Cheese Making

My girlfriends and I embarked upon a mozzarella cheese making adventure this weekend. Having read the wonderful and inspiring book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, we really wanted to try her 30-minute mozzarella recipe. After months and months of talking about making cheese, we finally did!

While I had my doubts about mozzarella being made in 30 minutes, it is true. The recipe is easy and the cheese tasty. I'm lucky to have a foodie friend that just happened to have rennet and citric acid to share.

We used 1/2 gallon of 2% milk and 1/2 gallon of whole milk from a local dairy. This seemed to work out well since the recipe does not specify fat content of the milk. We also realized that it may be good to save some whey to store extra mozzarella as it dries out in the fridge. If you don't want to store it in whey, try making an olive oil marinade with some spices...

So, tie on your aprons and make some cheese!

30-minute mozzarella (as written in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver)

Measure out all additives before you start, in clean glass or ceramic cups. Use unchlorinated water.

1 gallon pasteurized milk (NOT ultra-pasteurized)
1 1/2 level teaspoons citric acid dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water

Stir the milk on the stove in a stainless steal kettle, heating very gently. At 55 degrees add the citric acid solution and mix thoroughly. At 88 degrees it should begin to curdle.

1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet, diluted in 1/4 cup cool water

Gently stir in diluted rennet with up-and-down motion, and continue heating the milk to just over 100 degrees then turn off the heat. Curds should be pulling away from sides of pot, ready to scoop out. The whey should be clear (if it is milky, wait a few minutes).

Use a large slotted spoon or ladle to move curds from the pot to a 2 qt. microwaveable bowl. Press curds gently with hands to remove as much whey as possible, and pour it off. Microwave the curds on high for one minute, then knead the cheese again with hands or a spoon to remove more whey (Rubber gloves help - this gets hot!). Microwave 2 more times (about 35 seconds each), kneading between each heating.

At this point, salt the cheese to taste, then knead and pull until it's smooth and elastic. When you can stretch it into ropes like taffy, you are done. If the curds break instead, they need to be reheated a little bit. Once cheese is smooth and shiny, roll it into small balls to eat warm or store for later in the refrigerator.

Lacking a microwave, you can use the pot of hot whey on the stove from the heating-and-kneading steps. Put the ball of curd back in with a big slotted spoon, and heat it until it's almost too hot to touch. Good stretching temp is 175 degrees.

Cheddar beer soup

If you love cheddar cheese and beer you will probably love this soup. I've made this yummy soup a couple of times now but am going to try something a little different tonight; this pot of soup will have an added potato for a little extra yumminess!

Cheddar beer soup

(Inspired by Cooking Light)

2 cups chopped onion

1 potato, peeled and chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 (12 oz) bottle of beer (not dark ... stick to a pale ale or lager)

4 cups veggie broth, divided

1/2 cup flour

2 cups 2% milk, divided

3/4 to 1 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese (or less if you are watching your weight/ calories)

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/4 tsp finely chopped fresh chives

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over med-high heat. Add onion and potato, saute for about 5 minutes. Add garlic, saute 1 more minute.

2. Pour in beer, stirring to loosen browned bits. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes until onion and potato is tender.

3. Place beer mixture and 1 cup broth in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid. Place clean towel over opening in blender lid and blend until smooth. Return pureed mixture to pan. Stir in remaining 3 cups broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

4. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup, level with a knife. Combine flour and 1 cup milk, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture and remaining 1 cup milk to pan. Cook 12 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove pan from heat. Gradually add cheese, stirring until smooth. Sir in pepper.

Enjoy!