Vegetarian Venezuelan Cuajada Cheese
Fresh cheese... Delicious to eat with fried plaintains, arepas, cachapas, tequeños, empanadas, etc. or cut it into slices and grill them...
Note about milk: use pausterized milk; if you use ultra-pausterized or homogenized milk it won't work.
Note about other ingredients: follow the instructions in the package for the calcium chloride, starter culture and rennet. Each brand has its own concentration and instructions. It might take a few attempts to get the amounts right.
Ingredients
Cooking Instructions
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1
Heat the milk until it reaches 36° C or 97° F
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2
Mix the calcium chloride with a bit of water (1/4 or 1/8 cup of water) and add to the milk
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3
Add the starter culture to the milk
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4
Stir for 2 minutes
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5
Let it sit for 45 minutes (keep the temperature with slow heat for ~2 minutes every ~15 minutes)
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6
Mix the rennet with a bit of water (1/4 or 1/8 cup of water) and add to the milk
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7
Use a knife to cut the curd into squares of 1/2 inches
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8
Slowly stir for 15 minutes. The curds will clump together. Cut them back into squares of 1/2 inches while stirring. Keep the temperature of the whey at 36° C or 97° F the whole time.
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9
Remove the pot from the stove and use a slotted spoon to transfer the curd to a colander lined with a cheesecloth (the thinner the better)
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10
Let the curd drain the excess of whey for 30m
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11
Transfer the curd to a bowl and knead together with the salt
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12
Now transfer the curd back to a cheescloth and into a mold / press
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13
Press with 4-8 pounds of weight for 1 hour
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14
Extract the cheese from the mold and refrigerate
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