How to make Philadelphia cheese at home?
Cream cheeses are widely used in cooking for cooking a variety of dishes. One of the most popular types of such cheeses is Philadelphia.This product is the main component of the classic American cheesecake. Finding Philadelphia cheese on the shelves of grocery stores will not be particularly difficult. You can also cook it at home, and how to do it, and will be discussed in this article.
What it is?
Philadelphia cheese is not a separate variety of cheese. This product is an American brand of cream cheese, which is popular all over the world. Cream cheeses, in turn, are soft grades. They have a sweetish taste and delicate texture.
Traditionally, cream cheeses are made from milk and cream. The production of such a product is convenient in that the technology of the stage of ripening cheese is not required. Philadelphia has become a prominent representative of cream cheeses, which is perceived by many as a variety.
Recipes
There are several options for making Philadelphia cheese at home. Making a product with your own hands is not so difficult. Consider the most popular manufacturing methods step by step.
With yogurt and sour cream
If you cook the cheese for this recipe, it is best to take homemade yogurt and sour cream thick consistency. Only when using quality ingredients the taste of the product will be the closest to the taste of Philadelphia cheese. However, suitable and high-quality ingredients purchased in the store.
For 500 grams of thick white natural yogurt, 200 milliliters of sour cream will be required. Juice of lemon and salt will need about half a small spoon. All components must be combined and mixed to a uniform consistency. A long piece of thick gauze must be folded twice and put the resulting mass on it.
The cheese mixture in gauze is placed in a deep container, covered with a plate on top and pressed down with a press. As a cargo, you can use a two-liter jar filled with water. Tara with the press is removed in the refrigerator for at least twelve hours. During this time, the whey should be completely drained, after which the cheese can be taken out of gauze and eaten.
From cottage cheese
The method of making cheese from natural curd is convenient in that the ingredients do not need to be subjected to heat treatment. In addition, the curd mass contains many vitamins and trace elements. It should be noted that in this recipe is used soft curd fat content of 0%.
In addition to the cottage cheese product, 200 milliliters of sour cream and cream will be required. In this case, the fat content of sour cream should be 20%, and cream - 30%. Salt is added to taste. Since this variant of cheese is best suited for savory snacks, it is recommended to add chopped dill.
Cream must be well whipped with a blender or mixer. Other components are added to the whipped cream, after which the mass should be mixed to a uniform consistency.
The resulting product is recommended to stand at room temperature for 24 hours, after which it can be eaten and stored for storage in the refrigerator.
With kefir
The recipe of cooking with kefir is not particularly complex and does not require the use of rare and expensive components. The main ingredient is fat milk in the amount of one liter.
One liter of kefir, one chicken egg, and one small spoonful of lemon juice, granulated sugar and salt are required per liter of natural cow's milk.
Before starting the preparation of kefir is recommended to get out of the refrigerator and leave for a couple of hours at room temperature. It is necessary to pour cow's milk into enameled ware and put it on a gas stove. When it becomes warm, you need to add sugar and salt. With constant stirring, the mixture is brought to a boil and removed from the heat.
Boiled milk does not need to be cooled - kefir is immediately added to it. Everything is thoroughly stirred until the milk mixture becomes a homemade curd product. Next, you need to separate the hard cottage cheese from the whey.This can be done with gauze or small strainer.
Hard curd mass must be combined with chicken egg and lemon juice. Mix lemon juice and egg with a mixer or blender until smooth. Cottage cheese is also whipped with a lemon-egg mixture until smooth. The resulting product must be removed in the refrigerator for 24 hours, after which you can eat it or use it for cooking various dishes.
From Ryazhenka
The recipe of cream cheese on the basis of ryazhenka involves the use of only dairy products. In addition to the main component, you will need kefir with a fat content of more than 2.5% and sour cream 20%. Kefir and ryazhenka taken in the same amount - 200 milliliters. Sour cream will need half the time - 100 milliliters.
The fat content of kefir should be exactly 2.5%. All components must be combined and mixed well. If the cheese will be used to make savory dishes, then the main ingredients need to be added salt to taste. It is necessary to place a sieve into a deep container and cover it with gauze folded in seven layers.
The gauze is laid out a mixture of dairy products, which was made earlier. The mass must be covered with a lid on top and stored in a refrigerator for 48 hours. During this time, all the whey will peel off and drain into the container, and on the surface of the gauze will remain only a dense thick mass, which is the home analogue of Philadelphia cheese.
What dishes can I use?
Philadelphia cheese can be considered a universal product that is used to prepare a variety of dishes. This is possible due to the excellent taste characteristics, as well as resistance to heat treatment.
The product can be a part of both savory and sweet dishes.
Mostly Philadelphia cheese is known as the main component of cheesecake and sushi. The product can also be used to make sauces, cold snacks (for example, rolls of vegetables and fish), sandwiches and creams for desserts. Cheese will be a useful substitute for butter and mayonnaise.
Useful recommendations
Some Philadelphia cheese recipes include chicken eggs as a component. This ingredient can be replaced with quail eggs: instead of one chicken, four quail are used. Lemon juice can also be replaced with citric acid.
Before cooking cheese, it is important to take care of the selection of quality ingredients. Milk should be natural with a high fat content. Otherwise, the product will not have a rich creamy taste. If the cheese will not be used to make desserts, you can add chopped garlic and parsley, dill or cilantro.
In addition to spices, other additives can be put in the finished product. It can be fried champignons, ham, pickles and other ingredients that go well with cream cheese.
To learn how to make Philadelphia cheese at home, see the video below.