Each month we will highlight a different spice or seasoning. Kits will include this spice, a recipe that highlights it, a little history on the spice or recipe, and some best practices. I'll post the recipes and information here as well, so let's get cooking! This month is a little different with a Mozzarella Cheese Making Class, December 19th @5pm in our Adult Programming Room in addition to the spices and recipes. We encourage you to get the kit beforehand and try your hand at the process. Then come and join us as we discuss what worked and what didn't while we create one more recipe. Once the cheese is complete, we will be turning the teacher's cheese into Caprese salad. Just be sure to register beforehand and bring your own large pot and milk (anything but ultra-pasteurized) to the class. Registration is required due to limited stovetops.
History of Cheese
Adapted primarily from National Cheesemaking Center Museum, International Dairy Foods Association, and The Gourmet Cheese Detective, among others
Cheese making is roughly as old as animal domestication. No one knows quite how it started but the ancient legend surrounding it states that a nomad in the fertile crescent put some goat milk into his saddlebag (made of a sheep's stomach) and set out on his camel. Hours later he stopped for a drink only to discover that the milk had separated into white solids (curds) and milky fluid (whey). He found that the whey quenched his thirst, and the curds sated his hunger and tasted pleasant.
Whether this is true or not, cheese has been the principal way in which to preserve milk for millennia. To be fair, all of the steps in producing your basic cheese are present in the story, ("There were 4 essential ingredients to the process: start with milk, add the “stirring motion” induced by the rocking walk of the camel, add the hot heat from the sun and finally, the rennin (digestive enzyme) from the sheep’s stomach. Et voilà - cheese!") so who knows.
From the Middle East, cheese traveled to various parts of Asia (although still not a staple in most Asian countries even to this day) and the Mediterranean, further spreading through the travels of the Roman legions. Most cheeses were cottage industries. It wasn't until 1868 that the first factory was created and new ways to preserve and distribute came into being. From there, as they say, it's history.
Mozzarella History
Mozzarella, also known as buffalo mozzarella for the water buffalo whose milk traditional mozzarella is made from, was first made in a factory in or around Naples, Italy when, as the story goes, some cheese curds accidentally fell into a pail of hot water. As most varieties and improvements to the cheese making process came about as a result of mistakes or happenstance, it is an entirely plausible outcome. However, there is record of similar cheeses being made centuries earlier back in Roman times and before. Goat milk was more common, but other milks including water buffalo and cow were gaining in popularity.
Main Event #1 Variation 1
30 Minute Mozzarella
As adapted from CheeseMaking.com for use by the Brown Deer Cookbook Club
Yield: 1 pound ● Aging Time: None
Ingredients
Gallon of Milk (not ultra-pasteurized)
1.5 tsp Citric Acid
1/4 Rennet Tablet or 1/4 tsp Single Strength Liquid Rennet
1 tsp Cheese Salt (adjust to taste)
1 1/4 cup non-chlorinated water
Equipment
Good Thermometer
Knife to Cut Curds
Spoon or Ladle to Stir Curds
Large Colander
Large Bowl
Directions
Prepare Rennet Crush 1/4 tablet of rennet and dissolve in 1/4 cup of cool non-chlorinated water Or add 1/4 tsp single strength liquid rennet to the water. Set your rennet mixture aside to use later.
Mix Citric Acid & Milk Add 1 1/2 tsp of citric acid to 1 cup cool water, pour this into your pot. Now, pour cold milk into your pot quickly, to mix well with the citric acid. This will bring the milk to the proper acidity to stretch well later.
Heat Milk Heat the milk slowly to 90°F. As you approach 90°F, you may notice your milk beginning to curdle slightly due to acidity and temp. Note: If you're having problems with milk forming a proper curd, you may need to increase this temp to 95°F or even 100F. If you used the processed milk in the stores, you might find it curds too small. Also, if creating mozzarella without a microwave, fill an additional pot with water and begin heating it to 175°F for use in start of alternate steps.
Add Rennet At 90°F, remove the pot from the burner and slowly add your rennet (which you prepared in step one) to the milk. Stir in a top to bottom motion for approx. 30 seconds, then stop. Cover the pot and leave undisturbed for 5 minutes. Check the curd after 5 minutes, it should look like custard, with a clear separation between the curds and whey. If the curd is too soft or the whey is milky, let it set longer, up to 30 more minutes.
Cut & Cook Curd Cut the curds into a 1" checkerboard pattern. Place the pot back on the stove and heat to 105°F while slowly stirring the curds with your ladle (if you will be stretching the curds in a hot water bath, rather than using a microwave, heat to 110°F in this step). Take the pot off the burner and continue stirring slowly for 2-5 minutes. (More time will make a firmer cheese)
Transfer & Drain Curd With a slotted spoon, scoop curds into a colander or microwave safe bowl (if the curd is too soft at this point, let it sit for another minute or so). Once transferred, press the curd gently with your hand, pouring off as much whey as possible. If desired, you can reserve the whey to use later in baking or as a soup stock. If not using a microwave, replace steps 7 & 8 with the section immediately following step 9.
Heat Curd & Remove Whey If in a colander, transfer the curds into a heat safe bowl. Next, microwave the curd for 1 minute. If desired, add 1 tsp of salt to the curds for added flavor. You will notice more whey separation from the curd. Drain off all whey as you did before. Quickly work the cheese with a spoon or your hands until it is cool enough to touch (rubber gloves will help since the cheese is almost too hot to touch at this point). Microwave two more times for 35 seconds each, and repeat the kneading as in the last step to aid in more whey drain off and ensure even heating of the curds. Drain off all of the whey as you go. Note: If you prefer to not use a microwave here is a recipe using a water bath where the curds are heated in hot water
Knead & Stretch Curd Now the fun begins, knead quickly now as you would bread dough. Remove curd from bowl and continue kneading until it is smooth and shiny. Return it to the microwave if needed (if it begins to cool before it's ready to stretch). Add salt near the finish. At this point, if hot enough, the cheese should be soft and pliable enough to stretch, and stretch, and stretch some more (like taffy). This is what makes it Mozzarella We hope you have as much fun with this as we do.
Eat & Enjoy Now knead your cheese back into a big ball until it is smooth and shiny Your Mozzarella is ready as soon as it's cool enough to eat. To cool quickly place it in a bowl of ice water and refrigerate. When cold you can wrap in plastic wrap and it will last for several days, but is best when eaten fresh.
For creating mozzarella with a water bath:
When transferring curd, allow whey to drain to another bowl and pour whey back into the pot. Rest the colander with curd in the pot of whey, to keep the curd warm. Add a little salt to taste, about 1/4-1/2 tsp. The salt will work into the cheese in the following steps. You can fold the curd over on itself as it drains to increase the amount of whey running off. The more you work the curd at this point the drier the Mozzarella will be.
Heat & Stretch Curd Begin by pouring some of the hot water, that has been simmering on the stove, into another bowl, adjust the temperature to about 175F. This will be too hot for your hands so have thick rubber gloves or use a spoon to work curd in the hot water. Cut or break the curd into 1-2 inch pieces and begin placing them into the hot water. Work the curd quickly by pressing them together and folding over in the hot water to facilitate even heating. As the curd begins to meld together pull it from the hot water and begin stretching it. If the curd does not stretch check and adjust your water temperature and re-submerdge the curd. At first it may be lumpy but as the curd stretches, it will become smooth. Stretch it out several times and fold it back on itself. If it begins to cool, you will notice it tear, place it back in the hot water to re-heat. When it forms a consolidated mass, stretches like taffy and develops a sheen it can be formed into a ball for the final cheese.
Enjoy & Chill The Mozzarella is now finished, you can now enjoy your fresh mozzarella. To chill the mozzarella, you can make a brine with 2-3 tbs. of salt plus 2-3 tbsp of clear whey in a quart of very cold water. This will chill the cheese and help it hold it shape.
Main Event #1 Variation 2
Mozzarella with Instant Nonfat Dry Milk
Also as adapted from CheeseMaking.com for use by the Brown Deer Cookbook Club
Yield: 2 pounds ● Aging Time: None
If you are having issues with your milk not making a proper curd, this alternative method should work wonders. And given the difficulty in finding anything that isn't ultra pasteurized, this might be the ideal fix. The original recipe creator suggests using "Carnation" for the milk powder, but states any will do.
Ingredients
Non Fat Dry Milk Powder for 7 Pints of Milk
1 Pint of Cream
1.5 tsp Citric Acid
1/4 rennet tablet or 1/4 tsp Single Strength Liquid Rennet
Salt (optional)
Equipment
Container to Mix Dry Milk and Cream
10+ qt Stainless Steel Pot
Microwave Safe Bowl
Slotted Spoon or Ladle
Measuring Cup & Spoons
Thermometer
Knife
Directions
Selecting Powdered Milk and Cream This recipe for Mozzarella involves adding cream to Non Fat Dry Milk Powder. We've had great luck using "Carnation" brand milk here so if you're having problems with other brands give this one a try. We've used many other brands along the way that also work well. Note: Ultra Pasteurized cream is fine to use since the calcium and proteins for the cheese are already in the milk. To make the milk, mix 1 pint of cream with 7 pints of Dry Milk Powder for one gallon of milk. Below are is a list of the final fat % in 1 gallon of milk for varying types of cream:
Cream Type (1 Pint) | Cream % | Fat % for 1 Gal Milk |
Double (rich) Cream | 48% | 6% |
Heavy Whipping Cream | 36-40% | 4.5-5% |
Light Whipping Cream | 30-36% | 3.7-4.5% |
Light or Coffee Cream | 18-30% | 2.2-3.7% |
Single Cream | 20% | 2.5% |
Half and Half | 10.5% | 1.3% |
The higher the fat content, the more difficult it is to retain the fat in the final cheese but the better the flavor. When using a higher fat % the whey will be somewhat milky looking. You can minimize this by treating the curd very gently at all stages. Since your mix for this cheese is 7 pints of milk to 1 pint of cream you can either follow the package mix directions for 1 gallon and drink the 1 pint of Non Fat Milk you remove to make room for the cream addition or simply multiply the total dry milk powder needed by .875 (7/8ths of a gallon) to make just the 7 pints. This will leave room for your pint of cream. The easiest thing for us is to add 2 quarts of cool water with the dry milk powder in a clean container and stir until the powder dissolves, then add this to an empty sanitized gallon jug. The 1-pint of cream can now be added and then the jug topped up to 1 gallon with cool water. Refrigerate this overnight and you have one gallon of great milk to make your mozzarella.
Once the milk is made and refrigerated, follow the previous recipe and you are golden.
Cook's Note:
Cheese making is best done with fresh, whole, raw milk. You can do it with either pasteurized or homogenized, as can low fat milk, but all have their issues with texture and process. Here's why:
Pasteurization requires milk to be cooked at a specific temperature for a specific amount of time. This cooking causes damage to the proteins in milk which, while it doesn't apparently affect the nutrition, does cause issues with the curding process in cheese making. Most milk in the US is ultra pasteurized, which means that it has been cooked at an even higher temperature for longer, further destabilizing the proteins in the milk. Then milk is transported at extremely low temps, and again damage is sustained. Milk that has gone through the pasteurization process lack much of the elasticity, and ultra pasteurization can create curd that refuses to come more together than ricotta or feta. It is tougher and more dense than traditional fresh mozzarella.
Homogenization is a process in which milk is forced at high speeds through a special machine that breaks fat globules down so far that cream can't form. In other words, what it means for cheese makers is that since the fat can't come together to form cream, neither can it come together to form cheese. Cheese made with homogenized milk will be runny and lack the cohesion to create a good, stable cheese.
Raw milk already has some of the good bacteria in it, which helps with the taste and formation of curds. Cheese experts consider this an important part of the cheese itself.
Low Fat works, but because a principle component in creating that soft, pillowy, moist feeling of traditional cheeses is the fat, the cheese will be drier and less flavorful. It simply doesn't have the moisture retention of whole milk.
I have made mozzarella more than once with pasteurized milk. It takes a lot more work to get it to come into a whole through kneading and the secondary heating while removing the whey is even more important, as it allows the developing curd to melt together in a way they couldn't without. It also seems to start forming its chunks ("curds," for lack of a better term) quicker than not, although they are much smaller and irregular than they should be, nearly rice-size. Hence the harder time kneading it into a whole.
Main Event #2
Classic Caprese Salad
As adapted from RecipesFromItaly.com for use by the Brown Deer Cookbook Club
Yield: 4 servings ● Prep Time: 5 min. ● Cook Time: None
Ingredients
4 ripe red tomatoes
1 lb mozzarella (Buffalo mozzarella can be substituted for a more intense flavor)
10 fresh basil leaves
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
a pinch of fine salt
a little freshly ground black pepper (optional)
A few drops of balsamic vinegar (optional)
Directions
Wash and slice the tomatoes into 1/2" slices. Salt them lightly and allow to sit for a couple of minutes on the board to lose some of their water.
Do similarly with the mozzarella, draining, slicing in 1/2" slices.
Wash the basil leaves and pat dry
Arrange these ingredients on the plate any way you desire. I tend to alternate so as to always have that perfect bite of all three, but I have seen it done helter-skelter. I have even seen in stead of slices of both using mozzarella pearls and cherry or grape tomatoes mixed in a bowl.
Drizzle with olive oil and perhaps some balsamic vinegar and fresh black pepper.
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