Creamy cottage cheese tastes the best when you make it yourself.

Living in an African village, one starts to miss the staples of home. I’m finding this happening again in Asia. In both places, cows and beef are abundant and produce high-quality milk, but demand for dairy products is such that American regulars just aren’t available.

Patience and low heat are the keys to pillowy curds.

Armed with the limited knowledge of cheesemaking that I’d learned on an avocado/goat farm in Guatemala (another post sometime, I promise), I decided to take this craving into my own hands. My gently-heated milk produced pillowy soft curds, that when salted correctly and mixed with fresh cream, could have put any American tub to shame.

Earlier this year, I used this cheese to help a friend make noodle kugel for Hannukah, and the results were surprisingly good.  The remainder I folded into some lasagna and some pancakes.

This is one recipe to take home, no matter where that home might be.

A few notes — Cook this over the lowest heat you have, because high heat will result in more denaturing of the milk’s protein, and thus produce smaller curds. Lemon juice will also denature the milk, just like white vinegar, but the lemon flavor may linger in the final product. Unlike American products, this will have no preservatives, so eat it the same day you make it for best results. If you only have goat milk, that can also work, but the cheese will be tangy.

Plain curds on the left and ready-to-serve cottage cheese on the right.

Cottage (or Village) Cheese

Ingredients

4 cups milk, either whole fat, low-fat, or skim

2/3 cup white vinegar

1 tsp salt, plus more to taste

1/2 cup cream, half-and-half, buttermilk, or milk

Instructions

1.)  Place the milk in a clean large saucepan. Over very low heat, bring milk to steaming, just before a simmer. Using a thermometer, test the milk temperature. Remove from heat at 49 degrees Celsius or 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.)  Pour the vinegar and the salt into the milk. Stir gently with a wooden spoon until just combined, about one minute. Wait five more minutes and you will see the greenish clear whey separating from the white curds.

3.)  Line a colander with clean towels or a cheesecloth.  Pour in the curds and whey.

4.)  Gather the cloth ends into a parcel. Allow the cheese to drain for at least 15 minutes, stirring it once during this time.

5.)  Pick up the parcel, holding the ends tightly. Run the cheese under cold water, squeezing the cheese until the water runs clear.  Squeeze out remaining water.

6.)  Open parcel and place curds in a bowl. Sprinkle salt over curds.  Add cream, half-and-half, or milk under cottage cheese has desired texture. Add more salt to taste, if desired.

Add binding milk or cream, add spices, and enjoy!

Note: Retain the whey if you wish to make homemade ricotta or whey-based drinks. They’re both fabulous.