To continue, I actually started it earlier, but finished it later, and didn't bother taking any pics except 1. unless they're on the real camera I may check later.

Yogurt.

(I'll dedicate this one to Maven.)

Take a quantity of milk.. the only reason the volume would be important would be the amount of yogurt you have left at the end.

put the milk in a pot and heat. when the temperature reaches 122F stop heating and mix in some old (but fresh) yogurt, the more the merrier, use fome from your last batch, or the little bit at the bottom of the yogurt you were just eating, not too important, it just has to be live yogurt with the yogurt culture still in it (I used ~1/2 a gallon of raw milk, a tablespoon of fage full fat yogurt I was eating at the time); mix well.

Now you need to keep the mixture fairly close to 122F, perhaps in the oven on warm, for quite some time, overnight or so, maybe 10+ hours for the cultures to, well, culture. (I've read about, but not tried, putting the mixture into a thermos for the duration... if I had one I'd give it a go... would make it much much easier)

after that time you should have yogurt.. look at it, mix it up, taste it, it should look like the milk from the previous day, but should have a more yogurt like consistency and taste like yogurt.. :)

it can be eaten as is, or can be strained to get a more greek-style yogurt or eventually more of a yogurt cheese. Straining should be done through 2 or 3 layers of cheesecloth..


and the pic I took, straining the yogurt.....



pretty exciting stuff eh?

Finally, my 3rd dairy product of the weekend.

Butter.

it's not rocket science people ;) there is no magic, just a bit of elbow grease, or potentially mechanical assistance.

Step 1. Half fill a container (airtight please) with heavy cream, word on the street has it that it should not be ultra-pasteurized, I've never tried so could not say. then put the lid tightly on the container.




Step 2. Shake, Shake, Shake

Step 3. Shake some more.

Step 4. Shake more still.

Step 5, ignore the fact that your arm feels like it's about to drop off

Step 5. Switch hands and keep shaking.

Step 6. Eventually you'll stop hearing the cream slop about in there when it's whipped to the stiff peak stage, or whatever you want to call it.

Step 7. Still keep shaking.

Step 8. Watch everyone leave the room just before you can ask for help.

Step 9. Keep shaking

Step 10. Eventually you'll hear it break down, and something will be sloshing around in a liquid... congratulations, you have butter + buttermilk.



Step 11. pour off the buttermilk into a suitable container, and put in the fridge for some other recipe (biscuits or soaking chicken works well)

Step 12. Rinse the butter to remove any excess buttermilk (will make the butter rancid) basically fill the container with cold water (as cold as possible) and move the butter around in it. empty off the water, repeat until the water remains crystal clear.

Step 13. empty out the butter onto a flat clean surface (I like using an earthenware plate that was previously in the freezer) the colder the surface, the less likely the butter will be to melt.

step 14. Work the butter with something, to ensure all traces of water is out of the mass, press it, flatten it, make cubes with it, whatever.. just work it and pour off water where needed, if it starts to melt toss it in the freezer or fridge until it passes.




Step 15. once the water's gone, add salt to taste, and work it in, then start to form the butter into something more meaningful, I personally find a nice cylinder shape is nice and easy to store.




Step 16, wrap in wax paper, then in foil, then put in the fridge, the freezer or atop slices of good quality bread. personally I tend to seperate out into 2TBS portions and freeze individually, so I'm not tempted by having the whole thing in the fridge all the time.

You know I adore you, but dedicating yogurt to me?

*giggles*

On a side note, I got a marriage proposal from a female coworker for cafe toffee cookies. :D

At the end of the weekend....

homemade saag paneer w/ rice.



spinach, spices, homemade yogurt, homemade buttermilk, homemade paneer, store bought 1/2+1/2.

but it works..

It was the creation of the yogurt... not the yogurt itself, the yogurt was strictly for my consumption... sorry.

Just learned a new trick for apple slices. Probably well known to the rest of the world, but I'm a slow learner. Slice an apple (or 5) for snacking and store the slices in pineapple juice. The slices do not turn brown and they stay fresh and crisp for several days. The pineapple juice enhances the apple flavor, but does not overpower it. I'm still eating apple slices today that were sliced last Wednesday and they're still crisp and delicious.

Lemon juice works very well too, I prefer fresh squeezed. If the lemon it too much for you, a light sprinkle of sugar or Splenda lightens it up a bit.

Yeah I knew lemon juice prevented browning on apples, avocados, etc., but it does introduce the sour/sweet taste. With the pineapple juice, it just sems to compliment the apples. I personally love the lemon juice, but was just surprised to learn about the pineapple juice. The apples I had today were just as crisp and tasty as when they were cut up 6 days ago. Pretty cool trick.

Any acidic liquid will work. Orange juice, pineapple juice, whatev.

OMG!

Grilled CheeseCAKE Sandwich

That's a grilled cheese sandwich, substituting cheesecake for cheddar and pound cake for bread.

"Is this serious?" you may be asking yourself.

Oh yes. Made out of slivered cheesecake layered between slices of buttered pound cake, this sandwich is serious all right--as serious as a heart attack.

So did you try this?

Not yet, going to this weekend. I'll let you know how it is.

Do I have to have made it before it can go in here?

Speaking of pineapple juice...have you ever tried marinating pork (baby-back) ribs in pineapple juice?

Does great things to them too, like Buttermilk does to fried chicken.

I cook my ribs overnight, 12 hours. Make my own sauce and have never had any leftovers.

You need no teeth to eat my meat!

Hoosker is a durty.

Lol not at all. Just wondered if it was any good.

Also, looking at the pictures of it brought a question to mind. Do you add butter to the bottom of the pan and then fry your grilled cheese, or do you butter the bread and cook it that way? The pics looked like they added a bunch of butter to the pan and fried it that way. Looks to greasy IMO. I wonder if some butter on the pound cake alone would work just as well.

I would put the butter on the cake, I think. Like when I make grilled cheeses sandwiches.
Less butter that way too.

To my mind, I don't want teeth anywhere near my meat.

Omnomicon daily Noms

in case everyone didn't see.



and as an aside, anyone know where the cheapest place to buy cheese cloth is (I'm shying away from cleaning products or home decorating stores for obvious reasons) It seems I'm running out, and may start using it in greater quantities in the near future.

Try your local hardware store. They usually carry larger packages than specialty stores and its allot cheaper.