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Neufchatel Cheese

A fresh cheese made by curdling milk with starter, rennet, and draining.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Neufchatel Cheese

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the milk

  1. If desired, pasteurize the milk by heating it to 145°F (63°C) for 30 minutes, then cool to 80°F (27°C).

  2. Add the starter to the cooled milk and stir well.

Curdle and drain

  1. Dilute the rennet in 1 cup of cold water and stir it into the milk thoroughly.

  2. Set the milk aside to curdle for 16 to 18 hours, preferably overnight.

  3. Pour the curdled milk onto a drain cloth and allow it to drain.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

Whole milk
Provides the fat and protein that form the soft, creamy curd.
Starter or sour milk
Adds live cultures that acidify the milk and develop its tangy flavor.
Rennet or powdered pepsin
Enzymes that coagulate the milk proteins into a firm curd.

The step that matters

Thorough stirring of the rennet into the milk. Rennet must be evenly distributed before the milk sits, or coagulation will be patchy and the curd uneven in texture. Even mixing ensures the enzyme acts on all the milk at once.

“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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