[Sca-cooks] Almond Milk Cheese Redux

[wheezul at canby.com]

> http://medievalcooking.org/2009/04/15/almond-cheese/
>
> almond-milk-msg
>
> www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/almond-milk-msg.html
>
> Johnnae

Thank you Johnnae!  This list is so clever!

I am pleased to report that I did successfully make a cheese like mass
using the instructions in the Wecker recipe.  In what was sort an Eureka
moment, I understood that the almond cheese wasn't made from the almond
milk, but from the almond solids although the preparation of the recipe
has a similarity to making almond milk.

Sometimes Anna Wecker calls for a thick almond milk, although she didn't
make that specification here.  I opted to go for a water/almond ratio of 2
to 1, mostly because the almonds were spendy and I didn't want to start
too thin.  I think it was about right from the outcome.  In my case I had
1 and 1/2 cups of blanched slivered almonds from the bulk bin section of
my grocery store and 3 cups of water.  I then put this all into my blender
and let it churn around on the highest setting for about a minute.  It
made a runny, about the consistency of cream, lovely white almond
suspension with a nice head of foam.

In my mind Anna's recipes seem to have been dictated, because I think they
follow like a cooking show script.  I had a moment of amusement when I
imagined that Anna was standing behind me dictating and then stopping to
watch the blender make short work of the almond milk creation process and
then imagined how she might have reacted with awe and immediate approval
at the efficiency of the machine.

Next I put the almond suspension into a pan and heated it on medium low
heat, stirring with a whisk constantly to avoid any hint of burning, until
the mass started to heave which was at 180 deg. F. on my thermometer.  I
took it off of the heat and added a tablet of rennet (junket - which was
all I had) and about a quarter cup of active culture buttermilk.  In
retrospect I don't think the buttermilk was necessary but I wasn't taking
chances after having bought the nuts, especially since the recipe said it
could be used in place of rennet (but not specifically in conjunction with
the rennet either - even though the recipe is pretty free-form).  It
seemed a cheap insurance policy since I had some on hand.

I left the pan on the lowest heat on my stove to set up but I think
perhaps I should have put it into the oven with the other quark cheese I
was making where I managed to keep the temperature at about 150 deg. 
However, the nut mass did start to coagulate quickly  and after several
hours the liquid seemed to have somewhat settled out.  I didn't know if I
should have kept it in a mass for 8 or more hours like the other quarks,
or not, but I opted to drain it after about 3 hours because I didn't want
it to set a dried out skin before I drained it.

I used a large skimmer to spoon the mixture into my muslin cloth in a
strainer, but noted that it didn't separate like a normal curd - it just
got wetter at the bottom - so ended up just pouring the whole mass into
the cloth.  In the future I would probably drain the more watery part
separately and then add it to the main mass to save on pressing time and
hassle, but I don't think it would improve the final product any.  The
almond milk 'whey' tasted like a slightly sour weakish almond milk until I
started pressing hard on the muslin and a bit of the 'cheese' started to
extrude making the whey creamier.  All told there was only about a cup of
fluid, and this made more than a cup and a half of 'cheese'.

The end consistency of the almond 'cheese' is neat.  It has a curd like
crumble that very much resembles the quark I made as well as other green
cheeses and molded very nicely into a ball.  Anna specifies uses the word
züger (zu:ger) to describe quark, almond 'cheese' and egg-milk cheese.  I
think all of these make a final whitish more-or-less spreadable product
suitable for use in her other recipes that call for it.

The taste is creamy and almond flavoured.  I still need to finish it with
the called-for rosewater and sugar, but am waiting until later when I
serve it.  I think it would be excellent blended with cream and eggs in a
torte with sugar, raisins, cinnamon and some sugar.

Now I'm curious about the preparations that call for the zuger and adding
cream and/or butter to make it into a "Mayenmuss" - which I think is
supposed to simulate the rich consistency of milk products in May.

Katherine B