Come laugh at me and tell me what I did wrong?

[PerAr6ua]

Had lots of milk for some reason (seem to have a feast or famine approach to food shopping at the moment) so had the bright idea of making cottage cheese. Only I didn't Out of a full litre of milk I got about 2 tablespoons of mozarella like stuff with a faint lemony tang.

Now, I like mozarella, but there was no way of salting it without a hypodermic, and it seems like rather a poor return for a whole litre of skim...

So what newbie/numptie mistake did I make?

Was following the instructions here by the way

[PerAr6ua]

gah! I was being all patient yesterday and not bumping and this is my reward? [mutter mutter]

[kittensliveupstairs]

Don't know TBH, but me and DD will be making cheese this afternoon. Thanks.

[vigglewiggle]

Skimmed milk?

[livvylouis]

Yeah dont use skimmed milk you need full fat imo

[HopeForTheBest]

I make this all the time, or rather, I make paneer which is done in the same way.

You need to get the milk warm, bung in the acid (lemon, vinegar etc) and then keep simmering while the curds all gather together. If you over-cook, the resulting cheese gets a bit tough.
Then you gather the curds together with a slotted spoon, put them in a cheese cloth and allow to drain for x amount of time, depending on what sort of cheese you want : for a smooth, cream-cheese type consistency you don't need to drain for very long. For a more solid, paneer-type consistency (which you can cut and fry, for example), you do it for longer eg half an hour, and then press it between two plates in the fridge (if you need to cut squares).

What did you do exactly?!

[HopeForTheBest]

Oh and you can do it with both skimmed and full fat milk, makes no difference.

[festi]

just out of interest hopeforthebest, will this cook/fry/bbq like hullumi does.

[PerAr6ua]

Ooh answers Thank you!

HopeFor - how warm should the milk be? I left it 2 mins after it had nearly boiled, but the wohle nearly-boiling is a PITA to judge. If I made it at warm-milk-and-honey temperature for e.g., would that be warm enough?

And how much cheese would you expect to get from a litre of milk? Cos my return on investment looked pretty pathetic...

[HopeForTheBest]

festi: sort of. If you leave it to drain and then do the pressing thing, it is a very firm cheese that cuts easily into cubes and holds its shape very well when frying. I do a quick curry thing with it: here. It does indeed "spit" quite a bit though, so you need to cover the frying pan.

You can also use it as you would mozarella, so it's lovely sliced and served with olive oil, tomatoes & basil, or scattered on top of lasagne.
You can also (if you keep it fairly soft) mix it with herbs and make a gorgeous spread or dip with it.

I generally don't put any salt in it, because I add flavours and spices later, but if you were going to use it on its own, I would put salt in it.

PerAr6ua (am wondering about your v. unusual username!): I think the milk should be just boiling, then I take it off the heat and add the acid, then back on and simmer until it's separated. I do it very much by eye, rather than actual temperature. If it's not separating after a couple of minutes, I add more lemon/vinegar. I find it varies greatly - sometimes I only need a couple of tablespoons per litre, sometimes it's LOADS more than that. I've never noticed any sourness in the finished cheese, btw.

I usually make it with 2 or even 3 litres of milk. 2 litres give a large mozarella-ball sized lump. If I make it with 3 or even 4, I split the cheese and freeze it. I find the return on milk is actually quite good! I usually use the leftover whey (which is slightly acidy) to make american pancakes (instead of using buttermilk). Nothing wasted!!

[festi]

hopesforthebest, that sounds fab will have to give the curry a go.