Homemade Ricotta

Homemade ricotta

Good evening, everyone! Today has been a great day for this blog because we got a TON of page views. Thanks everyone for checking out Meatbeasta, and I hope you continue to do so! Spread the meatbeastalove to all your friends and tell them to check this blog out as well!

But, back to the food (that’s what we really love anyway, right?)…

Tonight, I made ricotta. Not something new, I’ve been doing this for about a month now. First time I made it was with one of the honorary Bacon Boys (of my fictional band “Meatbeasta and the Bacon Boys”) Rob. He saw this recipe on Food Network (Anne Burrell) and I was interested, so we did it together. Well, let me tell you, one taste of this homemade ricotta and I haven’t bought the store stuff since. Nothing beats the creaminess of it. Growing up I used to mix a sugar into a little cold ricotta and eat it like a dessert – this homemade ricotta doesn’t even need the sugar, it’s like a dessert by itself! You can eat it warm or cold and treat it like you would the store-bought stuff. I still like to sweeten it up for a little after-dinner dessert every now and then but these days I will drizzle some local honey I bought at the Ringwood Farmers Market from Nina’s Red Barn Farm, or some maple syrup (Grade B is my favorite!). When you do this it becomes a REAL dessert. Mix in some strawberries. Mouth. Watering. However, tonight I made it in preparation for this dessert I made up last week which my sister has been bugging me to make again. I’m hoping to get to it tomorrow and post it up for you guys.

Anyway, without further ado…

Homemade Ricotta – Anne Burrell (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-burrell/homemade-ricotta-recipe/index.html)

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Inactive Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Makes: 4-6 servings (depends on what you call a serving though)

Ingredients:

• 6 cups whole milk (I prefer to use an organic variety, if you’ve got the bucks grass-fed cows are even better!)
• 2 cups heavy cream (same comment as with the milk)
• 3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine milk, heavy cream, vinegar and salt.
2. Place saucepan over medium heat and slowly bring to a simmer. Simmer the milk mixture for 1 to 2 minutes, you will see curds begin to form. I found that this took little longer than she made it seem for the simmer to happen, but that once the milk starts to curdle it happens pretty quickly so keep an eye on it. Last time I made this I cooked it too long and my ricotta was on the dry side. However, too little isn’t good either.
   

   Curds and whey still in pot.

3. Line a mesh strainer with several layers of damp cheesecloth.
4. Gently pour the curds and whey through into the strainer and let drain for 15 minutes-ish (maybe less, maybe more, you’ll figure it out). Be sure to check the level of the whey in the bowl and make sure it’s not high enough that the ricotta is just sitting in it. If so, pour whey into another bowl to allow room for the curds to continue draining.
   

   Whey draining from the curds.

5. Gather the cheesecloth together and gently squeeze some of the excess liquid from the ricotta.
   

   Gently squeeze excess whey through cheesecloth.

   

   I actually had to drain it a second time with a piece of muslin. I didn't layer enough cheesecloth so the ricotta was coming through the holes in the cheesecloth. This ensured just liquid would come out for a second draining.

6. Finally, this isn’t an Anne Burrell instruction, this is a Meatbeasta instruction: DO NOT DUMP THE EXCESS LIQUID! That is WHEY! Whey has a wide variety of uses and has a ton of its own redeeming qualities. Put it aside and I’ll tell you more about what you can do with whey in the next blog post.
   

   Whey!

So, that’s ricotta. Notice how I have not once called this substance cheese. That’s because (surprise!) it’s technically not a cheese. According to our friends over at Wikipedia “ricotta is not properly a cheese because it is not produced by coagulation of casein. Rather it is made by coagulating other milk proteins, notably albumin and globulin, left over in the whey that separates from the milk during the production of cheese. In fact, ricotta is safely eaten by individuals with casein intolerence.” Thanks, Wikipedia!

Ricotta can be made from the milk of cows, sheep, goats, or even water buffalo (who has a water buffalo?). So for those of you unable to drink cow’s milk but can digest goat’s milk, the recipe is pretty much the same. Just be sure to use whole goat’s milk in place of both the milk and heavy cream.

It’s super easy to make and tastes a million times better! Stay tuned for the next post about ricotta’s by-product brother.