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

[AEllin Olafs dotter]

I'm now confused by ricotta. I have (modern) recipes that claim to be 
for it, that have you start with milk...  not unlike paneer. (I guess 
they assume you don't have whey?) And the stuff in the stores is divided 
by Whole and Skim Milk Ricotta. I've never actually tried making it, 
though it was on my list of To-Dos... but it sounds as if I need to find 
a different recipe?

The other thing that confuses me is the use of cream cheese. Do we have 
evidence (we well may, I don't know) of cream cheese, as opposed to 
Neufchatel or the like, being made or used in period? Skimming cream to 
use for cheese, rather than using all the milk?

OK, so I'm easily confused... *G*  Am I just missing  obvious things, 
that everyone else knows, or?

AEllin

Ruth Frey wrote

<Major snip>

>  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).  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.  It was
>actually a very fun discussion . . . :)  But:
>
>     I'm curious to get responses from this group --
>how appropriate is ricotta as a "fresh cheese"
>substitute in redactions, in your opinion?  Thought
>I might hear from some more cheese-knowledgeable
>folks than myself.  After all, blessed are the
>cheesemakers.  ;)  :)
>
>              -- Ruth
>
>
>
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