SC - yogurt Cheese 101?

[LrdRas@aol.com]

Olwen,

Jellied Milk was discussed previously on this list back in October 1997.
Following are some notes I dug out of the Florilegium on some fun Anne-Marie
and I had at that time.

Meliora.

A White Leach (from Dawson, 1596) (from a posting by Anne-Marie) 
Take a quart of newe milke, and three ounces weight of Islinglasse, halfe a 
pounde of beaten sugar, and stirre them together, and let it boile half a 
quarter of an hower till be thicke, stirring them all the while: then 
straine it with three spoonfull of Rosewater, then put it into a platter and

let it coole, and cut it in squares. Lay it faur in dishes, and lay golde 
upon it. 

My redaction (1/2 quantities of original) 
550ml milk (1/2 quart) 
30g islinglass in 50ml water (1.5 oz) 
120g sugar (1/4 pound) 
5 teas rosewater (~ to taste) 

1. Place Islinglass in water for an hour or two. It will swell up and form 
a gum-like consistency. 

2. Warm milk and sugar. Add islinglass. Stir. As soon as the islinglass 
starts being incorporated into the milk mixture it separates the milk. (I 
have tried this when the milk is hot, cold, warm, directly added the 
islinglass crystals etc, the milk ALWAYS separates) 

3. While stirring, boil the mixture for 7.5 minutes. (I ended up boiling it 
for 15 mins). During this time the islinglass will let off a VERY strong 
(and IMHO quite distasteful) fish smell. Also the curds will break up and 
become very small. 

4. Remove from heat and add Rosewater. Then Strain and let set overnight. I 
strained my curds and whey through cheescloth and made three batches. One 
of whey only. One of curds only. And one of a mixtue of curds and whey. 

5. When set cut into squares and gild with gold. (I deliberatly didn't 
bother with this step). 

The next morning, all three dishes had set into quite a firm jelly that 
could easily be sliced. It appeared firmer than gelatine, but that could be 
accounted for in the quantity of islinglass I used. They were all opaque 
white (with a yellowish tinge). 

The next night I took all three dishes to a local meeting and had 24 people 
to taste-test them. 

The curds and the curds/whey mixture were both quite grainy in texture. The 
whey was quite smooth and creamy in mouth-feel. Texture-wise the whey only 
won hands down. The grainy texture was considered far too alien to be 
pleasurable. 

Taste-wise, the curds tasted like "sweet fat". The curds/whey mix and the 
whey only tasted like "creamy and sweet with an aroma of rosewater and an 
unidentifiable tang - lemonish but not quite". (Hmm, the slightly yellow 
colour may have help attribute the unidentified taste as lemonish) The whey 
only mixture was considered to be more silken in feel and taste and again 
won hands down. 

Of my 24 people, 19 prefered the whey, 5 refused to try any, and one 
disliked the taste of all of them. 

Actually there were two who did not like the taste. The other was me!! 
Unfortunately the tang in the dish reminded me of the rather powerful fish 
odour while cooking. No-one else felt that the dish tasted even remotely 
"fishy" and I have even been asked to make it for an event "someday". 

well, YMMV with these notes. But if anyone else wishes to do any 
experimenting with this dish, please let me know. I would love to hear how 
anyone else tackles this !!! 

Meliora 

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