Cream Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Make the curd
Sour the cream until well soured.
Place the cream in a linen cloth and tie it tightly.
Hang the cloth with a pan below to drain for 48 hours.
Transfer the cream to a clean cloth and let it drain for another 48 hours until solid.
Shape and ripen
Lay the cheese on a clean plate, fold the cloth over it, and turn it over on the plate.
Place a smaller plate on top and turn every 6 hours.
Sprinkle with a little pounded salt and layer vine leaves over and under to ripen.
It is ready to eat in a few days when slightly coated.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Rich cream
- Its fat and proteins set into a soft, solid curd as the whey drains away.
- Vine leaves
- Wrapped around the cheese to hold moisture and add aroma while it ripens.
The step that matters
Transfer the cream to a clean cloth and let it drain until solid. Draining must go on long enough for the whey to separate fully; too little time leaves a wet, loose cheese that will not hold its shape.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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