Homemade Ricotta
From heatherbudapest 17 years agoIngredients
- 1 gallon whole pasteurized milk shopping list
- 1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar shopping list
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (more if you want a saltier taste and if you are not going to use it for desserts) shopping list
How to make it
- Rinse the inside of the pot you intend to use with cold water (this helps prevent the milk from scorching).
- Place 1 gallon milk in large, heavy non-reactive pot on medium heat.
- Add salt and stir briefly. Allow milk to heat up slowly, stirring occasionally. Soon you will notice steam start to form above the surface and tiny bubbles appearing on the milk. You want it to reach 180-185 degrees, near scalding temperature, just before it comes to a boil. Check the temperature with your thermometer.
- When it reaches the correct temperature, take the pot off the burner, add the vinegar and stir gently for only one minute.
- Add vinegar. You will notice curds forming immediately.
- Cover with a dry clean dish towel and allow the mixture to sit undisturbed for a couple of hours. You can also begin preparing your ricotta in the morning before going to work and let it sit until you come home.
- When the ricotta has rested for 2 hours or more, take a piece of cheesecloth, dampen it and place it inside a colander. With a slotted spoon, ladle out the ricotta into the prepared colander. Place the colander with ricotta inside of a larger pan so it can drain freely. Let it drain for two hours or so depending on how creamy or dry you want your cheese to be.
- Lift the cheesecloth up by the four corners and twist gently. If the liquid runs clear, squeeze a little more. If the liquid runs milky, there is no more need to squeeze.
- Place in a tight sealed container.
- Refrigerate. It will keep for up to 7 days. Ricotta does not freeze well.
- Notes
- I would advise against the use of low fat or part skim milk in making the ricotta. The flavor comes from the cream in the whole milk. For desserts, add 1 pint heavy whipping cream along with the milk. I use this variation when I am making ricotta for a dessert filling such as cannoli, cassata, or cream puffs. It is richer, creamier, and a bit more decadent.
- Grace has a cookbook coming out; it's her first. Although it's listed as being available on the Amazon.com site, it won't be printed until January or early February. Take a look. It's called, appropriately enough, "Cooking With Grace."
The Rating
Reviewed by 10 people-
OK, I tried this and you know what? It was so easy and turned out fantastic! Other than the minutes watching the pot on the stove to make sure it didn't boil, it was SOOOOOOOOOOOO Easy! I also tried a version that uses buttermilk at the same time ...more
rdh14 in Niles loved it
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Just a side note...I used the ricotta to make ricotta cheese cookies (from the site, recipe is frosted ricotta cheese cookies) and they came out fantastic! Thanks again! Oh, and like the alteration below, I accidentally added the vinegar at the begi...more
rdh14 in Niles loved it
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Thanks for the post Heather. I usually cannot get Ricotta cheese out here in the middle of the south pacific so this will come in handy. RJ
elgourmand in Apia loved it
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