Homemade Ricotta

There have been many times I'll see a commercial for some restaurant advertising their new dish, and my first thought will be, "I can make that myself. And Better!". Is it because I'm a cocky bastard? Possibly. But I think the real reason is that it really is possible to make it. With the internet, even beer is something that can be done at home. But one thing that has always seemed impossible for me to do at home is cheese. Between that special ingredient they add which causes the cream to separate and the aging process, I never gave it a second thought. All that changed when watching an episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

Mr. Fieri was at some little spot where a little old man was running the show. The old guy was going on and on about how everything was made from scratch. Then he said they even make their own ricotta. Now he had my interest.

In the show's fashion, they show him make the cheese in all of 20 seconds or so. The old guy was like "All you gotta do is heat the milk and salt, add some lemon juice, stir for a second, and your done!"  In all honesty, I was shocked. I thought, "There's no fucking way it can be that easy!".  I searched google for homemade ricotta recipes, and to my amazement, it really is that fucking easy.

I know when I hear someone say "It's that easy", I might think it's easy for them. But please believe me on this, it doesn't get much easier than this. Recipe after recipe I found, they all were basically saying the same thing the old man was saying. I found a few slight differences, like heating temperature and the addition or exclusion of heavy cream. But one thing I saw on all the recipes and reviews was how much better it is over store bought ricotta. They all commented that the texture is creamier and smoother. 

After reading all that, I knew I wanted to try it. Then came the big question: What to do with it? I talked it over with the home-girl Aimee, one of my coworkers. We tossed around a few ideas on both the sweet and savory side. In the end, I was still a little unsure of which way to go with it. I'll explain how the top picture came to be a little later.

After finding the recipe I was going to use, I hit the store and got what I needed. On a blog I had read, the writer said they just ate it on toast as a light snack. That didn't sound bad, so to play it safe, I bought a loaf of sliced french bread. Here is the recipe that I used.

1 Quart              Whole Milk

1/2 cup               Heavy Cream

1/4tsp                 Salt

1 1/2tbs              Lemon Juice

                          Cheese Cloth (to strain)

And that's it folks. Some recipes didn't have heavy cream in it. Some used vinegar instead of lemon juice. Some recipes have you add the lemon juice at a higher temp. My advice is to read a few reviews of the recipe before choosing it. Sometimes people will talk about adjustments they made if the original recipe has a flaw to it.

I don't have too many pics for this one because...well...it's not the most exciting procedure. But I will explain as best I can.

Take your milk, cream, and salt and get those in your pot and set the fire to medium-high. The recipe I followed said to get the liquid to 190 degrees Fahrenheit. Stir a few times here and there to keep it from burning on the bottom. When the liquid reaches the temp, stir in the lemon juice just enough to mix it in and turn the heat down to a low simmer. Do not keep stirring! Leave it alone for about 2-3 minutes. It should look like this.

After a few minutes, gently stir a few times back and forth to break it up some. At this point, the curds will be clearly visible. Turn the heat off and let it sit for another 3 to 4 minutes to make sure it is as separated as it's going to get. Line a strainer with 2 layers of cheese cloth and pour in your mix.

Here is another area in which the recipes varied. The amount of time you let it strain will determine how firm the cheese is going to be. With all the recipes I checked, none of them said to strain for more than 2 hours. I stopped somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour.

This recipe will not give you a ton of cheese. In fact, you will only get about 1 cup of ricotta. But if you are hesitant on trying this, it's the right size to get your feet wet.

Here is the finished product.

How did it come out? Incredible. Normally, I'm very modest about what I make. But this was special. This was just freaking incredible! It comes out 100 times smoother than anything you can find at the store. Creamy with a subtle taste that wonderfully lingers in your mouth. It was so good I didn't want to mix it with anything! I couldn't see myself making cheesecake or lasagna with this. Now I was glad I bought that french bread.

I toasted the bread and raided the fridge. I had some left over caramelized onions and tomatoes that needed to get used. A little salt, pepper, a few drops of olive oil, and I had found bliss.

As soon as I was done, I sent a text to Aimee and told her the cheese was crazy-good. She responded with "How'd you get my number?!?!?! Don't text me ever again!!!"  That's just her way of saying she'll give it a try herself. I think....

Anyway, if you take anything away from this, know that it is possible to make cheese at home. You don't have to be some cow milking, sheep raping farmer from Wisconsin to make cheese. 

Until next time my friends, take care!

J. Miller. 

The Kogi Truck

The world famous Kogi truck. I think at this point, anyone that's heard how popular lunch trucks have become, knows about this truck. This one really started it all. And if you have ever tracked one of their trucks down, you know that there is good reason for all the hype.

This time was my second encounter with the Kogi truck. You can follow them on Twitter under @kogibbq . They will post where they are gonna be at for lunch and dinner. I got lucky that they were only a few miles from where I live. Normally they don't come around this neck of the woods very often.

If you have never tried food from one of the fancier lunch trucks, don't expect to find a huge menu. Most will usually have anywhere from 4 to 6 core items. What they will do is have 3 or 4 different ways to deliver it.  For example, a truck might have a braised pork shoulder. You can get it like a taco, a slider, or in a burrito. Kogi is no different in that area.

I'm not sure what I got the first time around, but I do know this time I had a taste for tacos. I got 3 tacos. Short rib, pork, and chicken. this is what it looked like.

I'm not gonna dive heavy into details about how good each one is. Why? Because they all taste great. For real, I could have ordered 3 of any one of those and been happy. But my favorite was the short rib. That one was just.....fucking awesome! Beyond tender with an incredible flavor. I don't know what they are doing in that truck, but whatever it is, it's working. Working real good!

And....that's really about it. I know, this one isn't the most exciting post I've ever had. I promise the next one is gonna make you cream yourself. So for now, I bid you farewell until next post.

J. Miller

A Little Bit Inspired

After reading the title, you are probably bracing yourself for a long, drawn out story about what inspired me to create that little wrap you see in the above picture. Well guess what? You are right! You are gonna get a story! Well, maybe more of an explanation than a story. In any case, go grab a drink and a snack, get comfy, and prepare to get your mind blown!

Got everything? Good. Now I can weave this tale of lies, sex, heroism, and HUNGER!! Ok, maybe without the lies....and sex....and heroism. But I was hungry.

Bullshit aside, what got me to make this was my craving for a banh mi. My first thought was to simply go to Lee's Sandwiches. I was just going to order a meal, take some pics and call it a day. But I didn't want to just phone it in. I had some free time after work and some items in the fridge that needed to be used. After taking a look at everything I had, I felt a wrap was the best route to take.  But before I show you how I put it together, I gotta back up just a bit.

All of this happened because I really like Banh Mi's. If you don't know what that is, it's a Vietnamese sandwich.  In my opinion, one of it's best qualities is the overall simplicity of it. A Banh Mi looks nothing like something you would find at Subway or Quiznos. It's gonna look something like this.

It really starts with french bread. Slice the bread in half. Insert meat (giggity), veggies, cilantro, DONE. The part that can be crucial is the preparation of the protein. And that's what makes the sandwiches so special. It doesn't look like a whole lot is going on. But the taste tells a completely different story. And that is what I really wanted to do. Create something that appears basic, but really packs a punch when it comes down to taste.

After skimming through the book 'WichCraft by Tom Colicchio, I did learn one important lesson: When building a great sandwich, you have to start on the outside and work your way in. As simple as that sounds, I didn't think like that before. But it makes sense. The bread, or wrapper, is the first thing your mouth comes in contact with when eating. If that is gonna make the first impression, you have to make sure it's gonna come correct. With that line of thinking in place, it was time to choose what I was going to use. I didn't want sliced bread. A wrap was clearly in mind. But I didn't want to just use a tortilla. I thought about making some bread from scratch, but I didn't want to put in that much work. Then I remembered I had these in the freezer.

I found these roaming around the Asian market one day. I was originally just going to eat them with hummus.  But when I saw the size and how thin they were, I thought they would be perfect for my needs. Sure enough, they were.

To cook these, all you have to do is drop them in a skillet on medium heat and cook them a couple minutes on each side. You don't even have to thaw them out. Not bad for about $3.

Now, the game plan was to use some chicken thighs I had cooked up the night before. Why did I cook them the night before? Because they were gonna go bad, that's why!

Since the bread was originally gonna be used to devour hummus, I figured I could use hummus in place of mayo. Sounds good, right? Well, I thought it sounded good. So, I made a small batch and spread that on the Roti.

I sliced the chicken thighs and put that on top of the hummus.

Thinly sliced red onion and carrot shavings got added next.

Next came cilantro. To put another twist on it, I added fresh spinach.

At this point, it's time to roll up and eat!

When finished, the wrap and chicken were still warm. I took a bite, and it quickly became apparent that I had weaseled my way onto something good. It had a light, refreshing taste to it. Not heavy in any way. I don't want to sound like a cocky bastard, but if ordered this from a restaurant, I would be very pleased to get this.

As I was enjoying the wrap, I realized what this reminded me of: Lunch truck food. Now, I don't mean that in the old roach coach, "I hope this doesn't give me mud butt!" kind of way. I say that in the cool, trendy way that food trucks have become.

I really am happy with how this turned out. I could go on longer talking about this, but I think I've said enough. I will say this: Next picnic or trip to disneyland, I'm making some of these to take with me.

Until next time, my friends, take care.

J. Miller