You will need...
● Equipment: saucepan, thermometer, cheesecloth, colander ● Ingredients: 500ml double cream, 500ml full-fat milk, ¼ tsp citric acid
Making Mascarpone...
- Prepare acid: dissolve citric acid in 60ml of cold water
- Heat: combine milk and cream and heat to 850C. Be careful not to burn the mixture onto the bottom of the pan. Remove from the cooker when the temperature is reached
- Curdle the milk: drizzle the acid solution over the surface of the hot mixture and stir for a few seconds, making sure that the acid is thoroughly mixed with the milk and cream. The curds should start to form immediately but they won’t be from gelatinous curds like with other cheeses, instead expect a curdled flocculation of curds and whey.
- Wait: leave the curds and whey undisturbed for 30 minutes. This allows them to complete their coagulation.
- Strain: spoon or pour the mixture into a colander that has been lined with the cheese cloth and allow to drain.
- Hang: take the edges of the cheesecloth, gather and tie with string. Hang up the cheesecloth somewhere cool or in the fridge over a bowl. If you don’t have somewhere suitable to hang it, you can tie it Mascarpone to a spoon over a bowl/jug. After 2 hours open up the cloth and you will have a loose mascarpone, it can be used now, but to get thicker, creamier mascarpone do the following: use a spoon and scrape away the cheese from the edge of the cloth, mixing it with the looser mascarpone in the middle and te up to continue draining. You can leave draining in a fridge for up to 12 hours for a thicker texture.
- Eat: this is a fresh cheese and has no salt to preserve it so is best eaten straight away but it can be kept in the fridge for a few days. Extra information...● Scalding: to prevent scolding you can set up a double-boiler by place - in a bowl large enough for the milk and cream over a pan of water. Then boil the pan of water and allow the steam to heat the milk and cream. How to Serve...● Keep it simple: sweeten the mascarpone with icing sugar and serve with mixed berries or spoon over ice cream ● Posh Trifle: whip mascarpone, liqueur, sugar and cream then smother over coffee-soaked biscuits. Dust with cocoa powder. Be very careful not to inhale cocoa powder when eating your tiramisu!
