I wanted to share a very easy goat cheese recipe.

[houndit]

I really like this Goat cheese. You heat your milk to 185 degrees. Than add a Tablespoon of Vinegar per quart of milk. Sometimes it takes a little more or a little less. The milk curdles almost instantly. It is really neat to see. Then you drain it through cheesecloth. You can eat it plain or salt it to taste. We experimented with it. We did a lot of herb cheeses. It all depends on what you like. Some of the things we did were:
Hot spicy cheese. We took about 1 tsp of hot pepper flakes, and 1/8 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper for 1/4 pound of cheese. It was really good.
We also did a mild cheese. We took 1/2 a pound of cheese and added 1/4 a cup of diced pablano peppers.
we also made a couple herb cheeses. These were the favorites.
Garlic and dill. we took 1/2 pound of cheese and added 2 garlic cloves pressed, and 3 teaspoons of fresh dill.
Cilantro and green onions.
For 1 pound of cheese we added 6 teaspoons of chopped green onion, and 3 of cilantro. All of the above cheeses were salted to taste.
We even put no salt and added sugar and M&Ms and dipped it out onto Graham crackers. It is very versatile! It does not really melt but can be put on sandwhiches. It is wonderful in casseroles etc. It can usually be used in substitute of Cream cheese. I really enjoy it. It takes a little practice to figure out how to keep it from being to crumbly, to dry etc. but it is really easy!

 

[dkluzier]

I can vouch for this recipe because it's exactly how we do it. Even the herb additions.

I will add that we have put it in the grill smoker at very low temp and it is fabulous!

The plain version can replace ricotta in stuffed shells!

Simple cheese yet very elegant.

 

[ksalvagno]

Sounds good, thanks!

 

[DonnaBelle]

Wow, that does sound simple.

Anyone else care to add any more tips to that recipe? Or just do it as she wrote it??

DonnaBelle

 

[dkluzier]

We make it in the exact same manner. We've even made it from frozen milk, which doesn't curdle quite as well but works anyhow. You will be suprised at the amount of cheese you get and we gave it to neighbors as Christmas presents with a pack of crackers and they LOVED it!

 

[DonnaBelle]

WOW!! I made Houndit's goat cheese this morning.

I put some dill, salt, parsley flakes and chives in it.

It is absolutely delicious.

THANK YOU Houndit for the recipe!!!!!

DonnaBelle

 

[houndit]

Glad to hear it!

 

[Ariel301]

That's the recipe I started with. It's sort of like a whole-milk version of Ricotta, and I like it. It's great sprinkled on salad, sort of like feta only milder.

 

[glenolam]

Can I ask some simple questions on this recipe?

Did you take the pot off the burner once it reached 185 degrees?

If so, I assume you pour the vinegar into the milk and just let it sit, but for how long?

Do you not touch the pot and let the curds form, then cut with a knife as I've read, or do you gently stir once the vinegar goes in, just to blend everything?

Do the curds and whey need to be a certain temp before you pour them into the cheesecloth?

Should they whey still be milky in color or should it be a light yellow (as it seems to be in a lot of pictures)?

Sorry - I tried this recipe and I got curds, but I think I missed a step somewhere as I didn't get as much cheese as I thought (I used 1 gallon of milk) and my "whey" looked just like the milk did...

 

[DonnaBelle]

I have made this recipe and did it as follows:

I used the juice of one small lemon, some lemon zest from the rind and about 2 T. vinegar for 3 quarts of milk. I think the lemon gives it a lovely flavor. But the vinegar really makes it curdle.

I heated the milk to 185, then poured in the above mixture to the milk, turned off the heat and left it on the stove for about 5 minutes. The whey should be clear, lightly yellow tinted liquid. If it doesn't look like it's curdling, add a bit more vinegar.

When you drain the cheese in the cloth, be sure and let it drain and cool for about 2 hours at least, then it comes off the cloth really well.

I put salt in mine one time while it was heating. BIG MISTAKE. It wouldn't curdle. So add the seasonings after it's done. Also, I flake mine up after I take it out of the cloth so it's like Mexican Queso, crumbly like.

This works for me. YUM YUM

P.S. you're not going to get a great deal of cheese doing this method, if you have lots of milk though, it's a good way to use it up. The chickens LOVE THE WHEY.

DonnaBelle

DonnaBelle