Cheese Experiment 3
Okay, this time I nixed the rennet altogether and chose a recipe using lemon juice as coagulant: Barbara Ciletti’s “Whole-Cream Ricotta,” page 55. Not surprisingly, the lemon juice adds a mild, lemony flavor to the smooth, creamy cheese.
My main challenge was evenly heating the milk directly on the stove. It was difficult to get the liquid above 160 degrees without one spot or another starting to boil. In the end, I probably had a smaller curd than the ideal, which makes it tough to ladle out the curds without taking excess whey with it. After draining for 20 minutes, though, the finished product seemed just fine.
Since the cheese is a bit lemony, I think I’ll use it to make some sort of dessert. Any ideas?
In other news — since I wanted to create a double-boiler effect with two pots, I have decided that I’d be better off just buying a double boiler. Duh. The new pot will go back to Sur La Table, and I’ll purchase something like this. Also, my good friend Elliot called with some great news tonight. Rabbi Love of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah has said that it’s acceptable to purchase kosher liquid rennet from a specialty dairy supply house which simply repackages it into smaller bottles. Huzzah!
You coudl try making an Italian-style cheesecake (lighter than what I consider “real” cheesecake), which calls for ricotta cheese. it would also work well in a dairy noodle kugel, or in blntzes.
I’ll be over at 6. ;)
That is exciting about the smaller sizes for the kosher liquid rennet. If that doesn’t work out I’m fascinated with your experimentation and would be more than happy to chip in a bit for the rennet so you can continuing updating us.