How to cook cheese at home

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-02 16:12

Cheese is a pickled cheese used in the preparation of various salads, pasta, fillings for pies and so on. Today it can be easily bought in any supermarket. However, you can learn how to cook cheese at home according to the recipes of our ancestors. And it will not differ in taste or appearance from the store.

Utility of cheese

Cheese differs from other types of cheese primarily in that it does not have a crust. It is a soft sour-s alty product that is prepared from cow, buffalo, sheep, goat milk or a mix of these types of milk. Despite the fact that pickled cheese is a high-calorie product, it has many useful properties. Cheese is rich in protein, which contributes to the development and growth of muscle mass. Therefore, this product is so loved by athletes who want to build muscle.

Because feta cheese is a dairy product, it is rich in calcium. It promotes he althy growth of strong bones as well as teeth and nails. Other trace elements are also present in large quantities, for example, sodium, phosphorus, beta-carotene, potassium and vitamins - A,B₁, B_{2, C, K, PP and others.}

For the fair sex, cheese is a source of beautiful silky hair and velvety, youthful-looking skin.

However, if there are problems with the urinary system or kidneys, the consumption of this product should be slightly limited. First of all, due to the presence of a large amount of s alt in it.

Choice of milk and tools

Cooking cheese at home is pretty easy. It requires regular products. First, let's prepare the ingredients. The main ingredient is milk. You can use goat or cow. It is better if the milk is homemade. If this is not possible, then you can take store-bought pasteurized. But be sure that the milk was very fatty. Immediately milked to take is not recommended. Place it in the refrigerator and let it rest for at least a few hours. But also stale, older than three days, the product should not be used to cook homemade cheese according to the recipe.

Choose a high capacity for cooking. Such that the milk does not reach the edges by about 4-5 centimeters. This will prevent splashing of the product when stirring during cooking. You can take a regular pot.

We will also need gauze and a colander to further express the whey. A saucepan or bowl with a lid, as well as a press, with which we will form our cheese. No other fancy kitchen gadgets or gadgets needed.

First cooking method

Thisrecipe how to make cheese from milk without sourdough.

Ingredients:

• cow's milk - 2 liters;
• eggs - 5-6 pieces;
• sour cream 15-20% fat – 400-420 grams;
• s alt - 2-3 tablespoons.

Put the milk on a small fire, add s alt, bring to a boil. At this time, we are preparing a mixture that will be a thickener. To do this, beat sour cream with eggs. Slowly add the mixture to the boiling milk. We make sure that the milk does not boil away and does not burn. The fire on the stove can be reduced a little more. Stirring, boil for another five to seven minutes - until the whey separates from the curd. The milk should curdle.

Next, put several layers of gauze into a colander and pour out the mass. Leave until the whey is completely drained. After that, we tie the free ends of the gauze well. Put the cheese in this form in a clean container and cover with a lid. We put oppression on top. For example, it could be a water bottle. Leave for at least 5 hours until completely cooled, then, without removing the press, put in the refrigerator overnight. And in the morning the cheese is ready to eat.

Second cooking method

There is another recipe for making cow's milk cheese at home.

Ingredients:

• cow's milk - 3 liters;
• s alt - 2-3 tablespoons;
• lemon juice (can be replaced with vinegar) - 3-4 tablespoons.

Put the milk on a slow fire. Make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. While stirring, gradually pour one tablespoon of vinegar into the liquid. We do this until the milk is completely curtailed in large lumps. Pour the entire contents of the pan into a colander previously covered with several layers of gauze. Tie the ends tightly and hang for a couple of hours. When all the liquid has drained, transfer the mass to a bowl and cover with a lid with oppression. To compact the cheese, keep it for about 4-5 hours. At this time, prepare the brine.

Pour the separated whey into a saucepan and add s alt. You can pour in a little water so that the brine is not too s alty and thick. We put the resulting cheese in s alted whey and leave it in the refrigerator. From time to time it is necessary to turn the cheese over for more uniform impregnation.

Third cooking method

Another way to make cow's milk cheese at home.

Ingredients:

• cow's milk - 5 l;
• s alt - to taste;
• special sourdough enzyme - pepsin.

Pour milk into a saucepan, put on a small fire on the stove. Heat it up, but don't bring it to a boil. The temperature of milk should be approximately 38-40 degrees. You can approximately determine the time for removing the product from the fire by checking with your hand - we hold the product until we feel a slight warmth. If overcooked, the finished cheese may be slightly rubbery.

Next, add the starter, constantly stirring the milk. Leave the mass to ripen for 30-40 minutes. ThroughThis is the time the curd will separate from the whey. Cut it into several small pieces, gradually draining the whey into another container. When all the liquid is removed, transfer the cheese to gauze, tie it and leave it in a bowl or saucepan under pressure for 4-5 hours. In order for the cheese to be s alty, we prepare a brine from the remaining whey and s alt. We cut the finished cheese into pieces and soak it in it for about a day.

Goat cheese

Goat milk has a specific taste. Therefore, cheese based on such a product will be more fragrant and rich. These cheeses are becoming more and more popular. Also, goat's milk is very useful, in comparison with cow's milk it has more calcium, and less calories.

So, how to cook goat cheese at home? Everything is quite simple. Let's take 5 liters of goat's milk, pharmacy pepsin for starter (we look at the consumption rate and the method of preparing the starter itself on the package). We heat the milk in a large saucepan until the temperature "tolerates the hand." Then turn it off and add sourdough. Slowly stir the mixture with a wooden spoon or just your hand.

After a while, clots will begin to appear, which should increase and form more and more lumps. When the mass separates from the whey, put it in a colander lined with gauze in several layers. After 2-3 hours, we discard the cottage cheese into a container with a lid, put a load on top. And after a few hours the product is ready. We make brine and store cheese in it.

Lamb Stomach Starter

You can use a sourdough starter for cheese, bought at a store or pharmacy. But you can use a more natural product and make it yourself.

For this we need the stomach of a lamb, calf or kid. It is necessary to take the stomach of a young animal, which has not yet nibbled grass, but fed only on mother's milk. We wash the stomach well and dry it in a warm place, for example, over a gas stove for about two weeks. The organ should end up looking like parchment.

This will mean that our enzyme is ready. Remove it and cut into thin strips. Pour the resulting abomasum with cold water for a day. The starter is ready! To prepare cheese, you need to add about 100 grams of such whey to 5 liters of milk. Dry rennet can be stored for several months. You just need to wrap it in paper and put it in a tightly closed glass or tin jar.

Storage of cheese

Freshly prepared cheese is stored in the refrigerator for about fifteen days. So that the cheese does not dry out and does not lose its taste, it is placed in a brine called brine. To prepare the brine, you will need approximately 5-6 tablespoons of coarse s alt per one and a half liters of clean cold water. Pour the s alt into the water and stir well until completely dissolved. Let's do a salinity test. Because unleavened brine can make cheese soft and spreading.

Take a well-washed chicken egg and put it into the solution. If it pops upand will be visible on the surface with a diameter of 2.5-3 centimeters, then the brine is ready, if not, add more s alt. It is convenient to store cheese in brine in a glass, enamel or plastic container with a tightly closed lid.

Without brine, you can store pickled cheese in the freezer. However, it should be borne in mind that when defrosted, the taste properties of cheese deteriorate. If the cheese itself turned out to be s alty, then you can soak it for several hours in clean water or milk.

Recipes

Cheese is a very he althy and tasty product. And what can be cooked from brynza? It is part of numerous salads, complements pasta, pizza, serves as a filling for pies. Here are some easy yet delicious recipes.

Beetroot salad with cheese

Ingredients:

• lettuce - 1 bunch;
• mix of greens (parsley, dill, basil) - 1 bunch;
• roasted pumpkin seeds - 20 grams;
• cheese - 70-80 grams;
• beets - 250-350 grams;
• unrefined olive oil - 50 ml;
• lemon juice - 30 ml;
• garlic - 1 small clove;
• dry salad dressing mix.

Let's prepare the beets first. Wash it well, wrap it in foil and bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Ready and chilled beets cut into cubes or strips. Tear the lettuce leaves, finely chop the parsley and combine it all with beets. Then we prepare the dressing - mix olive oil with juicelemon, add seasonings, garlic and mix well until a homogeneous mixture. Dress and mix the salad. We crumble the cheese on top. At the end, sprinkle the whole dish with roasted seeds.

Cheese pies

Very he althy and tasty pies suitable for breakfast or just as a snack. The recipe is simple and clear - even a novice hostess can handle it.

So, you will need the following ingredients:

• flour - 0.4 kg;
• water - 0.2 l;
• olive oil - 20 ml;
• apple vinegar or lemon juice - 15 ml;
• cheese - 0.2 kg;
• chicken egg - 1 pc.

First, in a bowl, mix all the liquid ingredients of the dough - water, egg, vinegar, olive oil. Then, stirring constantly, add the flour. When the mass becomes homogeneous and without lumps, cover with a film and leave to stand for about one hour.

You can prepare the filling at this time. Thoroughly knead the cheese with a fork. If desired, you can add a little greenery (dill, parsley, green onions). Roll out the dough in one layer as thin as possible. Lay out the filling and twist the roll. We cut the roll across into several equal parts and roll each cake a little more. From this amount of products, 8-9 pies are obtained. Fry each on both sides in a dry frying pan.

Milk soup with cheese

Cheese can also be used to prepare first courses.

Ingredients:

• milk - 250 ml;
• water - 1 liter;
• cheese - 150-200 g;
• eggs - 2piece;
• butter - 10g

Boil milk and water in a saucepan. Then add the cheese cut into small pieces and cook for another 12-15 minutes. Beat the eggs and season the soup with them. At the end, put a piece of butter. Serve with croutons and chopped fresh herbs

Cheese is a very he althy and tasty cheese, which has been known in cooking since ancient times. Having learned how to cook cheese at home, you can be sure that such a product will be more natural, and the taste will not differ at all from that bought in the store.