Nothing is more associated with Italy than pizza, spaghetti and mozzarella. But, if pizza and spaghetti are at everyone's hearing, then not everyone can say at least a few phrases about mozzarella. So who is he, this mysterious “Italian”?
Origin history
Mozzarella comes from southern Italy. Even the Romans made this cheese from sheep’s milk at home., and in the third century, the monks from San Loenzo di Capua (Italian: San Lorenzo di Capua) traditionally distributed bread to the needy and cheese called Moza (Italian: Mozza) is an abbreviation for the Italian verb mozzare, which means “cut off”. From here came the "cheese name" mozzarella. Thirteen centuries later, in Italy, domesticated buffalos and began to mass produce cheese from their milk. And only a solemn procession in Europe from the middle of the twentieth century and an increase in popular love for him forced manufacturers to switch to cow's milk.
Well, if the Romans, not having at hand kitchen equipment and the Internet, managed to cook mozzarella in rather ascetic home conditions, then why don’t we risk taking it ?! So…
Recipe
There is one amazing culinary pattern: "The most unusual dishes come from the most common foods!" Mozzarella, I want to tell you, is no exception to the rule.
The process is quite simple: you heat milk with citric acid, add an enzyme to separate the protein from whey, heat, stir, stretch, roll balls again, and then you have mozzarella cheese. Almost magic, isn't it ?!
Essential Ingredients
To make mozzarella we need:
- 4.5 liters of milk;
- 300 ml of water;
- 1.5 teaspoons of citric acid;
- 0.25 tablets and 0.25 teaspoons rennet;
- 1 teaspoon of salt.
As a result, we have 0.5 kg of cheese and 30 minutes spent.
Mozzarella is unpretentious and does not require a certain type of milk (it can be fat-free, cow, goat). Of course, the ideal option is a grandmother's village.
Main condition: milk should not be pasteurized! During pasteurization, milk proteins break down and lose their ability to curl. The enzyme is available at the pharmacy.
Crockery and tools
- To make cheese, we need a six-liter enameled pan (enamel will prevent the reaction of acid with metal);
- No doubt a measured cup and spoon are needed;
- It is imperative that you have an accurate thermometer (to control the process temperature), skimmers and gauze to separate the enzyme and cheese;
- The final stage of preparation will require a knife with a thin and super sharp blade, a bowl for a microwave oven, and, oddly enough, rubber gloves.
Cooking stages
During the preparation of mozzarella, it is better not to cook any other dishes. This procedure does not take much time, but you should pay maximum attention to it.
- First, prepare citric acid and rennet. For this, we dissolve the first in 200 ml of cold water, and the second in the remaining 100 ml.
- Next we pour the milk into the panstirring, add citric acid and heat to 33 degrees, while not forgetting to mix our mixture. If the milk does not begin to curd, then heat to 35-37 degrees.
- In the next step, we will add the enzyme thus: remove the pan from the heat and, slowly pouring in the enzyme, mix the milk. After the enzyme cup is empty, we slowly count to thirty (while your hand should not stop the mixing process), say “Stop!”, Stop stirring, cover the pan with a lid and forget about it for 5 minutes.
- Check the contents of the pan. If it looks like a custard, and you clearly see the boundaries of the curd particles and whey, then you can proceed to the next step. If a miracle has not happened yet, then cover the container with a lid and relax for another 5 minutes.
- Curd clot is ready, then it's time to take on a knife! Make several vertical and horizontal cuts of the bunch, while reaching the bottom of the container with the blade. You need to get a picture of approximately the same cubes.
- Put the pan back on the stove and, VERY gently stirring, trying not to break the cubes, heat the contents to 41 degrees. Remove the cheese from the heat and stir for another 5 minutes. A longer heating time will make our cheese harder.
- Next, we separate the cottage cheese from the whey using a slotted spooncovered with several layers of gauze. The resulting clot is transferred to a microwave bowl and heated for 30 seconds. While the cheese is warming up, we put on gloves so that we don’t get burned later. We check the temperature with a thermometer, it should be 60 degrees (if you see a smaller number of degrees on the device, then repeat the heating procedure).
- Now gently stretch what remains of the cubes, and start to form one big ball or mozzarella balls one bite, squeezing in the hands and rolling out the mass, until a glossy shine appears.
- Next, add salt to the cold whey, put the balls in it and send it to the refrigerator for storage. Our wonderful cheese may not be eaten for only a few days, but it is better to eat it as quickly as possible.
When preparing cheese, a large amount of whey (approximately 3.5 l) is obtained. We do not need so much to store cheese. Therefore, the remains of whey can be used when baking bread or rolls, replacing it with water from the recipe. She will give special softness and airiness to pastries.
How to correctly eat mozzarella
Mozzarella cheese is incomparable both on its own and in salads. It goes well with tomatoes and basil in caprese salad.
Do not forget about mozzarella when making pizza. Cheese will give it a unique Italian taste.
And of course, what a paste without mozzarella. Boil spaghetti, add prepared shrimp and mozzarella balls into four parts, season it all with your favorite sauce, and impress your home with an unusual and stunningly delicious dish.
The nutritional value of 100 g of mozzarella is:
- Calorie content 244 kcal;
- Proteins 22 g;
- Fats 26 g;
- Carbohydrates 1 g.
A little about the chemical composition of mozzarella:
- Saturated Fatty Acids 10.9 g;
- Cholesterol 54 mg;
- Mono- and disaccharides 1.23 g.
Now you know all the secrets of this "Italian". I hope that the simplicity of cooking will inspire you for another culinary feat. Cook with love and interest.
