Cottage cheese is a sour-milk cheese product, in fact, it is a young cheese obtained by fermenting milk with the subsequent separation of whey. Cottage cheese is eaten most often with the addition of sour cream and various other flavoring fillers, and it can also be a part of various dishes (cheese cakes, vareniki, cheesecakes, etc.).
The preparation of cottage cheese since time immemorial has traditionally been practiced at home in the countries of Northern and Eastern Europe. Nowadays, cottage cheese is produced massively and is packed into packaging and dairy enterprises. Cottage cheese is classified according to the fat content. In accordance with GOST of the Russian Federation, cottage cheese may be low-fat (less than 1.8%), low-fat (1.8-4%), classical (4-18%) and fat (19-23%). The degree of fat content of cottage cheese depends on the level of preliminary milk quality.
Tell you how to cook cottage cheese at home quickly.
There are two ways of producing cottage cheese, we will study the traditional method.
Since most nutritionists admit that the most useful curd of medium fat (that is, classic and low-fat), we recommend preparing cottage cheese from draft medium-fat farm milk, this preparation is most beneficial. It is desirable that the milk is still checked by the veterinary service. In any case, in modern home conditions, simple milk pasteurization methods can be used. It is enough to warm the milk to 80 ° C for 20 minutes in a water bath under the lid or warm in a multivark in the same mode. Next, we will need to make a leaven and separate the serum.
The recipe for the preparation of grainy cottage cheese at home
Ingredients:
- milk of medium fat content - 3L;
- sour cream, yogurt, yogurt or unsweetened live yogurt for sourdough - about 2.5% of the total volume, that is, in our case at least 75 ml.
Preparation
First, we need to ferment milk, the higher the temperature in the room, the faster the milk will turn sour. In summer, milk can sour during 4-6 hours, in the winter, squirming can take up to 2 days. To accelerate the process of milk ripening, we add the starter and put the container covered in a warm place. To optimize the process, you can use a multivark with a roomy working chamber, the temperature should not be above 38 ° C. If you do not have a multivark, place the container with the original milk wort in a large container with warm water (that is, for example, a pan in the pelvis). Sometimes change and pour warm water into the basin. With such methods of activation, the fermentation process of the wort will take approximately 4.5 to 8 hours approximately. When you notice that the wort is confidently divided into two fractions: dense curd and translucent serum, it's time to separate the whey. We take a capacious frequent sieve, and under it we place a clean bowl of a larger size. We cover the screen with a square piece of sterile medical gauze, so that the edges of the flap extend beyond the edges of the screen. Gently pour the mass into a sieve and tie the edges of the gauze. We hang cottage cheese in a gauze filter in any convenient way and wait until the whey drains. After separation, the serum can be used for baking.
In the same way, you can cook low-fat cottage cheese at home, only for this, the milk needs to be separated or to buy an already fat-free product.
"Red" cottage cheese (Kyzyl Eremsek) at home - a recipe for Bashkir cuisine
Ingredients:
- whole milk - 1 l;
- soso katyk (that is, a young fresh katik) - 1 liter.
Mix in a saucepan of hot milk and katyk sauce. Heat the mixture, stirring, at the lowest heat. In the process of heating, the mixture is divided into curdled flakes and whey (merge it). Curd mass cook until almost complete evaporation of water and the appearance of a light brown hue. You can add 1 chicken egg at the end of the process and mix thoroughly. You can also add 2 tbsp. spoons of natural flower honey. Serve with tea.