[Sca-cooks] Re: ricotta as "fresh cheese"?

[chirhart_1]

 I agree with Huette,Ricotta is as fresh a cheese as you can get. You use
fresh whey because it still has Albuminous Protein,
which you collect by adding more milk and vinegar .You then cook this ,put
in to cheese cloth to drain,Viola more cheese.
After its drained,add salt and cream to get taste and texture .The only
Difference between this and Bag Cheese is that with
Bag cheese you start with Milk not Whey ,you get a sweeter Flavor from the
leftover whey Because there are sugars left over from the previous cheese
production .

                                        From Chirhart ( Cheese Monger For
The Barony Of The brightHills )

Some People are Wrong,and then there are people who are Wronger then others.

Joe Friday-( Just the Facts Mam )

----- Original Message -----
From: "Huette von Ahrens" <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Friday, October 10, 2003 3:49 AM
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: ricotta as "fresh cheese"?


> --- Ruth Frey <ruthf at uidaho.edu> wrote:
> >
> >      Huh!  I redacted Sabina Welserin's
> > "Genovese
> > Tart" recipe last 12th Night -- a savory tart
> > with
> > spinach, "fresh cheese" (I used ricotta), aged
> > cheese (I used parmesan), and olive oil in a
> > pastry
> > crust.  It was very yummy, and got a good
> > response
> > from everyone who tried it, but our local
> > cheesemaking expert really gave me a chewing
> > out for
> > using ricotta, since it turns out ricotta is a
> > whey
> > product and not actually a cheese at all (or so
> > he
> > told me, and I respect his knowledge of the
> > subject).
>
> Excuse me???? Just because it is made of whey
> doesn't mean it isn't a cheese!  I wonder at your
> "expert" who hasn't heard of whey cheeses.
>
> And ricotta is period.  It is mentioned in
> various
> 14th-15th century Tacuina Sanitatis.
>
> There is also a period painting called, "The
> Ricotta Eaters" by Vincenzo Campi, painted in
> 1581.
>
> http://www.slowfood.com/img_sito/riviste/new_slow/EN/37/guardare.html
>
> He did admit the dish was tasty as
> > redacted, but we worked out that I should try
> > some
> > cream cheese or cottage cheese "drip strained"
> > (like
> > you do with yogurt for yogurt "cheese") and
> > blended
> > for my next attempt, so I would not offend the
> > cheese-knowledgeable in the audience.
>
> I know of many good recipe redactors who think
> that ricotta is an acceptable substitute for
> "fresh cheese".  Especially since the recipe
> calls itself "Genovese" and ricotta is Italian.
>
> As for the "drip strained" cottage cheese,
> unless you are interested in doing the straining
> yourself, which is a boring process at best, then
> I would use hoop cheese, which is a commercially
> available dry curd cheese, very similar to
> cottage cheese, but without a lot of the
> moisture.  I wonder about a cheese expert who
> hasn't heard
> of hoop cheese.  I wonder why he didn't suggest
> it instead.
>
> Another good substitute, since this is Sabina
> Welserin's recipe, would be to use quark.  It is
> a very German fresh cheese made from skim milk.
> I am not sure how period quark is.
>
> Huette
>
>