLS!
I AM SO EXCITED. They’re bobbing about in the fridge right now, resting in a tub of cooled boiled water (nothing is too good for these babies). The texture is smooth and firmish, the flavour is like sweet, clean, fresh milk (could do with a bit more salt).
Yield: about 430g of cheese (it would have been more like 450-470, but I dropped some curds down the sink). Not bad for 4L of milk. This is a really good starting-out recipe, because it demonstrates a lot of the necessary basic steps in cheesemaking, with a little bit of fancy kneading and working thrown in. I recommend! Next time, I think I will stop kneading a little earlier and see if I can get a softer cheese.
Here’s some sites I learned things from:
(And, of course, a tip of the bonnet to Aunty Wikipedia, who taught me everything I need to know about rennet.)
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