# My first home made mozzarella. Inspired by SmokinAl and Da Mrs with Q-View



## teeznuts (Dec 22, 2011)

After reading Da Mrs and SmokinAl's mozzarella threads, I just couldn't get the thought out of my mind. I used whole milk from the local grocery store and purchased the rennet tabs and the citric acid at a local store that models itself after the "whole foods" chain. I have also seen rennet at several grocery stores next to the jello mixes.

rennet








citric acid







I then followed the instructions in this thread by SmokinAl http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/114544/homemade-mozzarella-its-so-easy-plenty-of-q-view  and like he said it was really easy.

I didn't have anyone to take pics for me while I was going through the process. I wasn't comfy taking pics and making cheese at the same time and my hands were covered in curds during part of the process.

The only problems I had were losing a good portion of my curds that stuck in the cheese cloth(next time I won't use cheap cheese cloth) and I had an issue during the kneading process.

During kneading I thought I had messed something up because I had what looked like ricotta. I remembered Al's thread saying to nuke if it gets dry and that saved the day. After a couple nuke sessions it began to get a shine and started sticking together. I added about 3/4 tsp of salt and sprinkled some dried chives for added flavor.

I ended up with this.







sliced







turned a couple slices into a quick midnight snack













I can't wait to make some more tomorrow.


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## jjwdiver (Dec 22, 2011)

Very nice!  I will be trying that one of these days too.  Thanks for sharing.

John


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## teeznuts (Dec 22, 2011)

jjwdiver said:


> Very nice!  I will be trying that one of these days too.  Thanks for sharing.
> 
> John


If you follow Al's thread you can't go wrong.


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## SmokinAl (Dec 22, 2011)

Great job Teez! 

I can't stop making the stuff.

We had a problem with it sticking to the cheese cloth too, so I bought a real fine mesh ss strainer and it works better.

It takes a little longer to get all the whey out, but you don't loose as many of the curds.


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## mballi3011 (Dec 22, 2011)

Now mozzarella is stillon my to do list but I haven't made it yet. But I will soon I think.


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## frosty (Dec 22, 2011)

Teez, for a first attempt, it looks EXCELLENT!  You are gonna make it look too easy!  I like Al's idea aboout the fine mesh SS strainer.  That will probably last forever, and you would minimize the problem.


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## alelover (Dec 22, 2011)

Looks great. Nice snack too.


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## oregon smoker (Dec 22, 2011)

SmokinAl said:


> Great job Teez!
> 
> I can't stop making the stuff.
> 
> ...


Teez, what a great job!

Al the idea of the SS strainer is great, would you put a plate of sorts with weight on top to help with the draining or just let it sit useing its own weight?

Tom


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## daveomak (Dec 22, 2011)

Teez, looks really good.... You , Al, and Da Mrs have got me going on a mozz trip....  If I made a gallon of milk into mozzz, about how much cheese should I expect to get..  Dave


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## shoneyboy (Dec 22, 2011)

Nice ......


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## scarbelly (Dec 22, 2011)

Teez ya beat me to it - I have done a couple of runs too and was waiting until Mrs Scar was here to take some pics. I have been practicing so I can teach this to the 4H kids. Man this stuff is good and I am putting one in the smoker real soon 

Great job man


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## oregon smoker (Dec 22, 2011)

OK, Ok now you all have me on the hunt... will make some this weekend, the comander in chief is with her mother and i am left here for for two days to do nothing but create chaos? thanks Guys, Have a Great Safe Holiday!

Tom


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## justpassingthru (Dec 22, 2011)

Hey teez,

Ya did good, nice looking Mozz.

After I read Al's thread I ordered the citric acid and rennet, now I just have to wait a month for it to get here.  LOL

Al, thanks for the tip, we don't have cheese cloth, but I already have a SS strainer.

Gene


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## smokeamotive (Dec 22, 2011)

Great job Teez! I have this on my to do list as well. I looked for Rennet tablets at the store but couldn't find any. I didn't think to look in the "Jello" section. Will have to check there. I was thinking of substituting Fruit Fresh for regular citric acic but i saw it contained things like dextose ond ascorbic acid and an anti caking agent. Will have to get the real stuff!


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## teeznuts (Dec 22, 2011)

SmokinAl said:


> Great job Teez!
> 
> I can't stop making the stuff.
> 
> ...


Do you suggest doing away with the cheese cloth completely and just using the strainer from square one? I lost alot of curds to the cloth.




Scarbelly said:


> Teez ya beat me to it - I have done a couple of runs too and was waiting until Mrs Scar was here to take some pics. I have been practicing so I can teach this to the 4H kids. Man this stuff is good and I am putting one in the smoker real soon
> 
> Great job man


Hey Scar, what type of milk are you using? I used regular/whole milk from local grocer but I was told I may be able to get something closer to a raw milk taste at a health food store or whole foods/fresh and easy. Are you adding anything besides salt for flavor?




Smokeamotive said:


> Great job Teez! I have this on my to do list as well. I looked for Rennet tablets at the store but couldn't find any. I didn't think to look in the "Jello" section. Will have to check there. I was thinking of substituting Fruit Fresh for regular citric acic but i saw it contained things like dextose ond ascorbic acid and an anti caking agent. Will have to get the real stuff!


Rennet is used for custard and ice cream among other things so it may be by the jello/baking products.


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## venture (Dec 22, 2011)

Thanks to Teez and Al!  I am working up my courage to try this.  Everybody says it is easy but not so sure it would be that easy for me? 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Good luck and good smoking.


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## SmokinAl (Dec 22, 2011)

Sorry guys my internet has been down all day. With the strainer you just scoop the curds out & push them down with your hand squeezing the whey out. You have to do it several times & the strainer I bought is not as large as I would like but it is very fine mesh, almost like one of those gold coffee filters. To answer the question about yield, you get about 3/4 pound of cheese from 1 gallon of milk. As I said before & Teez will verify, it's so easy & you will not believe how good the cheese is.


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## scarbelly (Dec 22, 2011)

Ya Teez - I don't have a health food store here so I am using plain old milk from Albertson's 

I got this kit that has 30 uses in it so I can give one to each kid to take home with them after we do it in class.


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## teeznuts (Dec 22, 2011)

Venture said:


> Thanks to Teez and Al!  I am working up my courage to try this.  Everybody says it is easy but not so sure it would be that easy for me?
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Venture I was so worried about messing it up that I didn't dare get distracted with the camera for Q-View but it was actually a very simple process. The milk comes to temp within a few minutes and next thing you know your squeezing curds.


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## teeznuts (Dec 22, 2011)

SmokinAl said:


> Sorry guys my internet has been down all day. With the strainer you just scoop the curds out & push them down with your hand squeezing the whey out. You have to do it several times & the strainer I bought is not as large as I would like but it is very fine mesh, almost like one of those gold coffee filters. To answer the question about yield, you get about 3/4 pound of cheese from 1 gallon of milk. As I said before & Teez will verify, it's so easy & you will not believe how good the cheese is.







Scarbelly said:


> Ya Teez - I don't have a health food store here so I am using plain old milk from Albertson's
> 
> I got this kit that has 30 uses in it so I can give one to each kid to take home with them after we do it in class.


Do either of you have an opinion about trying to do 2 gallons at once? My stainless pot is huge and I could probably get 3 gallons in easy but I really want to try 2 gallons at once. If I just double the rennet and citric acid will I be ok? I'm dying to make tons of this stuff!!!


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## smokingohiobutcher (Dec 22, 2011)

teeznuts said:


> Do either of you have an opinion about trying to do 2 gallons at once? My stainless pot is huge and I could probably get 3 gallons in easy but I really want to try 2 gallons at once. If I just double the rennet and citric acid will I be ok? I'm dying to make tons of this stuff!!!


Ya me too! I just got the  rennet and citric acid from the cheese queen in the mail and picked up a gallon of milk after work today. Xmas Mozzerella anyone?!

Just gonna do 1 gallon to start with, but I might get carried away with myself;.

Looks awesome Teez!

SOB


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## daveomak (Dec 22, 2011)

To all the Mozz makers, thanks very much.... Hit the local health food store... Got liquid vegetable rennet, bulk citric acid granules and was ""looking"" at their Non GMO non homogenized low temp pasteurized whole organic milk that said "shake well" before using at $5.89 Gallon.

Dave

PS: I haven't learned how to make really good sausage yet and I'm learning how to make cheese ???


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## teeznuts (Dec 22, 2011)

Save sausage for another day. The cheese will be done in 30 minutes.


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## kevin13 (Dec 23, 2011)

Great job Teez.  I bought a kit from the Cheese Queen and made some about 6 months ago.  I had the same problem where I had to keep microwaving the stuff to get it to firm up and it wasn't bad considering my first time.  I have a kit now to make farmhouse cheddar, gouda, etc. so I'm itching to try it, just need to make a cheese press and get a different mold then the one they sent in the kit...it's tapered and I don't have a plate that size to use as a follower.

Always a great feeling saying you did it yourself and it didn't turn out that bad. Thumbs Up  :beercheer:


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## SmokinAl (Dec 23, 2011)

If you have a big container I don't see why you couldn't double or triple the recipe.

Dave the [color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]Non GMO non homogenized low temp pasteurized whole organic milk would be awesome for this purpose.[/color]

[color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]A little pricey, but I think the cheese will have a richer flavor & texture.[/color]


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## tjohnson (Dec 23, 2011)

Teez

Now you gotta smoke some fresh mozzarella and eat it with beer or red wine

Todd


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## SmokinAl (Dec 23, 2011)

Hey Todd anything is good with beer!


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## scarbelly (Dec 23, 2011)

teeznuts said:


> Do either of you have an opinion about trying to do 2 gallons at once? My stainless pot is huge and I could probably get 3 gallons in easy but I really want to try 2 gallons at once. If I just double the rennet and citric acid will I be ok? I'm dying to make tons of this stuff!!!


I think it would work with no problem


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## venture (Dec 23, 2011)

Anybody know if the citric acid is the same as the encapsulated citric acid we use for sausage?  Or if it matters?

Good luck and good smoking.


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## scarbelly (Dec 30, 2011)

I tried to reach the cheese and wine store to ask this question for you but they are closed for the holidays


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