Mascarpone Basic Recipe:- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1. In a heavy bottom saucepan or double boiler, bring heavy cream to 190 degrees F. I use a candy thermometer but if you dont have one just keep an eye on it. It will take about 15-20 minutes with gentle heating. The cream will start to form tiny bubbles on the surface just threatening to simmer. We dont want a boil. The first sign of bubbles means you are ready for the next step.
2. Add the lemon juice to the heated cream, while continuing to heat. Stir gently for about ten more minutes and you should start to see the cream thicken like a pancake batter. The cream will curdle slightly and it may be so slight you wont notice, so use the thickening as a sign that the cooking process is complete. Remember, do not boil, so turn down the burner slightly if you start to see more than a gentle simmer. 200 degrees is too high, as a gage. The cream should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. It continues to thicken as it cools so dont fret if you are unsure, just proceed, fearless.
3. Let cool thoroughly. After the mixture has cooled, it is time to strain. Strain what you ask? Well, we have just made "curds and whey", Little Miss Muffet. And our "curds" are just the tiny sort whereas the curds in cottage cheese are much larger. I use a very cool yogurt strainer which I use for ricotta and now for mascarpone. Well worth the investment, but you can use triple layers of cheesecloth lining a bowl. You line the bowl with cheesecloth or even a sprout bag, pour the cream in, gather up the ends gently and secure shut with a rubber band or ponytail holder. You then rig the mixture up over a pot or bowl using a chopstick that is threaded into the banded end, so it kinda looks like a hobo stick. Balance the chopstick over the edges of a suitable pot or bowl so the bag hangs inside the bowl or pot, even over the sink if you dont want the whey. The idea is to strain the mixture so do whatever you have to do to accomplish this, so that the liquid drains out and the cream stays in the "bag".
This was not hard. Didnt even take terribly long. I made it while watching Masterpiece Theatre last night. I was not sure I was doing it right. What else is new, right? That is the fun of it for me. If you are trying something for the first time, your only goal should be to observe and enjoy the process of learning something new. It looked too runny to become what it was supposed to be, but left overnight in the fridge, magic happened.
This morning, I had enough strained mascarpone to fill the two jars you see in the picture. I had the larger Weck jar and the smaller completely filled. In the bottom of my strainer, the first runny bit had also thickened significantly so I was able to restrain that batch and I bet I get a second large Weck jar full. For my batch, I made used 5 cups of cream from a half gallon carton of heavy cream. The rest of it, I made Creme Fraiche or what to me is the ultimate sour cream, but that... is another post. (1/2 c. Yogurt + heavy cream, left on the counter overnight to set. Ok, too easy to actually post...)
Cream and lemon juice? Are you kidding? This stuff costs a fortune, for no darn good reason! But we have lost touch with our food... Where it comes from, how it is made, what it takes to provide nutrition our bodies can process and utilize efficiently. Any time you can ask yourself, "hm, wonder how I can make this or grow this at home?" then you are heading back home... Heading back to the garden, back to the kitchen and back to the very basics we have nearly forgotten.
If you miss out on something so pure, so good, so easy, you can't say I didn't beg you to try it just once.
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