It's easier than you think. Promise. Like most cheese, all it takes is 3 ingredients: Milk, an acid — in this case, white vinegar — and salt. Ready, set....
...WAIT. What is queso fresco? I've talked about it before in greater detail, but it's basically exactly what it means in Spanish: "fresh cheese." Pretty vague, yes, but as you'll discover in its recipe, it doesn't get any fresher than this. From milk to cheese takes less than 15 minutes.
Step 1: Heat the milk.
Start with 2 quarts of the best-quality whole milk you can find. And 1 tablespoon of coarse kosher salt.
Step 2: In a medium saucepan, bring it to a boil, turn the heat to low, and add 3 tablespoons of distilled white vinegar.
Step 3: Watch and stir. Almost immediately, the milk will separate into curds and whey. If not, add one more tablespoon of vinegar. Continue to stir gently to encourage whey extraction and curd formation.
Step 4: Drain into a cheesecloth-lined colander in the sink. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, until the cheese is cool enough to handle. Form the curds into a ball or disc while squeezing excess whey through the cheesecloth. At this point the cheese is ready to eat, but if you prefer a drier, firmer cheese, you can set it on a plate or a sheet pan with a plate on top of it. Use some kind of weight — cans, pots and pans, or books — to press it down for 15 more minutes or up to a couple of hours.
Step 5: Enjoy. Sprinkle with maldon salt, grate over tacos or enchiladas, or sprinkle into a salad. But beware. This cheese is not a melting cheese, so it's best enjoyed as is, or baked — just as long as you don't need it to become gooey. It's a pleasantly squeaky cheese, almost like fresh cheese curds.
Nora Singley is an avid lover of cheese, and for some time she was a Cheesemonger and the Director of the Cheese Course at Murray's Cheese Shop in New York City. She is currently an assistant chef on The Martha Stewart Show.
Related: DIY Recipe: Homemade Paneer Cheese
(Images: Nora Singley)
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Yum!
ditto!
so a lot like a ricotta - at least til you drain it?
is this the same as paneer?
So, question: How is this different than homemade ricotta?
(Aside from the pressing/shaping part.)
what do you do with the whey? can it be used for something else instead of thrown away?
@stink: I've used the whey in bread making and boiling pasta. When that's not practical, I feed some to the cats and dump the rest on my compost pile. Some people drink it, but I can't say I'm a fan. I haven't had much luck in using it to make more cheese, unfortunately.
@ dana: It's a very similar process to making ricotta. See more on that here:
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/diy-recipe/recipe-diy-ricotta-023326
The curds of ricotta are more gently handled, resulting in a more delicate, wetter cheese. It's a lot softer, more spreadable, and creamier, too. You can make ricotta using whey or milk. Traditionally, though, you'd make it with whey.
@lnwn: It is indeed quite similar-- if not totally the same-- as Indian paneer. From what I can tell, they're both pressed, fresh cheeses... with different names to designate their origin. Anyone else have insight on the difference between the two?
It's totally just like paneer! I prefer to make my paneer with lemon juice, though. :)
You could use the whey to lacto-ferment pickles.
http://dustbathladies.blogspot.com
This is how i make my paneer (with lemon juice, like Kaete).
Has anyone used goat milk? I need to try this because of a cow's milk allergy thingy. Thanks. So timely! I was just looking for a course to take on cheese making.
In peru they add a lot more salt to the queso fresco and eat it with corn on the cob- yum!
Dana -
I'm guessing it is the difference in acid? Ricotta uses lemon juice, this recipe uses white vinegar. I could be completely wrong though.
It was my understanding that ricotta is made with whey that you have extracted from something else, like, say mozzarella making. Hence a name that means 'recooked.'
I find it melts just fine and I use it on homemade pizza all the time (but I may not be squeezing out as much liquid as this recipe).
I use whey in soup, esp. vegetable soups. It's delicious--it adds a certain something. Try it!
Made this the other night with a cabbage salad with a raisin vinaigrette and pintos and tortillas. Delicious and easy, but definitely needed quite a bit of vinegar to come together.
@stink: A lot of Iranian recipes use whey, by the way, to flavor them (since they make a lot of yogurt, this makes sense). I've seen an eggplant dip with 1/2 c. of whey mixed in (to 3 eggplants, onion, olive oil, garlic, herbs). They also make a whey soup (Kalleh jush) with sauteed onions and garlic, olive oil, turmeric, mint, whey, salt and pepper, and ground walnuts; and a soup called Ash-e Lakhshakh that has the same ingredients, minus the walnuts and plus flat noodles and spinach.
Genuine ricotta is made from the whey of hard cheeses, a somewhat different process from the fresh cheese you see illustrated here. But yes, this will work with goat cheese for sure. Did you see Lisa making fresh (goat) cheese with Martha Stewart last week? Just avoid ultra-pasteurized cow milk. As for yogurt, it does not produce whey unless you drain it additionally for a thicker, "Greek"-style product.
I just made this using 2 percent milk and rice vinegar, since it's what I had on hand. So simple and delicious!
I'm gonna make this, even though I think you'll find it's actually queso blanco. Queso fresco requires rennet.