Praise Cheeses

I love cheese. Gouda, Cheddar, Emmental, Billy Joel, the list goes on. And whilst i have been waiting patiently for my beer to ferment my mind has turned to making cheese. So, i have come up with a simple and ancient recipe from the Balkans for a soft, mild and very tasty cheese (think the love child of mozzarella and feta,) which can be made with basic items from Coop or Migros and requires no rennet. (rennet being the weird stuff that is used to curdle milk.) 

What You Will Need:

Ingredients:

2 litres of whole milk, at least 3.5% fat
500g sour half cream, 15% fat
4 fresh eggs of medium size
2 teaspoons of salt

Optional: 2 or more teaspoons herbal mixture of your choice (even better, fresh herbs from the balcony!) or chili flakes, etc.

Utensils:

1 large saucepan
1 large bowl
1 large  sieve
1 medium size colander
1 cheesecloth/gauze cloth. You can find a gauze cloth in the baby section of Migros, Coop, etc. - 1 whisk plus possibly a wooden ladle/cooking spoon of your choice.

Here we go…

1. Pour two liters of milk into a sucepan. It is not necessary to lay all the utensils out neatly and take a picture of them but maybe useful as evidence later on.



2.Put the pan on the stove and slowly bring the milk to the boil. This bit was easy peasy.



3. While the milk is heating up combine the sour cream, eggs and the salt into a bowl and gently whisk until they are fully mixed. Use a bigger bowl than i did or it will go everywhere.



4. When the milk has reached the boil slowly add the egg & cream mixture followed by any herbs or spices you wish to add. Mix carefully and reduce the heat by at least one third.



5. After a few minutes the milk proteins and whey begin to seperate and lumps should begin to form. At this point i was imagining i was in Frankenstein's lab and was lauging maniacally or weeping whilst crying, «what have i created.»



After around 15-20 minutes the whey should be becoming clearer and clearer. A bit like a cheesy and very dense lava lamp.



6. Wet your gauze in cold water and drape it over the colander. You're now ready to pour in and seperate the cheese from the whey.



7. Fold the corners of the gauze in and wring the hell out of it. It's hot so don't do like i did and burn yourself. After you have wrung it out place the towel (with the cheese inside obviously,) into a sieve so it has a nice shape.



8. Afterwards let the cheese stand for 2 - 3 hours and allow it to cool to room temperature. Afterwards place it in the fridge and leave it overnight.

9. Next morning get up, unwrap the cheese, take few photos of it (you can skip this bit if you like,) and enjoy.



p.s. Cover the cheese with brine to store. I made mine with boiled water with a ratio of 7g of salt per 100ml of water. It should keep for a week like this.