KITCHEN-CRAFTED COTTAGE CHEESE

(Page 4 of 5)

September/October 1972
By Betty Brinhart 
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8. If you wish to cream your cheese at the time it's made, add one-fourth to one-half cup of either sweet or sour cream to each pound of curds after they've been washed and drained. Creaming cottage cheese greatly improves its flavor and palatability . . . and turns it into a highly perishable product that must be consumed very quickly. If you find yourself with more of the creamed variety than you can eat in a day or two, place the excess (don't press it or you'll lose the cream!) in a container and freeze it.

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Your freshly made curd should look like new-popped popcorn, be meaty in consistency and have a tantalizingly mild-acid flavor that won't let you quit eating until you've consumed at least a pint. If the cheese has been properly heated and drained, its firmness will be "just right" and it will contain about 75% moisture. You can always dampen the product a little with milk or cream if you desire and how much of either you add depends upon what you intend to use it for and the way your family likes it.

SOME REASONS FOR FAILURE

Occasionally, no matter how careful you are, you may run into a little trouble when you make cottage cheese. It won't happen too often (maybe never if you always take care to heed the eight steps outlined above) . . . but if it does come to pass that you're not too pleased with a batch of your curd, check it against the following causes of unsatisfactory cheese:

CHEESE TORTE

1/8 pound butter
25 graham crackers - crumbled
1/2 pound cream cheese
1/2 pound cottage cheese
3/4 pint heavy sour cream
4 eggs - separated
1/2 cup sugar
Dash of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

METHOD

Melt butter. Add cracker crumbs, reserving three teaspoons for top later. Butter a 9-inch cake pan or baking dish, and line the bottom with the buttered crumbs. Blend the two cheeses, then add the sour cream and mix well. To this add the egg yolks, sugar, salt and vanilla and mix well. Beat the egg whites until stiff then fold carefully into the cheese-egg mixture. Turn the mixture into the cake pan or baking dish, and sprinkle the reserved crumbs over the top. Bake in a hot oven (375°F) 35 minutes. Cool, then loosen sides and invert the torte on a serving plate. It makes a delicious summer dessert for the whole family.

1. An unpleasant sour flavor may be due to the use of inferior milk, excessive acid development, retention of too much whey in the curd, lack of firming, improper washing or insufficient draining. Any one or a combination of these causes can produce this problem, which, is not really a major one because the sour taste can often be disguised with cream or salt.

2. Yeasty or fermented flavors are caused by bacteria, molds or yeasts in or on the curd. The troublemakers are usually traced to inferior milk, cream or culture or to the use of unclean pots and utensils. Lack of sufficient chilling before putting the cheese into the refrigerator, holding the curd at temperatures above 40°F and keeping the cheese too long before use are other causes.

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