Muzzarela Nov 2011

Today is another sunny and beautiful day in ho-hum paradise.

Muzzarela

yiel 1.5 lb

• 2 gal Whole milk
• 1 tbsp Citric acid
• 1/4 Tablet rennet
• 1/4 Cup cool ice water
• 1/4 Salt (for salting whey)

Procedure

Dissolve the rennet in the water. 

Pour the milk into a large pot.

Sprinkle the citric acid (not the rennet) into the cold milk. Stir.

Bring the milk to 88 F - 90 F (for goat's milk bring it to 86 F - 88 F).

Stir the milk a few times. It will take about 10 minutes.

Pour the dissolved rennet into the milk while stirring with an up and down motion. 

Heat the milk to 100 F - 105 F.

Turn off the heat. Keep stirring slowly. The milk will begin to thicken and clot. The curds will separate from the whey.

Place your strainer over another pot and spread 2 layers of cheese cloth over it. Drain the curds to remain in the cheese cloth and reserve the whey.

Wrap the cheese cloth over the curds and press the excess whey out by placing a small container with a small amount of weight on top of the curds.

Return the whey to the stove and add the salt. Heat it up to 120 F - 160 F.

Meanwhile keep the curd in a big bowl. Glove up your hands with 3 layers to protect it from the heat.

Add half the whey to the curd. Mix it with your hand to make it toffee like.

When it starts cooling, dump some more hot whey from the pot in your bowl of toffee like curd. 

Now make the balls. Form the Muzzarela balls and dump them in bucket with half ice water bucket and half salted whey.

Store the Muzzarela in this liquid in the cooler.

Below we are straining the whey from the curd.

This is what it is suppose to look like.

Once we dump in the hot salted whey and start pressing it. This is what it will look like with a toffee texture.

We are making balls. Make sure to form them firmly.

Once the Muzzarela pieces were firm and stored properly, at service time we sliced them and served them in a Caprese style with fresh Tomato slices, strips of Balsamic vinegar, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Salt.

Below are simple slices of fresh Muzzarela that were lightly baked in the oven and topped with Basil and Garlic flavored Olive Oil.

This was my invention of a Muzzarela dish that was served in one of our dinners: lightly broiled served with a Rosemary and Garlic Flavored Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a touch of Balsamic and some mixed greens.

While some of us are in the kitchen having fun, others are chilling on a nice sunny day.