Monday, February 16, 2009

Homemade Ricotta

Daniel Meyer talks about his experience making ricotta in Discovering Ricotta in Mark Bittman's NY Times blog on January 26, 2009. So I decided to try it.

Daniel Meyer's Ricotta Cheese
1/2 gallon of milk
1 teaspoon of salt
3 tablespoons of lemon juice or 1/2 pint of buttermilk (I used the buttermilk)

Per his instructions, I heated the milk and salt over med-high heat until it was about 170°F (75°C), stirring regularly. I then added the buttermilk and reduced the heat to med-low.

I waited three minutes then looked at the curd. It didn't seem to be too thick, so I let it sit a bit longer. After about 20 minutes, I decided it has curdled enough so I started removing the curd into a cheesecloth-lined colander over a bowl. I finally decided that it was going to be too much work to remove all the curd with the slotted spoon (a lot was slipping through the slots - my spoon had big slots), so I poured the mixture through the colander. Once I was done, I returned the colander and the curd to the pan, twisted the cheesecloth closed, and used the back of a wooden spoon to squeeze the whey out of the curd (quite literally). I left it in the fridge for about an hour to finish draining.
The curd was nice and firm and quite yummy. It has a little sharpness and a little saltiness, but wasn't nearly as salty as the store-bought stuff. The curd was firmer and less watery than what you can buy in the store. I plan to use the ricotta in stuffed mushrooms later.

Some people responded to the NY Times blog stating that this was paneer instead of ricotta. It was certainly firmer and had less whey than the ricotta you buy in the store. Either way, it was yummy.

1 comment:

Sara L. Uckelman said...

That recipe looks very similar to one I used a couple times last spring (first report at http://aryanhwy.livejournal.com/127672.html). It's yummy with extra herbs added, such as basil or thyme. I need to make another batch soon.