In my travels, I found a delicious dairy product that seemed like a cross between yogurt and cottage cheese. In Germany this is called quark (pronounced kvark). In looking for something similar in the US, I happened upon the following. It is delicious - not as acidic tasting as yogurt, and not as bland nor as granular as cottage cheese.
Bring 1 gallon of milk (I use 2%, but Madame prefers it with 1%) almost to a boil, and then allow to cool to about 100F. When it has cooled, stir in 1/2 cup cultured buttermilk. Decant into plastic containers, cover and leave overnight (12 hours at least) in the oven with the light on. That is 116F in my oven.
After it has set, remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temp. Strain through a double thickness of cheesecloth in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours - so it thickens up nicely.
Store in a container with a tight fitting lid.
I use it in almost any recipe that calls for yogurt, but it does especially well when mixed with mayonnaise, roasted garlic and a little tarragon or cilantro for a spectacular dip.
Then of course you can make elegant parfaits with it too. or some pureed raspberries, sieved with a little sugar, heated through to dissolve the sugar and drizzled over it, perhaps with some cassis......
We keep a batch in the house at all times - one never knows when an emergency dip is called for.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
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1 comment:
Don't shortcut this! I tried making quark without scalding the milk. Disaster! It did not set up at all, so I was left with a fairly unpleasant runny mixture :-(
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