Homemade Italian Hard Cheese - Make Hard Cheese without Rennet! Delicious Smoked Ricotta Salata

Homemade Italian Hard Cheese you can make at home, right now, without rennet with what you have in your kitchen.
This two ingredient homemade Italian Hard Cheese (Ricotta Salata) is delicious especially when smoked.
So easy to make and no special tools or ingredients needed.
Ingredients:
Whole milk (NOT UHT pasteurized) and or whey from making another cheese.
1/4 cup Vinegar
Tools:
Pot
Slotted Spoon
Cheese Cloth
Basket or cheese form. A small salad spinner basket works as does a small plastic food container with several small holes drilled in it.
A jug of water or canned goods to "press" the cheese.
Small electric smoker (this could be done on a bbq with one side shut off, the lid up and the cheese under a tin foil "tent")
Clean and sanitize your equipment by boiling for 5 minutes
Carefully bring milk up close to a rolling boil. Stirring often and making sure not to scald the milk. Medium Heat and patience wins the day here.
Once the milk is about to froth and you see it start to "roll" add 1/4 cup white vinegar to the center of the milk and the with your slotted spoon stir slooooowwwwllllly once around the pot.
Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour.
Carefully lift or strain the curds out of the whey, keeping the whey for pasta, baking, soups etc.
Once your curds are in the cheese cloth lined form, press with a weighted object for 15 minutes or so and the carefully flip the Italian Hard Ricotta Salata Cheese and press over night. A lot of whey will be expelled so place in sink.
Next day, remove from the form and salt all sides of the cheese with a non iodized salt.
Salt it once or twice a day for 3-4 days while letting it stand on the counter to air dry and form a rind.
After 4-5 days smoke carefully over low heat with your favorite wood and enjoy grated over pasta or on a charcuterie board.
Today's video is sponsored by:
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Of course we would love it you would take a look at our website www.ourthriftycottage.com where we have full recipes and tons of other helpful information.
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[@robertlombardo8437]

I'm about to test out my first cheese press. A large, empty can of menudo that I drilled holes into, carefully cleared the burrs, washed and sterilized. This looks like the perfect means of testing.

[@OurThriftyCottage]

Do it! Cheese cloth inside and you will be fine!

[@lies137]

this vid is soo underrated ...

[@OurThriftyCottage]

Thanks! I think 😀

[@davesheib1640]

Awesome thanks

[@OurThriftyCottage]

Our pleasure! Hope you try it!

[@lornadanylchuk3692]

looks awesome

[@OurThriftyCottage]

Thanks! It’s so easy to make :)

[@ceralamken6138]

Great video! I’ve got my first cheese in the press right now! Can’t wait to try it!

[@OurThriftyCottage]

It’s a wonderfully delicious hobby :-) let us know how it turns out :-)

[@wherethewildthingsarenot]

GREAT video mate

[@OurThriftyCottage]

Thanks! Give it a try!

[@fashayslounge1467]

NICE JOB EXPLAINING

[@OurThriftyCottage]

Thank you!

[@havokmusicinc]

gorgeous looking cheese mate

[@OurThriftyCottage]

Thanks! Tastes great. Let me know if you try it!

[@stevetallo]

A large cool whip bowl drill a lot of holes makes a great mold dishwasher safe last a long time try it

[@OurThriftyCottage]

That works!!

[@dr.froghopper6711]

Cool! I would have put the old whey in my garden but it’s okay.

[@OurThriftyCottage]

That works too! This is yummier 😜

[@paula.2422]

Great job on your video. I actually have my first ricotta salata in the press right now...hopefully it turns out okay as I'm using more of a juice/tincture style press and my cheese is under much more pressure. Anyway, your cheese looks great and I'm happy to be a new subscriber.

[@OurThriftyCottage]

More pressure will just mean a harder dryer cheese. Will probably make it even better for grating into pasta/salad!! Thanks and glad you are here :)

[@kathelementalbodywork4349]

sorry but i don't really get it at all. are you only using whey from a previous project? That wouldn't have any more curds in it though??

[@OurThriftyCottage]

Apologies for any confusion. You can often get more curd from whey depending on a number of variables. In this video I use some existing whey (since I had it on hand) and then used additional new milk for the majority of the process. It isn’t unusual to acidify the milk twice to get maximum curds. At least for us, with Canadian store bought milk. Your experience may vary!

[@mashwehla3343]

Your video I very easy and calm; so I like to follow your way, what I am confused about it, you get all that curd out of just Whey, then the second thing you add, did you use regular milk to curdle and added over it or do we have to do this in two steps, first take the curd out of the whey then add curd with regular milk? I'm sorry I am confused

[@OurThriftyCottage]

I can see how that’s confusing. I had some whey from some Feta cheese I had made so I started with that. For the best result, do the process with whole milk. I usually do the process twice with whole milk as I usually don’t get all the curd out of the milk the first time.

[@OurThriftyCottage]

At about 4:30 I show the straining process with the whole milk.

[@cv6074]

Hi. 1. How long does the pressed cheese have to sit outside before smoking it? 2. Is smoking essential to prevent any mold formation? 3. What's the ideal temperature for it to rest outside if it has to? 4. What ia the shelf life of this cheese through this process? 🙏 Thanks

[@OurThriftyCottage]

We let it sit for three days usually but you got shorter or longer depending on how dry you want it. No smoking is not necessary to prevent mold. The smoke is for flavour first. Best way to prevent mold is to vacuum seal it. Just room temperature. I can’t say for sure on the shelf life but cheese tends to get better with age. If you can keep air away from it by vacuum sealing it will last years. Without vacuum sealing this cheese will last in the fridge for several months depending on your tolerance to mold. (Ps not all mold is bad. Do your own research on that topic :) ) Thanks for the great questions!

[@jmcbc1963]

Is the reason why you don't need rennet is because there is some left over from the previous batch?

[@OurThriftyCottage]

Not really. The vinegar acidifies the milk, no rennet needed. Rennet is used more for “aged” cheeses that develop their flavour during the aging process.

[@gwain7179]

Great video! Thank you ~ are we leaving it out for the 4 or 5 days uncovered? Did I miss that? Thank you again. Oh, Can we cover it? I have 5 cats. Hair gets on everything :)

[@OurThriftyCottage]

Yes, leaving it out and flipping often. Those little screen domes for keeping bugs off your food at a picnic work great to keep your cheese safe from your pets :-)

[@TheHomelessChef21]

Looks amazing guys!! I'd set that smoker up in your trees somewhere...that'd look badass! It would make a better backdrop than the deck😉. Great work!!

[@OurThriftyCottage]

Great idea. One thing we are not: professional videographers! We just do what we do :)

[@TheHomelessChef21]

@@OurThriftyCottage Keep doing what you're guys!)

[@OurThriftyCottage]

@@TheHomelessChef21 thanks Gary!

[@HuffleRuff]

It's gotta be aged for 90 days to be a ricotta salata, imma have to try it out doing a full age!

[@OurThriftyCottage]

That’s interesting! There is no culture in this cheese so really shouldn’t change much by aging.

[@OurThriftyCottage]

@@finnlapp5236 hmmmm I don’t think so. From memory, a culture are living organisms like molds, bacteria, yeasts etc. Vinegar typically kills most of these organisms so I don’t think they can function the same way… Not an expert so please double check me on this!!

[@mashwehla3343]

Hi, if you don't have whey, what would you use ?

[@OurThriftyCottage]

Hi there! We actually use 3.25% homogenized milk from the store for this. You can use whey left over from other cheesemaking but we generally start with whole milk and do the process twice. Let me know if you try it!

[@mashwehla3343]

@@OurThriftyCottage I have very little whey left and I want to make a large batch will it work

[@OurThriftyCottage]

@@mashwehla3343 probably not. This cheese is better made with whole milk. Use the whey you have now for a regular ricotta. Unless you have a LOT of whey you likely won’t get enough end product.

[@mashwehla3343]

@@OurThriftyCottage Thank you

[@OurThriftyCottage]

@@mashwehla3343 our pleasure

[@user-dh1hu2km7c]

that seems like a lot of salt. Why the one side only?

[@OurThriftyCottage]

Salting the cheese does a couple things. It’s first job is to pull more whey out of the cheese. Also creates an environment that is hostile to a lot of bacteria. This cheese is most commonly used (according to my original recipe) as a cheese you add to pasta. Most of the time, if you are using this cheese or a Guanciale etc, you wouldn’t salt your sauce. The saltiness of the cheese is enough for that. We have started salting slightly less as we usually put this cheese on charcuterie now rather than in pasta. The cheese is usually salted and then flipped a few times over the first few days.

[@BeezleSpiritCommunicator]

Erm you started half way through. Hahahahaha.

[@martinnicholls5358]

That’s the worst video making a river so he’s working on one thing and suddenly pulls out another container for a preheated milk or something no explanation no video of that one fucks sake