Global Grub: 30-Minute Mozzarella

If you're like me, you tend to let a good amount of food spoil and then experience "first-world guilt", described as a pang somewhere near your overly plump stomach that makes you feel terrible about wasting food while others are starving. Well, here's an interesting way to prevent that, which (it turns out) has been what Europeans have been doing for centuries - make cheese out of your milk. There are plenty of reasons to do this:

It's cost-effective
You have control over exactly what goes into the finished product
Homemade cheese is guaranteed to separate out the lactose-containing elements and trap them in the whey, while mass-produced cheeses don't always do this
It tastes amazing if you do it right
It's really freaking cool to see this happen

I got this recipe out of the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, who in turn got it from the "Cheese Queen", Ricki Carroll (www.cheesemaking.com). It's basically verbatim, although presented as something in between the two recipes they each list. I made this twice in two days - the first time to learn what NOT to do, the second time to get a good product. FYI, things not to do here: don't use cheesecloth just because you think cheesecloth is used in the manufacture of all cheese. Don't overstir after adding rennet. Don't overheat on the stove. Don't forget to buy gloves before kneading. And definitely don't rush the cutting of the curd before it has set - that's the #1 most important tip here. Patience is a virtue, and it was only about 2 minutes of patience.

The ingredient list is incredibly short, and the equipment list is similar. All you will need for hardware is a large (1.5+ gallon) pot, an instant thermometer, and a microwave-safe bowl. Ironically, cheesecloth was not necessary for this, despite my having bought some expressly for this purpose. And the ingredients require just four things: milk, salt, rennet, and citric acid. To find those last two, I suggest a homebrew store or health food store / co-op for the rennet, and, surprisingly, a hardware store or craft store for the citric acid. Look in the canning section, citric acid is used in jam- and jelly-making as well as canning a number of other products, so it's not impossible to find. And by the way, if you see rennet's lesser cousin, junket, don't even bother - just keep searching until you find the real deal, which is much more powerful.

And now, a history on cheese. Turns out that long ago, people used to carry around their beverages not in Nalgenes and Siggs, but in cow stomachs. Well, folks noticed that when they put their liquids into these stomachs, for some strange reason the milk kept turning solid, separating the liquid whey from the more solid curds. The reason was not apparent until later, but it had to do with enzymes found in the cow's stomach lining, which eventually were discovered, named "rennet", and sold to cheesemakers the world around. If you are daring, feel free to look up how they acquire rennet from a cow's stomach, but you should probably just take my word and be grateful that now you can buy this ready-made, and note that these days you are much more likely to find a rennet derived from vegetables or even microbes than you are from cow's stomach.

The cut curd, sitting in whey, waiting to be made into deliciousness. There's some old nursery rhyme about this. Something about muppets and spiders.

I learned an interesting fact about the name "mozzarella". Turns out that it comes from the Italian verb "mozzare", meaning "to cut". This is because of how they form the cheese into balls when everything is working perfectly, where they fold the cheese over itself a few times, form into a tight ball, and then pinch the cheese ball from the main strand before storing. The cheese is closely related to scamorza cheese, which is derived from "scamozzata", which translates as "without a shirt". Love it.

30-Minute Mozzarella

by Ricki Carroll, by way of Barbara Kingsolver

1 gallon milk. This can be whole, part skim, whatever, just so long as it isn't ultra-pasteurized. Go with raw if you're daring, but if you get sick and die, it's totally not my fault. Learn from Louis Pasteur, they didn't name the process after him for nothing.
1.5 tsp citric acid, dissolved in 1/4 cup cool distilled water
Rennet (liquid is best, tablets work if that's all you can find), dissolved in another 1/4 cup cool distilled water. 1/4 tsp for liquid, or 1/2 tablet for pellets.
Salt, to taste

Just four ingredients, all shown here. And if you couldn't guess that 'milk' was one, you should probably search for other hobbies, like bricklaying or popping bubble wrap.

Add the milk to the pot and place over medium-low heat. Add citric acid once milk gets to 55 deg. F and stir. The mixture will begin to curdle as it gets warmer, which is really cool to watch.

When the mixture gets to 88 deg F, add the rennet dissolved in water, and stir in with a spoon in a gentle up-down motion. Remove from the heat, and let sit for 5 minutes to set up. Do NOT stir during this period.

Add the dissolved rennet at 88-90 deg F, then kill heat and leave alone. Better to pour this over a slotted spoon to distribute quickly and evenly, then stir with an up-and-down motion. This photo is from my first attempt, not the better second attempt shown below.

Now, a question you might have is this:

"I can see the cheese curdling with just the citric acid - why should I bother adding rennet as well?"

Well, Mr. Know-It-All, it turns out you're right, but only partially. If you just add citric acid, you will be making an 'acid-set cheese', which is what cream cheese, ricotta, and paneer are. But adding rennet will give you much more complexity of flavor, so don't skip it or your cheese will be bland, and will take quite a while to set up.

Once the curd (solid portion) has set, the whey (liquid portion) will become mostly clear. If it's not yet clear, allow the mixture to sit a few minutes longer. Most soft cheeses are actually made by allowing the enzyme in the rennet to work overnight, so don't worry about letting this sit for a few minutes extra. But once you're satisfied, cut the cheese into 1" curd squares with a big knife. Place the pot with the sliced curd back on the stove and heat to 105 deg F. Once heated, remove with a slotted spoon, or a spider if you have one, to a large collander.

Grab a large knife that can reach to the bottom of the pan and cut into medium cubes. This will allow more whey to be released, and promote even heating

Remove to a bowl with a slotted spoon. The curd will have the consistency of a runny custard.

Allow the curds to drain off as much of the whey as they're prepared to give off. Once curds are all removed from the pot and drained, place the bowl in the microwave and heat for 60 seconds on high. This will wring out more of the whey, which you can pour off before kneading the curd slightly. Discard any remaining whey that forms, then heat again for 35 seconds. Knead again, pour off whey again. Do this one last time for 35 seconds, kneading and pouring off any whey. This is going to be knuckle-searing hot when you're done, so be prepared.

Drain off the whey as you continue heating. Note: this cheese is for friends and family, who can handle arm hair in their cheese.

Continue kneading to release more whey and get to a shiny ball state. This isn't ready yet.

Now the next fun part - stretching and kneading the curd. First, add salt to taste (I added about 1 tbsp to a gallon's worth of milk after I saw a video from BelGioioso that called for 1 tbsp per pound of curd), and knead the curd a few times. It should be around 135 deg F for this to work. As you stretch the dough, it should easily elongate, rather than snap apart. If it stretches, keep forming into a ball and stretching a few times to align the protein strands. If it doesn't, give it a bit more kneading until you get that firm skin and shiny surface to the ball, then try stretching again.

Almost there...

...nope. Needs more kneading.

Getting pretty close...

Bingo! This is the look you want for the cheese.

Only do this a few times - the longer you do it, the more of a string cheese consistency you will have. If the curd isn't stretching, reheat again and try after warmed up again. After you've stretched the curd a number of times, it should begin to look shiny and elastic, and will stretch easily, like taffy. Pull this into a long rope, and shape however you like. This time I spun it around itself and then just folded it up, like a pretzel.

Once the cheese looks shiny and is at the right temperature (135 F or so), you should be able to do this. Bring people in to watch.

You can braid it, or form back into a ball. If you really want traditional "mozza"-rella, you have to make a long ribbon, then form into balls and pinch them from the ribbon.

Or form into whatever shape you like. I don't care.

Once you're satisfied with the shape, drop the finished cheese into a bath of cold water. This will stop the cooking process. You can now slice and eat immediately (best option), or wrap in plastic wrap and store for up to a week in the fridge.