Relish Austin

By Prentiss Riddle

July 10, 2008 11:07 AM | Link to this

Rennet? All I know about rennet is that it’s made from the stomach lining of baby sheep raised on electroshock and Baywatch reruns, or something like that.

I made yogurt for years (before I got lazy) from some hippie recipe that amounted to this: boil some milk and let it cool; stir in a heaping serving spoon of the last batch of yogurt or storebought yogurt containing live culture; put it in an oven that was briefly preheated and turned off so it’s just barely warm; take it out the next morning. Worked for me every time.

Your mileage may vary with my memory of old hippie cookbooks.

By Claire

July 10, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this

I make my own soy yogurt, and it’s a similar process to dairy yogurt. It’s easiest to use a cup of store-bought yogurt as your starter instead of buying live dried culture.

I start by boiling a pot of water and sterilizing a sheet of foil that I lay down on my counter. Then I sterilize tongs, jars & lids, whisk, measuring spoons/cups, and candy thermometer. I use aseptic soymilk containers, so I don’t have to scald it before culturing it.

Mix the store-bought yogurt with some of the warm liquid before incorporating it. Otherwise you get lumps of yogurt culturing, instead of the whole jar. You can reuse the last 1/2c of your yogurt as starter for the next batch, up to 10x before you need fresh.

By scott

July 10, 2008 12:40 PM | Link to this

I’ve heard ricotta is super easy to make.

By Robin

July 12, 2008 12:22 PM | Link to this

I make ricotta cuz its hard to find decent stuff at the store. Its super easy and there are lots of methods available on the internet. I found one a couple years ago on “messy cucina” that Ive had good luck with.She made the cheese 3 ways- w/ vinegar, butermilk and lemon juice and the LJ won the taste test. 1 gal. whole milk,6T. lemon juice salt. Thats it. Rinse the heavy pot w/ cold water to discourage sticking. Bring to slow simmer over med- low heat. Keep stirring and scraping bottom of pan. I add the LJ once the milk is hot. Keep up the stirring and @ 180- 185 degrees remove from heat.Skim curds and place in a cheesecloth lined strainer.Let drain 15- 20 min( or longer if you like it firm) and then season with salt. Some recipes add some heavy cream but I like the milk fine. This beats 95% of whats available in the supermarket.Polly-O is a good one but its hard to find on a regular basis.

By JP Kloninger

July 14, 2008 9:16 AM | Link to this

Hello,

Pre-kids, I used to make mozzarellas, ricottas, and occasionally hard aged cheeses like cheddar and gouda. Hopefully someday soon I’ll get to cheesemaking again.

Anyway, a great resource for supplies, etc. is New England Cheesemaking Supply. They’ve been at it for years! Here’s their website: http://www.cheesemaking.com/

Happy dairy-ing!

JP

By Louise

July 15, 2008 11:43 AM | Link to this

Addie…I used to make yogurt in the good ol’ seventies. All I did was let a ceramic bowl of mild come to room temperature, mix in a tablespoon of yogurt, and keep it at room temp or slightly warmer (just like rising bread with yeast) overnight. It is TRULY magic. At the time, I just used Dannon plain yogurt. You can then put it into a little bag made out of several layers of cheesecloth, let it hang over your kitchen sink, and it will become yogurt cream cheese. Yay! Louise

By Suzanne Santos

July 15, 2008 6:09 PM | Link to this

Cheese making kits are as close as your next Austin Farmers’ Market. Marc Kuehl of Brazos Valley Cheese (raw cow’s milk- made in Waco, Texas) has available to the public a cheese-making kit with rennet, booklet, cheese cloth, etc for making several pounds of cheese. He is at the markets both Wednesday at the Triangle and downtown on Saturdays. www.austinfarmersmarket.org for details

The milk you can get from Remember When Dairy Sats. at the downtown market. Happy cheese-making!

By staff

July 15, 2008 10:03 PM | Link to this

Thanks for the tips, Louise!

Do you flavor your yogurt?

By staff

July 15, 2008 10:06 PM | Link to this

Thanks, Suzanne, for the info on buying cheese supplies! I’ll probably swing by there Saturday morning to stock up.

By Chef Veggie

July 18, 2008 9:30 PM | Link to this

If you can make yogurt and ricotta, you can also follow a similar method to make homemade paneer. If you want to eat only organic dairy, this is the only way to go, as I have never seen organic paneer in any store. Cut up 3 lemons and extract their juice. Boil a gallon of organic milk (you should see bubbly froth). Lower heat and add lemon juice slowly and stir. You should start to see curds form. You may not use all the lemon juice. Put several layers of cheesecloth in a colander (a bowl under the colander if you want to save the whey - great for soup)and strain the curds. When cool, take the cheesecloth, and twist it shut and put it in a Pyrex baking pan with a large pot filled with water on top to press the curds. After about 30mins-1hr you should have a firm paneer block. Cut into cubes or rectangles, fry, sautee’ or even grill!

By mom

July 23, 2008 8:59 AM | Link to this

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to your yogurt plea! I made yogurt a long time ago (before yogurt makers were born) using an electric fondue machine. The heating plate was regulated by a knob that you twist. I took about 4 cups of milk with a teaspoon of live active yogurt, placed it in the fondue pot. Put a lid on the pot and cooked it on low for about 8 hours. It took a little practice to find the right temperature, but it was a low heat. I know no one can follow this recipe (well maybe, if you like science experiments in the kitchen and like the scientific method). But my point is that it is very easy to make yogurt and you don’t have to get fancy with any machines. Low heat, 8 hours and a covered pot. Let me know if it works out for anyone!