Prepare Rennet
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stomach
Hang the stomach of a newly-killed calf without washing for 5 days.
After 5 days, slip the curds off with your hand.
Salt and store
Fill the stomach with a mixture of salt and a little saltpetre.
Place it in a crock, pour on the vinegar and additional salt.
Cover closely and keep for use.
In six weeks, take a piece 4 inches square for use.
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.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Calf stomach
- Provides the natural enzymes that curdle milk, which is the purpose of the whole preparation.
- Coarse sea salt
- Preserves the stomach during storage by drawing out moisture and inhibiting spoilage microbes.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that helps preserve the stored stomach and keeps the mixture stable.
The step that matters
Salting and covering the stomach. Enough salt and an airtight cover must be in place so the stomach preserves rather than spoils during the weeks of storage. Too little salt or a loose cover invites harmful microbial growth, and the stored piece may then be unusable.
“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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