Okay, so here we go. Pour your skim milk into a big pot (I used my trusty Dutch oven) and heat it to 120 degrees (I used my trusty candy thermometer). When it reaches 120, take it off the heat and pour in the vinegar. This is going to make the curds (the solid part) separate from the whey (the liquid part). Cover it and leave it alone for about 30 minutes.
When you come back, you are going to have a stringy, goopy pot of stuff that looks nothing like cottage cheese, but hang in there. Scoop out the goop and put it in a clean lightweight dishtowel. Let it drain for a few minutes, and then gather the sides of the dishtowel together so the cheese is closed inside and run cold water over it for about 3 minutes, kneading and squeezing it the whole time it is being rinsed.
When you are done, open up the dishtowel. You will have a pile of dry pieces of something that looks nothing like cottage cheese, but hang in there, because here’s where the magic happens. Transfer those dried looking curds to a bowl and pour in 1/4 cup of heavy cream and 1/4 cup half and half, along with a 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir it all around and voila! It looks EXACTLY like the best bowl of cottage cheese you’ve ever seen! Taste it and add more salt and more cream until it is the flavor and consistency you like.
Now, this cottage cheese is not going to be like that mass-produced stuff from the supermarket. It’s like a mixture of mozzarella cheese and cottage cheese, and it’s best eaten the very day you make it. (Which was not a problem for me!) If you do keep it overnight in the fridge, it will firm up a little and you may need to add a little more regular milk or cream to get it back to a consistency you like.
So if we can make butter and ricotta cheese, we can make cottage cheese too! I wonder what’s next….? I’m taking suggestions!
Ingredients
Directions
Recipe adapted from Alton Brown’s version
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I am definitely now regretting the fact that I bought cottage cheese from whole foods last week. What a waste of money when I could have made it myself!!
Next time! It’s something to look forward to…:)
ahhh a girl after my own heart…. try David Lebovitz’s version, although you need rennet instead of the vinegar….
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2006/03/la-presure-home-1/
made some this summer and it was fantastic!… need to add more salt next time, but I’m always overly cautious on salt…..
I took a basic cheesemaking class last March and have been making yogurt cheese all summer which I then turn into a really thick garlicky tzaziki…. an have also tried a “modified” mozzerella which comes out very good, but really soft and its not much harder than the cottage cheese (No heating and stretching)
Thank you – I will try it! (I actually HAVE some rennet, if you can believe it!)
Feta! Definitely feta!
You know, I just this weekend found a recipe for feta. It involves some technical sounding ingredient I need to get my mitts on (chloride-something?) but as soon as I do….
If you want a little help deciding what’s next, check out this blog:
http://fromthebartolinikitchens.com/category/2-misc-recipe-collections/make-it-yourself/home-made-cheeses-home-made-ingredients/
He’s made several cheeses, starting with the easy stuff, and he talks about all the pitfalls and how he navigated around them.
How about Mascarpone? Or making Ricotta with that whey?
I haven’t had homemade cottage cheese in so many years. I think either my grandmother or my best friend’s mother used to make it occasionally. They left the curds dry and put pitchers of cream and buttermilk on the table, and honey and jam. I always liked mine with chives, though, my mom’s favorite, too. This recipe seems easy enough to try on the spur of the moment.
Thanks!
ooh, thank you for the link – a treasure trove of ideas! I do love making ricotta, but mascarpone would be so much fun…