Mascarpone
The beliefMascarpone is assumed to be a special cheese ripened with Italian cultures.
The truthMascarpone is cream heated to 85 °C and thickened with acid. No culture, no ripening: the whole job is in the draining.
How to make it
What you need
- 1 litre cream, at least 30% fat
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- A double layer of muslin and a sieve
How the engine read this list (2 lines)
| 1000 g | Cream, at least 30% fat | cream |
| 15 g | Lemon juice | lemon |
An empty weight means that line could not be turned into grams — either the amount is open ("to taste") or the ingredient has no record here. Neither enters the sum as zero; they do not enter it at all.
Warm the cream in a heavy pan over a low to medium flame, stirring, to 85 °C. Do not boil it.
Add the lemon juice and hold it at that heat for five minutes, stirring slowly. The cream should thicken enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Take it off the heat and let it cool at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Pour it into the muslin-lined sieve, cover it and put the sieve over a bowl in the fridge.
Drain it twelve hours. If it stands on a spoon it is ready; if it still runs, give it four more hours.
The others that work the same way
Yoghurt
The truthBesides milk you need one spoon of yoghurt. The rest is holding a temperature and waiting.
Butter
The truthIt is whipped cream taken too far. Around the fifteenth minute it separates on its own and you have both butter and buttermilk.
Labneh
The truthIt is strained yoghurt, and the only variable is time: six hours gives a thick yoghurt, twenty-four a cheese.