Curds and Whey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Take a piece of rennet about three inches square, wash it in two or three cold waters to remove the salt, wipe it dry, and fasten a string to one corner.
Have ready in a deep dish or pan a quart of unskimmed milk that has been warmed but not boiled.
Make the curd
Put the rennet into the milk, leaving the string hanging over the side so you can find it.
Cover the pan and set it by the fire-side or in some other warm place.
When the milk becomes a firm mass of curd and the whey looks clear and greenish, remove the rennet gently by the string and set the pan in ice or a very cold place.
Serve and store
Serve with a small pitcher of white wine, sugar and nutmeg mixed together, or a bowl of sweetened cream with nutmeg grated over it.
You may keep rennet in white wine by cutting it into small pieces and putting it into a glass jar with wine enough to cover it well.
Either the wine or the rennet will be good for turning milk; do not put them together, or the curd will become hard and tough and uneatable.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 2 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Rennet
- Enzymes that coagulate the milk proteins, turning the warm milk into a firm curd.
- Milk
- Provides the proteins and fat that form the curd and the clear whey around it.
The step that matters
Remove the rennet at the right moment. Rennet keeps working as long as it stays in the milk. Leaving it in too long over-sets the curd, while removing it gently by the string stops the action once a firm curd and clear greenish whey have formed.
“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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