FRESCAL CHEESE

This recipe is part of my childhood in my Mom’s kitchen in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She used to keep that notebook handy in the kitchen and it is all stained with who-knows-what-ingredients that she was using while cooking. As a good old-family recipe notebook, funny to say, there isn’t a lot of explanation: only basic notes of the ingredients. So, when I was craving this kind of cheese that is very traditional in a Brazilian breakfast, I had to call my Mom and ask for the “non-written” details on how to prepare it.

With all that said, I will do my best to explain to you step by step so you don’t have to go thru what I went through - or l try some of your Portuguese skills and call my Mom yourself! 😜 Feel free to ask me anything that was not clear. This way, with your comments, I will be updating this recipe and adding more details, to make it complete and understandable to all of us!

One more thing: I must thank Gabi da @eatpaobakery and Mari from @ideiasnamala who accidentally became my testers with this recipe! And the author of the recipe and the best Mom in the world @teresaschlesinger! Love you, Mom! ❤️

Ingredients:

• 4 liters of good-quality whole milk (fresher or flash-pasteurized, the better)

• 1 tablespoon of rennet (fresh or commercial) in half a glass of water.

• 2 tablespoons of salt

Directions:

1. Heat the milk and use a thermometer to keep close attention until it reaches 35ºC/95ºF. It goes very fast, just a few minutes is enough to get there. Turn off the heat and mix the rennet that should be already diluted in water (preferably with a wooden spoon (My mother's recommendation. Please, don't tell her that I actually always use a silicone scraper, 🤪)

2. Add salt and mix a little bit more.

3. Let it rest for approximately 2 hours. Note that the liquid texture of the milk will start to solidify until getting a firmer texture similar to yogurt.

4. With a knife, "cut" the solidified milk in a crossword format and leave it to rest for another hour. These “cuts” will help the whey to separate from the milk.

5. Carefully scoop the firmer milk from the whey, placing it on the cheese mold that should be placed on top of another bowl (otherwise you will have a mess with whey everywhere!), you can also use a cheesecloth to help to hold all together. Let it rest for around 48 hours in the refrigerator so the whey of cheese gets released into the bowl. Tip: You should discard the whey a few times during this process to avoid overflowing and leaking into the refrigerator (believe me, it has happened to me more than once ...)

6. Turn over carefully the cheese from the cheese mold to a regular dish.

Tips:

• Milk: I recommend using good quality whole milk, like those that even have a little cream on top. Here in NY, we buy our milk at Union Square’s farmers market. It does make all the difference in the final result and the texture of the cheese.

• Rennet: in Sao Paulo, Brazil, my mother always used “Coalho Estrella” (I think you can find it in Lojas Americanas there). Here in New York, USA, I buy rennet online at Amazon or directly at SOS Chef, which I call my little “Disneyland” for those who want to buy all the most amazing cooking spices, oils, and other ingredients.

• Thermometer: yes, it really helps and it is a super hand in the kitchen! My favorite is the Lavatools. Another good one I recommend is the one in the photo from the picture: a Mafter thermometer which is already attached to a stirring spoon.

• Cheese mold: mine is originally from my mother, but I have two smaller ones that I bought on Amazon that are also great. BTW, this recipe is enough for two small shapes.