How to Make Quark

This year was an amazing year in regards to my culinary education.  I usually make New Year's Resolutions and for 2012, most of my resolutions centered around exploring new things and improving upon my limited knowledge of other things. This year, for me, was all about documenting my experiences with the things I personally enjoy the most, which are gardening and cooking.

On the list were things like:

1. Learn how to make cheese.
2. Learn about raw diets and improving health
3. Grow better beets.
4. Improve my techniques for propagating roses.
5. Practice acceptance and tolerance.

So, it's clear some of those items are lifelong ambitions. I'm ok with that. I recognize the importance of learning new things, improving old skills and practicing a wide range of objectives I am neither new to or good at, but one of my passions is food and as such, this gives me quite a wide canvas with which to practice, practice, practice.

I made quark for the first time this year and after seeing how easy it was, it is really hard to imagine why this lovely, creamy, soft cheese isn't available here in the U.S.  At least, I've never seen it in a store and the closest thing I have seen is what the ethnic groceries call "farmer's cheese". No idea yet whether this is the same, but something tells me it is not.

Quark (pronounced just like it looks) is the European's version of  "philly" cream cheese. In fact, when you are in Germany or Austria, they may not know what cream cheese is but if you say "Philly", they know exactly what you mean.  They look similar but they are not at all the same ball of cheese. 

Americans have not been properly introduced to this delicacy, so I am happy to do the honors if this is new to you, too.  Trust me, you will love this cheese if you have any cheese loving qualities in your heart at all. It is not only easy to make at home but it can be eaten sweet or savory, as well.

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 gallon of organic cultured Buttermilk (as fresh as possible; check the dates!)
2. 1 gallon of organic whole cow's milk (as fresh as possible; check the dates!)

How to Make Quark:

1. Let milk come to room temperature and then combine the milks into a large stockpot that can hold your milk. You can use more or less of the two milks above. Those ratios don't have to be exact. This ratio is a bit overkill and lazy, however, it works well. Regardless, I try to use at least a 1-4 ratio of buttermilk to milk.  Use a pot with a lid so you can keep it covered while it does its magic.
2. Let milk sit at room temperature overnight or up to 48 hours. It shouldn't take that long but since this is a mesophilic culture, it means that this culture requires "meso" or medium temperatures to culture properly. In cheese language, that means not too hot or cold, so warmish room temperatures are ideal. In the winter in Minnesota, it can take almost two days if my kitchen is on the cool side.
3. Once the whole pot has cultured, it will look almost solid, like a good set jello mold and it is ready.  You are supposed to cut the quark with a long knife or spatula in a grid pattern. This creates the "curd" and allows it to separate from the whey. Curds and whey? Little Miss Muffet was probably making quark... Not entirely necessary but kinda fun in a messy kid sort of way.
4. Strain the quark to drain off excess whey.  Here, you can make it as dry or as soft as you like. The longer you strain it, the dryer in texture. Too dry, it gets a tad crumbly but some Germans like it this way. Too wet and the cheese will weep a bit, pooling whey in the cheese, which some Germans also like. It's up to you so test it along the way to see what you prefer.  And in case you didn't know better, save the whey! It is very nutritious and you can use it to make bread, soup, stock, broth, or feed your plants. Seriously, it is just as valuable as the cheese itself.  You can even drink it.

What to do with it?

1. Make German Cheesecake, duh?!
2. Make Breakfast quark - German equivalent to yogurt with fruit preserves or fresh fruit. They love pineapple. Interesting and true.  This is pineapple, quark and condensed milk for sweetness. Super yummy.
3. Add chives, onions, salt and pepper and serve it with baked potatoes. You won't go back to sour cream... ok, maybe you will want this AND sour cream. :)
4. Spread it on toast with some jelly. By now, you know what to do with this... if not, figure it out because it is some righteous cheese. 
5. Make Stollen!!  oh yea!  one of my all time favorite Christmas classics, unplugged! I will post my recipe for that in my next post hopefully because my first try rocked my world and the secret ingredient was in fact, my homemade quark!  This is even better for Christmas than my Dad's favorite Christmas raisin bread.

If you don't know what any of this is... then open your mouths, your bellies and your minds, American friends because you are about to be blown away by this little cheese with a million purposes. All good eats, no matter who you are. Unless of course you are allergic to dairy then we have to find something goat-y for you... I made a chevre cheesecake last week and that was pretty darn easy and awesome, too, so stay tuned and by all means, let me know how this works for you.

Mmmmmmascarpone!

Mascarpone Basic Recipe:

- 2 cups of heavy whipping cream
- 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.