Ricotta Making! (a.k.a. Learn to make cheese part 1)

Superbowl Sunday!!

My friend Victoria joined me early on Superbowl Sunday afternoon. We planned to take a crack at and conquer ricotta making in plenty of time for the Big Game. Things did not go as planned.

Ultimately the game was crushing, but we conquered the ricotta! Woot woot.

This ricotta making endeavor resulted in success on the second of  two attempts. One miserable and complete failure. One wild success. I will tell you about both, so you can learn from our (many) mistakes.

First here are the 3 ingredients and the very simple instructions.

Ingredients: 1 gallon whole milk, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 Lemon Juice*

Directions: Bring milk to exactly 190 degrees stirring constantly (to prevent scorching), remove from heat, add lemon juice and stir once. Let curdle/do not touch. Let separate into curds and whey for 15-30 minutes. Drain in sieve or multiple layers of cheese cloth for 30 minutes. voila!
*see end of story for keys to success for this same recipe!

Attempt 1: 

With only 3 ingredients, you'd think we wouldn't manage to leave one out. But... we did. I'm going to blame it on the amazing story telling and catching up that happens when the two of us get together that lead us astray so quickly.... but I'm not entirely sure that's true.

We brought the milk to 190, stirring the whole time. In retrospect, I realize that at this early stage we failed to add the salt (though according to one recipe it's optional, so maybe we could pretend it was by choice).

We took the milk away from the heat. We added the fresh squeezed lemon juice. We watched and watched for curdles... but none formed. I believe I may have been speculating that curdling could be happening. There was quite a bit of froth on the milk which I hoped was preventing our viewing... sadly, that was not so.

We transferred it to the cheesecloth. And hoped to see the cheese! We were disappointed to see milk. lots of still-hot milk with some curdles. I don't think we fully grasped how big of a complete failure it was at that stage, but we did feel something was perhaps a bit amiss. It was! 

After waiting and waiting, and adding more lemon juice, things weren't looking good.  The game has now started. Seahawks are playing strong & things are looking good despite the Patriots early lead.

The "cheese" never recovered. Even after letting it sit in the cheesecloth for a long time, we still had a milky mess on our hands.  We finally admitted defeat. I ran along to the corner store to get supplies for Round 2.

Attempt 2: 

New gallon of milk. 1tsp of Salt, added early to the pot! I bought two lemons for good measure.

We heated the milk, slowly from medium high heat, building the heat, until the milk reached 190. stirring constantly with a whisk. Removed the gigantic pot of milk from the heat. Then added two lemons worth of lemon juice! I think this is the key!! Plus, lemon concentrate for good measure. Multiple squeezes.

Within minutes (probably seconds), we could see the transformation happening. We were making cheese! We waited (watching the Seahawks retake the lead back!) as the curds and whey parted ways, and came back to the pot to find a whole new texture before us. The curds were squishy like a sponge and the whey was clear and whey-like! Progress.

We then strained our ricotta (because it was clear by this stage that we were on the road to ricotta success) and30 minutes later - voila! We had ricotta cheese. A lemony, rich delicious cheese. It was amazing.

We then used it in a skillet lasagna and enjoyed the rest of the game! Right up until the brutal, painful, cruel, cruel end.

Key Lessons: 

• Use at least 3/4 cup of lemon juice for a gallon of milk
• Stir the lemon juice well, so it is well distributed. Stir quickly and walk away. 
• Use only a single layer of cheesecloth. Better yet: use a metal sieve. 
• Definitely make it. Absolutely worth it.  

Resources: 
http://www.thejoykitchen.com/ingredients-techniques/building-better-pantry-ricotta
http://video.about.com/cheese/Ricotta-Cheese-from-Scratch.htm

Thank You, Victoria! Looking forward to Mozzarella making soon.