Ricotta notes

Uses

Ricotta cookie

Attempt 1. It came out nice following the recipe from Seriouseats.

Attempt 2. These came out very flat. Ingredients: 1 stick of butter, 1C brown sugar, 2t  baking powder, 1t sweet spice mix, ~ 1C ricotta (very stiff after o/n draining in the fridge), 1C flour (King arthur, bread flower), 2 lime zest, 1 lime juice. 350°F 7min x 2. This came out very flat and brown.  So many differences from the first time; did not chill the dough, baking powder, bread flower, brown sugar,  spice mix, lime zest and lime juice.

Lime flavoured ricotta sauce

Ingredients: 1.5 C ricotta, 1C cotija, 1 lime zeste, 1 lime juice, 1/2t salt, 1/2 black pepper, 1/2 C basil.

Making, Latest

Bring 1 Gallon of milk (any) to boil, turn off heat, and gently stir in 1/2 C of white vineagar. Curdles form instantly and yellow whey separates out. Collect the curds into a strainer with a slotted spoon. I can’t smell the dreaded vineagar and this seems to be the simplest and fail proof (Spring 2024)

1/4 C did curdled locally. No residue flavor or smell, so reducing and switching acid is probably not necessary. Adding salt before the vineagar might be an option here.

Recipe based on the one at Food lab.
1 gallon, 1 cup vinegar
heat two units below medium.
40~53°C big curdled things
at 54°C these curds broke up.
turned off heat
resumed heating to 74°C, this was total bust.

1 gallon, 1 cup vinegar
heat two units below medium
40°C big curds, harvested yielding wet cheese 1 quart.
filterate, reheated to 52°C, medium curds and fines, did not drain o/n on towel.
residue heated to 90°C, superfine curds.

Contrast this to yogurt.
Milk is heated to 90°C.
Cooled to 55°C and the starter added.
Sets fine in 4~18 hrs, not really acidic and whey does not separate.
Whey separates after about 30~48 hours with increased acidity.
At 8 hrs, it is probably down to room temperature.

What is the heat transition?
My ricotta adventure has been frustrating. I’ve tried three acids, lime juice, citrate, and vinegar. Your recipe has the highest concentration of acid and I get the most reliable curdling. The problem is that my best curdling happens between 40°C ~ 50°C, and does not go to completion. And at 53°C, there is a sharp transition and the curds disappear and turn into micro curds (superfine precipitate). This has happened 5 times so far. In the last batch, I took out the 40°C-curds and drained them yielding 1 quart from a gallon of milk. The remaining milk is still white. Further heating only produced the micro curds. I’ve not found anyone talk about this temperature and curd collapse. Do you think this altitude related? I’m at 5000 feet in Salt Lake City.
My alternative explanation is that the denaturation by heat and acid is different and the acid first method creates a sharp transition. This is based on my yogurt making experience. I heat a gallon of milk to 90°C, cool it to 55°C, and mix in 1/4~1/2 cup of starter yogurt. I get good setting (curdling) in about 4~8 hours. In acid terms this is nowhere near the 1 cup of vinegar in your recipe. The 4~24 hour yogurt is not tart and whey separation only starts after 30 hours.

With these two observations, I reversed the heat and acid steps. Milk was heated to 90°C (just below boiling here at SLC) with the burner set on high (5 minutes). This was cooled to 53°C (thermometer set on alarm). I mixed in 1 cup of vinegar. The milk curdled beautifully in seconds with a clear yellow whey separating. I scooped out most of the curds with a slotted spoon and drained it over paper towels over a colander.

Now I have more questions questions.
Is cooling necessary?  Cooling was not necessary. Vinegar added to boiling milk at 94°C produced curds instantaneously.
How high does the preheating need to go?
Can I add less acid?

I like the idea of the microwave but I can’t do 1 gallon batches, my microwave hanging at my eye level and I don’t like the thought of lifting a gallon of hot liquid above my head.

Another failed attempt 4 years later.:

1 Gallon of milk heated to 79°C, and added 1/3 cup (75.7 ml) of vinegar.  This did not curdle well.  Reheated to 85°C which created small curds,  obtained 1 quart with mostly milky liquid. No acid flavor but milky and bland. This recipe was at serious eats and by Dan G.

Further tweaks 2/22/21:

Milk to 86°C, burner high and shutoff, the temperature went to 92°C. Added 1/2 cup of vinegar. Let it sit for ~20 minutes.  This procedure curdled well with large yield and clear yellow whey. Scooped out large curds with slotted spoon and drained it on colander with coffee filter.

More failure 4/23/21:

This attempt was based on Amish Melting Cheese Recipe. 1 gallon of milk heated to 140°F (60°C) and add 2 table spoons of citric acid. This was modified as follows and did not produce curds.

• Heated to 70°C and citric acid added: no curds.
• Heated to 85°C: no curds.
• Added 1/2 cup acetic acid: no curds.
• Cooled to 55°C and added yogurt: Separation after > 6hrs.
• It appears the milk has to be heated to 90°C before addition of acid. Fermentation appears to work by a different mechanism.

Partial failure 6/9/21

Milk was heated to 87°C, taken off the burner. 1/3 cup of vinegar. Curds formed partially whey is still cloudy. Can’t tell if this is not enough heat or not enough acid.