Making Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean and scald all equipment: strainers, hoop, basket, ladder, tub, and press.
Strain the night's milk into the tub.
Warm the morning's milk in a brass kettle or tin boiler to 98°F (37°C) and mix with the night's milk.
Add enough rennet to form the curd in about 30 minutes.
Form and cut the curd
Cut the curd into squares with a long knife or break it gently with your hands.
Ensure the whey runs off clear; it should look green when draining.
Drain and press
Set the ladder over another tub to catch the whey, place the basket on the strainer, and carefully dip the curd into the basket.
Lift the ends of the basket occasionally to speed up draining.
Once all curd is in, turn up the corners and place a weight on top to press out the whey.
Cut and press the curds every few minutes, but do not rush.
If pressing the same day, prepare for scalding; if not, store in a cool place to drain.
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
- Night's milk
- Provides the bulk of the milk that sets into curd and becomes the cheese.
- Morning's milk
- Warmed and combined with the night's milk, adding volume to the curd being formed.
- Rennet
- Enzyme that coagulates the milk proteins into a firm curd.
The step that matters
Warming the milk to 98°F (37°C) before adding rennet. Rennet works best within a narrow warm range. Too cool and the curd sets slowly or weakly; too hot and the enzyme can be damaged, so the curd may not form properly.
“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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