Among the population of our planet there are many cheese lovers in all its manifestations. Many gourmets prefer fragrant homemade products to purchased cheese from the nearest store. Someone orders it in small private cheese makers, and some know how to make cheese themselves!
Homemade cheese - little secrets and tricks
In any creative business (and making cheese can, without doubt, be attributed to that) has its own little secrets:
- it is better not to buy milk or cottage cheese in the store, but to find a supplier selling only own farm products. Practice has shown that store milk has a high percentage of unsuccessful preparation of cheeses;
- if there is no opportunity to buy farm products, then when buying pay attention to the fat content of milk - the higher it is, the better. And do not use ultra pasteurized;
- ripening will take place at the highest level, if you take more than 500 g of its mass;
- the tenderness of cheese directly depends on its fat content - the higher it is in the original products, the tastier the finished product will be;
- soak hard cheese a little longer - then its taste will be much richer;
- no special form for making cheeses? No problem! We take a colander and all problems are solved! The grid from the deep-fat fits;
- do not allow the serum to disappear, but use it for pancakes and other baking.
Now you can start cooking delicious treats!
Adyghe homemade cheese - tasty and healthy
Cheese or adygei cheese is not very difficult to cook at home. With a bit of work, you can enjoy an amazing and magical taste.
To prepare you need:
- milk (3.5% fat) - 1 l;
- cottage cheese (homemade preferably) - 1 kg;
- chicken eggs - 3 pieces;
- soft butter - 100 g;
- salt - from 1 to 1.5 tsp;
- soda (food, of course) - 1 tsp.
Adygei cheese cooking time - 5 hours.
Caloric content of the finished product (100 g) - 240 kcal.
Prepare a simple soft cheese from milk should be as follows:
- boil milk and add all the cottage cheese to it;
- cook this mass for about half an hour (but by no means more) on moderate heat;
- take a sieve and cover it with clean gauze in several additions;
- spread cottage cheese cooked in milk on a sieve and let excess liquid (whey) flow down;
- as soon as the whole whey leaves the curd-milk mass, it must be moved back to the pan;
- Next, add in the prescribed amount of butter, eggs, salt and necessarily soda;
- mix all ingredients well and put on the stove - 10 minutes. The flame must be slightly stronger than the average;
- choose a suitable form (for example, a plastic container), lubricate it with a small amount of oil and lay out in it all cheese that has not cooled down;
- level the surface with a spoon and let cool the mass;
- then put the form in the fridge for 3 hours;
- after this time the cheese should be ready. Neatly turn over the form on a plate.
In this form, the cheese can be served on the table. It is better not to store it for a long time, because it does not contain special additives to extend the shelf life that is used in industry. Although such a cheese will not stay long in the refrigerator.
Cooking hard cheese at home
The most versatile is considered to be durum cheese. It is eaten in its pure form, it is made into sandwiches, used to make pizza, etc. Consider the recipe for hard cheese at home.
For it you need:
- low-fat milk - 1 l;
- dry cottage cheese - 1 kg;
- chicken eggs - 2 pieces;
- butter - 100 g;
- salt - 1 tsp;
- soda - 1 tsp;
- spices - to taste.
Cooking time - 1 hour (excluding freezing in the refrigerator).
Calories - 325 kcal with the expectation of 100 g.
Cooking method:
- put cottage cheese in a pan, fill it with milk and set it on a low fire;
- cook the mixture and constantly stir it with a spatula or spoon;
- after a certain time, the mass will begin to boil (bubbles will appear), it must be drained through a colander to remove excess liquid;
- shift the curd with milk back into the pan and add the butter;
- separately mix eggs, baking soda, salt and spices and add to cottage cheese;
- put the pot back on the fire (slow) and wait until the mass begins to melt and thicken. Be sure to continuously stir;
- do not be afraid of the reaction of soda (the mass at the time will be lush). After a few minutes, the melting process begins. In this state, you need to cook the cheese for about 10 minutes;
- we shift the preparation of our cheese in any form and put it in the fridge for freezing.
Such cheese will bring true pleasure to those who try at least one piece!
Cottage Cheese from Homemade Milk
Good curd cheese is incredibly delicate and tasty. It can be prepared at home no worse than the store. And maybe better several times.
Ingredients for curd cheese:
- home-made cow's milk - 3 l;
- Acetic acid - 1 tablespoon;
- dill - 1 bunch;
- garlic (young) - 2 cloves;
- salt - to taste.
The time for the preparation of cottage cheese is 75 minutes of the cooking process itself.
Calorie - 215 kcal per 100 g
Cooking cheese cheese as follows:
- Pour milk into a stainless steel pot, add some salt and put it on medium heat;
- at the time of boiling milk add acetic acid. There will be an instantaneous folding of milk, that is, the curd will separate from the whey;
- boil the mixture in this form for a couple of minutes and remove it from the stove;
- in a colander with gauze pour the mixture from the pan and let the serum to drain;
- as soon as the excess liquid drains as much as possible, collect the ends of the gauze and form a bag. In this form, hang the nodule over any capacity for several hours;
- as soon as the set time has passed, well press the gauze bag and place the contents under the press and put in the fridge to get rid of the liquid even more;
- In this form, cottage cheese should stand in the cold for 6 to 8 hours;
- after that, add spices and spices to it, mix well.
Thus, the result is a very gentle curd cheese for morning sandwiches, festive appetizers.
Hand-made melted cheese is possible and tasty
Melted cheese curds are known to many since childhood. Their purpose is the most varied: for hot toasts, for making soups, for salads, etc.
You will need:
- cow's milk - 1 l;
- cottage cheese - 1 l;
- butter (softened better) - 100 g;
- baking soda plain - 1 tsp;
- salt - 1 tablespoon.
The cooking time is only half an hour of the process itself and 6-8 hours for freezing in the refrigerator.
Calorie content per 100 g of processed homemade cheese - 150 kcal.
How to make homemade cream cheese:
- pour milk into a saucepan of suitable size and bring it to a boiling state;
- we move all the cottage cheese into milk and mix it without turning off the fire;
- cook this mass for 5 minutes over low heat;
- it is necessary to prepare a colander with high-quality gauze and put the milk-curd mass on it to allow the liquid whey to drain;
- further, you need to take a large skillet and melt the butter in it;
- put the mass of milk and curd into the pan and melt for about 15 minutes. It is necessary to stir the contents continuously so that it does not stick to the bottom and sides of the pan - this is very important;
- as soon as the mass ceases to stick to the walls of the pan and does not look like cottage cheese, it begins to stretch - it means the melted cheese is ready;
- It is recommended for some time before eating to put the melted cheese in the refrigerator so that it stiffens a bit.
In some recipes can be found among the ingredients are chicken eggs. In classic processed cheeses they are not, but for the sake of diversity, they can be used in the amount of 2 pieces that need to be added to the red-hot frying pan before placing the milk-curd mixture in it.
To make melted cheese interesting flavors, you can use greens, nuts, ham pieces and even chocolate, which can be added to the cheese before freezing.
Beautiful homemade Italian "mozzarella"
Italian cheese consists of the following ingredients:
- milk - one and a half liters;
- pure distilled water (this is important!) - 250 ml;
- Pepsin or acidin-pepsin - 2 tablets are enough;
- citric acid - one third teaspoon;
- salt - 1 tsp.
Mozzarella cooking will take 60 minutes.
Calorie - 270 kcal per hundred grams.
Preparing mozzarella cheese at home in steps:
- it is very good if you have a kitchen thermometer at your home, since the milk must be heated on the stove to 25 degrees;
- pour half a cup of water and dilute citric acid in it, add milk to it and continue stirring;
- Atsidin-pepsin can be bought at the pharmacy, just two tablets is enough to make mozzarella. Dissolve in the remaining half of the water and add to the milk, continuing to stir. So we bring the mass to 40 degrees, and then remove from the stove;
- cover the pan with a lid and let the milk with additives stand for 20 minutes for final coagulation;
- then we mix the mass very well and put it on a fine sieve, gently pressing it with a hand or a spoon to drain the liquid;
- heat the water to 70 degrees and put our "almost cheese" in hot water, where it will melt a bit to the state of plasticity and no more;
- we get (carefully!) from the hot water the cheese and begin to hand (you can wear gloves for safety) to stretch the cheese in different directions to get rid of excess liquid, salt and stretch again;
- put the cheese in the microwave for a moment, reach out and continue to gently stretch so that the finished cheese is slightly fibrous and structural;
- Then, put the mozzarella in the form and let it cool before use.
You can supplement the product with herbs (basil, dill or other herbs).
Home recipe famous "Philadelphia"
Many have tried this cheese in the composition of many varieties of rolls and sushi. However, this cheese is also excellent on sandwiches and toasts as an appetizer.
Ingredients for cooking:
- milk - 1 l;
- kefir - half a liter;
- chicken eggs - 1 piece;
- sugar - 1 teaspoon;
- sugar is the same amount;
- citric acid - enough on the tip of a knife.
Cooking time - 40 minutes.
Calorie content per 100 g is only 68 kcal.
How to make Philadelphia cheese at home:
- pour the milk into a saucepan and bring to a boil, add sugar and salt to it, turn off the heat on the stove;
- Immediately pour all kefir into milk and mix;
- pour liquid on gauze, collect in a bundle and allow serum to drain for 20 minutes;
- egg and citric acid, well beat with a mixer or blender;
- add eggs from gauze to beaten eggs and beat well until smooth;
- so the cheese is ready.
It will not be superfluous to add greens to Philadelphia.
Useful tips
With the emergence of multicookers in home use, the preparation of various dishes was carried out in a new way. Cheese can also be prepared using this miracle technique.
For example, you can take a liter of milk and mix it with sour cream and kefir (each a tablespoon), leave it overnight in some warm place. In the morning, wake up, pour the liquid into a slow cooker and heat for 1 hour. Throw the mass on a gauze or a sieve and let the excess liquid flow freely. So, it can make very tasty cheese.
You can store homemade cheese in the fridge strictly for no more than 7 days. After this period, various undesirable reactions will start to occur in a truly natural cheese, which can lead to unpleasant and painful sensations in the human body.
Another interesting and detailed recipe for making cheese at home is in the next video.
