Will the real Cheese, please stand up

Despite my folks and relatives avoiding most dairy cow products, I love non-vegan cheese. Look, don't get me wrong, "cheese" product made with cashews is fine as a spreadable cheese, but sometimes, you just want to make a gooey grilled cheese sandwich (because it's now autumn and roasted tomato basil soup + grilled cheese sandwiches are delicious), add some cheddar to ramen noodles, or nibble on cheese blocks with cured slices of meat.

Here's what's in a typical plain cashew cheese recipe:

• raw cashews (1 cup cashews = 1 cup of cheese product)
• nutritional yeast (for flavor)
• fresh lemon juice
• garlic powder, black pepper, (optional flavorings)
• salt

Here's what's in a typical cow milk-based cheese recipe:

• whole cow milk (1 gal = 8 oz farmer's cheese)
• fresh lemon juice
• salt, optional

What goes into a farmhouse cheddar cheese recipe:

• whole cow's milk
• plain yogurt or active kefir with probiotics
• rennet (to make a firmer cheese)
• animal: stomach lining of young cows, sheep, or goats
• vegetarian: derived from plants such as thistle, nettle, artichokes, figs, or caper leaves
• salt
• butter (dairy milk fat) or lard (rendered pork fat) - used to coat the finished pressed cheese
• unchlorinated water

And for a vegan "spreadable" cheese product that can be used as a replacement to make "meltable" cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich (recipe ratio from the Minimalist Baker):

• raw cashews
• peeled carrots
• water
• tapioca starch
• nutritional yeast
• apple cider vinegar
• salt
• garlic powder
• ground mustard
• ground tumeric (for color)

If you're thinking that nut-based cheeses don't have saturated fat like animal products, think again because 1 ounce of cashews has 2.2 grams of saturated fat. 1 cup of raw cashews in a typical cashew cheese recipe will have 17.6 grams of saturated fat. 1 cup of whole cow milk has 8 grams of saturated fat. Contrary to how the anti-cow media has presented dairy to the public, whole milk is the healthier of the two.

Cost-wise, about the same in 2023 prices comparing raw cashews to organic whole milk.

Prep time:

• dairy cheese: assuming you didn't have to milk the cow and picked up at least a gallon of non- or low pasturized milk from the grocery store; a couple hours for farmer's cheese/ricotta/cream cheese; 3-4 weeks minimum for aged cheddar cheese; mozzarella in less than an hour
• vegan cheese: can be made in 1-2 days (raw cashews need to be pre-soaked)

The other downside to cashew "cheese" is that it has the consistency of chunky cream cheese and is used wherever a 'spread" or the look of the "cheese" in the finished cooked product doesn't matter. E.g., as a substitute for ricotta cheese in lasagna or ravioli, as a sauce or spread used with crackers.

Sun-dried Tomato Fromage (homemade cheese)

This recipe ratio comes from Portland Oregon author Claudia Lucero's book, One Hour Cheese. Fromage simply means "cheese" in French; not to be confused with "frommage" which is an Icelandic lemon dessert or bits of leftover cheese whirled together to make a cheese spread. Fromage made from scratch involves very simple ingredients. I made this because I had cartons of both whole milk and buttermilk just past the Sell By date.

Sun-dried tomatoes and fromage cheese

Like the book title suggests, this batch of cheese comes together rather quickly; depending on how long you let the curds drain. While I have fresh herbs in the garden, I used sun-dried tomatoes as my mix-in.

Materials

cheesecloth, enough to line a colander with two layers
a plastic or metal colander
a large bowl to catch the whey
candy thermometer or digital temperature gauge


Ingredients

1 qt whole milk
1 c cultured buttermilk (vs homemade buttermilk)
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
pinch of sea salt
(optional) finely chopped fresh herbs
(optional) sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped

Directions

In a large 5-quart (or larger) heavy-bottomed pot, heat milk over low heat until the milk reaches 170 F. Turn off the heat and whisk in buttermilk and lemon juice.

Let this sit for at least 5 minutes to curdle.

While the dairy is curdling, line a colander with two layers of cheesecloth. Set the colander over a 5-quart mixing bowl.

Slowly pour curds (white stuff) and whey (liquid stuff) onto cheesecloth. Let drain for 1-3 hours.

If you want to speed up the draining process, as soon as most of the whey has drained out, gather up the edges of the cheesecloth and layer them like you are wrapping a package. Take a heavy object (a pot with bowls in it) and place that on top of the cheese to help press out the liquid.

Unwrap the cheese and place into a sealable container. Mix in the salt, herbs, and/or sun-dried tomatoes. If you are opting out of the herbs and tomatoes, at least add in the salt. Cheese spreads don't quite taste right without it.

Pack cheese into the container and cover. Refrigerate until ready to use. Serve with crackers or toasted baguette slices.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese, minus the macaroni

My friends assure me that any pasta with cheese sauce can qualify to be labelled as "mac and cheese", even if you don't use the macaroni "elbow" shaped pasta. Fusilli has all these curves and holds sauces really well, which is why I stock it in the pantry. Anyhow. Be it fusilli, celantini, macaroni, or shells, it should all be equivalent in how much you cook for one 9" x 13" batch. I wouldn't advise using bowties or large pasta shapes to make mac and cheese.

Smoked Cheese and Pasta

I added diced green chiles to the cheese sauce to enhance the flavor; and while I only added two tablespoons, I think I should have added the entire 4 oz can. Compared to the smoky mac 'n' cheese that I had from Vancouver's food cart Esoteric BBQ, my version pales in comparison. There's no beating the smokiness of a real wood-fired smoker; plus Esoteric's might just have more salt in theirs.

This batch used 8 oz Gouda, 8 oz medium cheddar, and 4 oz Parmesan.

At any rate, here's the recipe I used. It makes roughly 9 servings.

(not smoked) Salmon and Cream Cheese Spread

I like smoked salmon, as a luxury treat to eat on its own. This recipe does not use smoked salmon. Instead, it relies on no-salt added canned salmon and the convenience of a food processor. By way of food storage laziness, I found cream cheese takes on a crumbled cheese texture when thawed after having been frozen solid.

Ingredients

One 6 oz can TJ boneless pink salmon, drained
8 oz cream cheese, frozen then thawed
1/2 c cheddar cheese, grated
2 small dill pickles, diced

Directions

Whirl it all around in a food processor until a well combined paste forms. Scoop it all out and put into a resealable container. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Strangely enough, the cheddar cheese gives the spread a classic light pinkish-orange color.

Faux "Cheddar" Cheese aka Coconut Cheese

One of the most dangerous things to have in the pantry is all the ingredients for an experiment. Cost-wise, it isn't any cheaper than buying a gallon of milk on sale; but it does make a lot more of that cheesy substance. The coagulation is achieved by using agar agar, a vegetarian gelatin derived from seaweed; and also tapioca starch, which helps with the thickening. Before I added turmeric powder as a colorant, it tasted a tad on the salty side and had the consistency of a molten cheese sauce.

Coconut Cheese Ingredients

Also, the agar agar that I bought from Fubonn came in a two-pack of moulded agar agar bars. I used one and ground it into flakes using a mini food prep.

Coconut cheese in a parchment lined loaf pan,
looks ominous...

Since coconut oil is a solid at room temperature, as the coconut cheese cools, it will firm up. If I stick it into the refrigerator overnight, I might just be able to slice or grate it like a normal block of cheese. 

Ingredients

2 cans (800ml) coconut cream (70% or more coconut milk)
3 tbsp agar flakes
1/2 tsp cider vinegar
4 tbsp tapioca starch
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sea salt (more than this is too much)
1/4 c nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (optional, for color) doesn't help the taste

Directions

1. In a large pot, bring coconut milk to a boil. Add vinegar, agar flakes, and salt. Boil gently for 15 minutes until the agar dissolves completely.

2. Whisk in the remainder of the ingredients, one at a time, until everything is well combined. I put in the starch all at once and it clumped up immediately. Maybe next time I should just sprinkle and whisk it in. Cook for another 8-10 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and pour into either a greased glass bowl or a parchment paper-lined loaf pan.

4. Let cool for a few hours. It will set at room temperature. If you would like it to be firmer, for grating or slicing, put it into the fridge overnight.

Recipe ratio from All the Cooks.

[update] 2015-01-29: Well, 2 tsp of sea salt was too much. This batch made 1 lb 7 oz of faux cheese. It is so salty, I'm thinking of reheating it with some potatoes. Refrigeration did not help the consistency. It's like cutting through soft tofu. Definitely cannot "shred" it with a grater. Spreads easily.

Kitchen Notes: Paneer vs Farmer's Cheese

I had a half of a half gallon of milk that was stamped for today. I never know what that date stamp means, sell by or use by; but for liquid dairy, my brain thinks it means the latter. So, to not drink endless cups of hot chocolate or warm milk, I turned it into cheese with some help from lemon juice. The process of making paneer is identical to making farmers cheese. The former is not salted but the latter is. Plus, paneer is a pressed cheese.. which essentially means that it is drained for longer with heavy things on top of the cheesecloth than farmers cheese.

Once farmers cheese is done, you could stir heavy cream back into it to make cream cheese and blend it up to make it smooth. You can also mix fresh herbs into it and re-wrap the cheese in wax paper or cheesecloth to make an herbed cheese; kind of how you'd make a herbed butter. But, alas, I am still talking about farmers cheese. Onto the paneer...

Paneer is essentially cottage cheese, the large or small curds of the cheesemaking process. Paneer is a bit drier than farmers cheese and is typically cut into cubes then floured for cooking in savory dishes. I don't know how much milk I started with (less than a half gallon), but it made 8 oz of cheese curds. I put the liquid whey in a covered container in the fridge. If I don't use it, the whey will get composted. The whey can be used in place of water for any bread recipe. That's the best use I've found.

Ingredients

some quantity of whole cow milk
2+ tbsp lemon juice (up to 4 tbsp per gallon of milk)

Directions

Bring milk to a rolling boil (bubbles crest the surface and can't be stirred down) and add lemon juice. Stir, stir, stir. Don't let the milk burn. When I turned off the heat and added the lemon juice, curds wouldn't form for me. So I boiled the milk and lemon juice together and that worked. This whole process of the curds forming should take less than 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and let the mixture cool for a half hour before straining into a cheesecloth-lined strainer. Rinse the curds (this is a step that I forgot to do and it doesn't break the process, it's just that my cheese will taste a little lemony). Wrap curds in cheesecloth and put it inside a colander with holes. Set something heavy on top of the cheese so that more water will be pressed out. I used another pot filled with water. The second draining should take a few hours as the cheese cools.

The biggest differences in preparation process is the use of lemon juice (vs white vinegar, though any type of fruit acid will do) and the fact that the curds are washed before pressing.

Mildly Spicy Cheese Sauce (for Nachos)

Ever have leftover parts of food items from a BBQ? This is one easy recipe that uses those leftover slices of bulk cheese. 

Ingredients

8-10 cheddar cheese slices, thinly sliced

1/2 c half 'n half or milk

2 tbsp diced green chilies

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp cornstarch

Directions

1. Toss the cheese and cornstarch together until the cheese is evenly coated. 

2.  In a small nonstick pot, melt the cheese over low heat. Add 1/4 c of the dairy and stir occasionally. Add chilies and spices. Stir to blend together. Add remaining dairy. Stir until cheese has melted. Pour over nachos or serve as a cheese dip. 

Ravioli Filling #2 - Lobster Mushroom/Sundried Tomato/Ricotta Cheese

Ah, finally found the small square of paper I scribbled out the ingredient ratio on. This might have well just been sun-dried tomato and ricotta cheese. I couldn't taste the lobster mushrooms at all. The other flavors in this filling mixture were too too strong. Definitely in retrospect, the amount of sun-dried tomatoes was too much for this batch. And, the cheese should have been the liquidish stuff instead of the dried curds from Trader Joe's. Alas, I couldn't taste the lobster mushrooms at all. <sad face>

Ingredients

1 c dried lobster mushrooms (rehydrated and coarsely chopped)
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 c whole milk ricotta cheese
3-4 sun-dried tomato strips, finely chopped
1 egg white
1 tsp each fresh basil, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 tsp each dried oregano and marjoram (if not available fresh)

Whirl all the ingredients together in a food prep until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Let chill in a covered container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Mashed Potato and Cheese Soup

Another dinner of leftovers, again! Thanksgiving sure does make a lot of leftover food. This is a recipe that you can use with leftover mashed potatoes, in the event that you find mashed potato pancakes way too salty because someone thought it'd be a great idea to mix salt, butter, and some random dairy into the mashed potatoes for T-day.

Fortunately, the main ingredient is already cooked and mashed, so now I build a soup around it. There is no added salt because the mashed potatoes are already salted. If you don't have leftover turkey stock on hand, you can substitute the liquid component of this soup with water or chicken broth.

Ingredients

2 slices of bacon, cut into thin strips
1-2 carrots, diced
1-2 celery ribs, diced
1/2 onion, thinly sliced (optional)
2 c turkey broth
1-2 c mashed potatoes
3/4 c cheddar cheese, grated
Spice mix (optional): dried thyme, garlic powder, dried oregano

Directions

1. Fry bacon until crispy. Take bacon out of the pan and drain on a paper towel. This will be used to garnish the soup before serving.

2. Pour the bacon fat into the pot that will hold at least two quarts of soup. Over low-medium heat, fry onion slices until they are translucent and slightly golden brown. Add carrots and celery. Cook until vegetables are fork tender.

3. Add broth and mashed potatoes. Bring to a boil. Turn off heat. Puree with an immersion blender. Then, over medium heat, add grated cheese and stir until all the cheese has melted.

4. Serve hot in a bowl and top with some fried bacon bits.

Asiago Crisps

This recipe originated from the French Laundry cookbook under the guise of "Parmesan Crisps". FL's recipe called for "moist" Parmesan-Reggiano cheese, which doesn't seem to exist to the average consumer. When I look at it, it's a pretty darn hard wedge of cheese. Asiago cheese, while considered a semi-hard cheese, has enough--probably too much--moisture for this recipe; and is as strong-tasting as the goat cheese mousse I put in it.

To make the crisps, simply grate enough cheese. FL calls for a cup of grated cheese. This will make approx six 2" diameter crisps, when using a 2" biscuit cutter (the only round cutter in the kitchen). Using a Silpat mat is better than parchment paper.

Simply place the biscuit cutter on the Silpat and fill it up with a layer of grated cheese. Gently remove the cutter and repeat with more cheese, spacing the rounds of cheese about an inch apart.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Bake for 8-10 minutes.

If you just want to eat these flourless cheese "crackers", remove the baked cheese from the Silpat with a spatula and let cool on paper towels. Once cooled, you should remove the cheese from the towels to a plate since the paper will stick to the cheese if you don't.

If you are going a step further and using the cheese crisps as a carrier for another appetizer, say, as a tiny basket for goat cheese mousse, then immediately remove the crisps from the oven and gently stuff into small heat-proof bowls to form the "basket" curve. You can then let these cool while in the bowls until ready to use. Or, once cooled, you can place these into an empty egg carton. Instead of a small prep bowls, you can also use the egg carton to form the baskets.

Do not use a semi-soft cheese like cheddar to make crisps. There is simply too much liquid (high fat content) in the cheese to make them look or taste good.

Fresh summer fruits with goat cheese

I had a variety of fresh summer fruits to work with for this appetizer. On this dish are the following: goat cheese (plated first), 1 black fig halved, 1/4 green fig, slice of white nectarine, slice of yellow peach, strawberry slice, blueberries, and clover honey (drizzled last). The plating was totally random, but consistent across all 12 servings.

Fresh summer fruits with goat cheese and clover honey

Cheese Fries (aka Baked Mozzarella Sticks)

I like the term "cheese fries" since the only similarity between these and fries topped with cheese is that they're cut to the size of fries and baked up. I suppose one could always deep fry these, but I lack a deep fryer and enough oil for such an experiment. Trader Joe's and Costco sells uncut mozzarella cheese in 1-lb packages. You can easily freeze the unused portions for later use.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. whole milk mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 c. dry bread crumbs
1 tsp seasoning (optional, see below)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (after removing cheese sticks from the freezer).

1. Slice the cheese so that you have 2" x 1/2" sticks, or thicker if you prefer. Store slices in a resealable bag in a single layer in the freezer and let set up to an hour. This will help the cheese keep its shape when baking and not melt as fast in the oven.

2. In a bowl, combine bread crumbs with salt, pepper, and additional seasoning (see below). 

3. Arrange dipping stations in three separate bowls: flour, beaten egg whites, and bread crumbs. Coat a cheese stick with flour, then dip into egg whites, and finally dredge until covered with bread crumbs and seasoning.

4. Place breaded cheese sticks onto a parchment-lined baking tray in a single layer.

5. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until tops and edges are golden brown. Serve while cheese is still hot with warmed marinara sauce, fresh salsa, or other complementary sauces.

Seasoning variations:

Cajun seasoning (serve this with fresh salsa)

Kitchen Note: About that Farmer's Cheese

For the next batch, I doubled the ingredients and the cheese came out with the same texture with a slightly lemony flavor. I think I should have left the cheese alone. Alas, I didn't. I took half the cheese and dumped it into a food prep along with sun-dried tomatoes from a jar and roasted garlic cloves. It whirred around until the mixture was well blended.

I now have a cheese spread for crackers and/or bread. I think first batch of cheese tasted better as a solid than a spread. At least before the cracker-eating ritual was more manual and I could pile on the sun-dried tomatoes on top of sliced rounds of cheese and the cracker. It tastes okay, but I won't be serving this version up at any upcoming potlucks.

Homemade Herbed Cheese

This is my first attempt making farmer's cheese from scratch. Since it is a trial run, I am only using a quart of whole milk rather than a gallon. Now I have to figure out what to do with the leftover whey. The next time you look at mozzarella cheese prices at the grocery store, it takes a gallon of milk to make one pound. A quart of milk makes roughly 6 oz of cheese. If only the dairy farm near my neighborhood sold direct to consumers, then I could really call it a farm-to-table recipe. Who knows where Trader Joe's gets its milk. When I buy that organic stuff from Fred Meyers, it trucks in from half way across the country. At least the herbs came from the garden.

Ingredients

1 quart whole milk
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice (used two medium lemons)
kosher salt (to taste)
1/4 tsp each fresh herbs, finely minced (used thyme, chives, and garlic)

Directions

1. In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat milk over low-medium until the liquid temperature is 180 degrees F.

2. Stir in lemon juice and wait for curds to form.

3. Ladle curds into a cheesecloth-lined sieve and let drain over a bowl in the refrigerator for a few hours. You can also gather the edges of the cheesecloth and tie it with butchers twine at the top.

4. Once all the whey has been drained, transfer cheese to a small bowl and mix in salt and fresh herbs. Store cheese in a sealable container in the refrigerator for another 2-3 hours before serving.

Asiago Cheese Crackers

In my attempt to make flat bread crackers, I added grated asiago cheese to the dough and used some on top of the cracker. However, seeing how today is a 100% humidity day (raining), these crackers came out really tough to chew and not crunchy at all. The crackers with cheese on top taste significantly better than the plain ones. I had hoped to use these in place of the multi-seed flatbread crackers I get from Trader Joe's, but alas, this recipe still needs tweaking.

Ingredients

2 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
3 tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 c. warm water
1/4 c. grated asiago cheese
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar

Seed topping (on a plate, combine):

grated asiago cheese
black sesame seeds
white sesame seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.


1. In a cup, add butter to warm water until butter has melted.

2. Sift the flour, salt, sugar together.

3. Gradually add the butter/water to the flour mixture and knead until smooth.

4. Place in a clean lidded container and let dough rest for at least an hour in the refrigerator.

5. Take dough out and roll it into a 12" log. Slice in half, and slice the halves in half until there are 30+ pieces.

6. With each piece, flatten dough using the bottom of a 4 oz ramekin or other sturdy flat-bottomed container. It should come to be about a circle, though, it doesn't have to be uniform.

7. Moisten one side of the circle with water and dip into seed topping. Set onto parchment-lined baking tray.

8. Bake for 15 minutes or until bottoms and edges are lightly browned.

9. Let cool on a rack. If the crackers are still soft, place all the crackers on the baking tray and let cool in the oven after the heat has been shut off.

Nut and Cheese Crackers

Ever wonder what marketers were thinking when they advertise a can of whole tomatoes as "wheat free" and "gluten free"? Well, I hope that canned tomatoes don't usually contain flour products because that would just be weird. Well, unlike traditional crackers, these don't require any flour to make. And, all the salt in the recipe is already in the cheese; so there's no added salt either. It's pretty much two main ingredients coarsely ground together (in a food prep) and maybe a salt-free spice blend added for flavor; not saying that hard cheeses or nuts aren't flavorful enough, but something mild enough to bring the entire recipe together. You know? 

Here is the recipe: 

1 c. raw pumpkin seeds 
1/2 c. asiago cheese, freshly grated 
1/2 tsp. spice blend (I used McCormick's no-salt garlic and herb) 
scant 1/8 c. water 

The directions: 

1. In a food prep large enough to accommodate 1 1/2 c., coarsely grind together pumpkin seeds, asiago cheese, and spices. It should look evenly ground but not of flour consistency. 

2. Add almost 1/8 c. water and pulse until just combined. Too much water and it won't bake properly. 

3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

4. Empty mixture onto wax or parchment paper (about 8" x 10"), preferably parchment paper since it can go into the oven. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper. Roll out until the "cracker" is at the desired thickness. 

5. I suppose at this point you could a ravioli wheel or pizza cutter to mark the edges of the crackers; but I just break apart the enormous mass (after baking) into bite-sized pieces. 

6. Bake on a baking sheet for about 5-7 minutes or until the enough water has evaporated and the edges are of a golden brown color. Enjoy. 

This particular ratio of ingredients comes to about 1,080 calories, because... 1 oz asiago cheese = 100 calories 1/4 c. raw pumpkin seeds = 170 calories Other cheeses that work well: Parmesan Romano, Parmigiano Reggiano

Prep and cook time: 15 minutes