Homemade Mascarpone – Review

30 Mar 2010 6 Comments

by Umm Ibrahim in Recipe review Tags: cheese, Cheesemaking, Italian, Recipes

Whenever I make Tiramisu I have to find some alternative recipe to those that does not use the traditional creamy, Italian Mascarpone. It’s difficult to find here in Riyadh and if you are lucky enough to find it, the price will set you back a bit! So, I was delighted when someone showed me this site with a homemade Mascarpone recipe. It requires only 2 ingredients: cream and lemon juice and accoring to the recipe takes around half an hour to make and if successful would cost me one third or less of the normal price in Riyadh for Mascaprone.

The recipe calls for pasteurised but not UHT whipping cream however, I have been unable to find non-UHT whipping cream here so I decided to take a chance and try it anyway. I used 250ml of regular fresh breakfast cream as it is called here in Saudi Arabic and 250ml of my UHT whipping cream. I found it quite difficult to reach the required heat of 190F and actually found that it got stuck on 160F so in the end I gave up with the double boiler method and poured the cream straight into the saucepan and heated it that way but took care not to burn any cream to the bottom of the pan. By this point I thought that all was lost. I added the lemon to the cream and kept stirring with a wooden spoon and saw subtle changes, the odd hairline streak of whey and the cream thickened and coated the back of the spoon as described in the recipe. I transferred to a muslin lined sieve and stored overnight in the fridge.

To be honest, after finding the temperature so difficult to reach, I was not expecting good results however…

The cheese set beautifully in the fridge, I sliced in half to checked for buttery globs within the creamy exterior but there were none – it was perfect! On tasting, I found it creamy with just a hint of cheesiness.

Now I am planning a good homemade traditional Tiramisu or Tiramisu cake. Watch this spot!

Recipe verbatim from the Baking Obsession blog >>> (Note: I used 500ml cream and my finished product weighed in at 240g)

Makes about 12 oz

Ingredients:

• 500 ml whipping (36 %) pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized), preferably organic cream
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preparation:

Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl, then place the bowl into the skillet. Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190 F. It will take about 15 minutes of delicate heating. Add the lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. Do not expect the same action as you see during ricotta cheese making. All that the whipping cream will do is become thicker, like a well-done crème anglaise. It will cover a back of your wooden spoon thickly. You will see just a few clear whey streaks when you stir. Remove the bowl from the water and let cool for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line a sieve with four layers of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Transfer the mixture into the lined sieve. Do not squeeze the cheese in the cheesecloth or press on its surface (be patient, it will firm up after refrigeration time). Once cooled completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (in the sieve) overnight or up to 24 hours.