Home Made Mozzarella | Do you make it?

[mosesbotbol]

Getting 20 lbs. of curd for Mozzarella today. Who else here is into making fresh Mozzarella at home?

[OLS]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the curd basically cheese already?

What are you actually MAKING, Moses, lol.

You wanna make your own "fresh mozzerella", you need a cow, hahahaha.

That's like making wood out of popsicle sticks. OK, that's enough jokes.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by OLS

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the curd basically cheese already?

Yes, the curd is made, but it is not Mozzarella at that stage. It has to melt in salt water and be stretched into "Mozzarella". If I served you raw curd, you would not say, "This is mozzarella".

[OLS]

Good answer. Cause again, I have no idea. I was just Fing with you. I had curds once that were basically
already cheddar, so I figured it was the same. Maybe that's how my current block of white cheese from
el supermercado got so damn salty.

[jonumberone]

Had a conversation with an old world Italian at my job yesterday.
We were going on about how we make our cheese
and he told me back in the day they would smoke their Mozz with cardboard or almond shells.

When I made cheese I never melted the curd in salt water.
After the cheese was formed into balls we would soak them in a tub of highly salted water for an hour or so.
Once a week we would put a pot of water up to boil, and keep adding salt until the steam would form a salt ring on the pot.
Let it cool and transfer to a large tub that we placed the cheese in.

[mosesbotbol]

A friend has smoked Mozzarella after it is been brined. Oiled it after and hung to age. I was going to try it, but I keep my WSM pre-loaded and don't want to empty it out for cold smoking.

Fresh made Mozzarella is addictive and a crowd pleaser. I've seen someone mix milk and water to melt the curd in. The salt is key and really brings out the flavor.

[jonumberone]

Originally Posted by jonumberone

and he told me back in the day they would smoke their Mozz with cardboard or almond shells.

I should add I'm not advocating this or even recommending it.
This was told to me by the same man who once told me a story about butchering a dead horse to eat with a broken beer bottle.

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

Fresh made Mozzarella is addictive and a crowd pleaser.

Yes it is.
I like it best when it's still warm!

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by jonumberone

I should add I'm not advocating this or even recommending it.
This was told to me by the same man who once told me a story about butchering a dead horse to eat with a broken beer bottle.

I love horse, but there's only a few good cuts; fillet and entrecote. I use soaked pecan shells in my smoker. I get them sent from Texas

He sounds like a crazy man!

I've made fresh mozzarella a few times. I've found it's just easier to buy it because you really can't save that much money by buying the milk and doing it yourself since one gallon of milk produces about a pound of cheese... and I'm not a cheese maker with the expertise to get it perfect.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by ronzorelli

I've made fresh mozzarella a few times. I've found it's just easier to buy it because you really can't save that much money by buying the milk and doing it yourself since one gallon of milk produces about a pound of cheese... and I'm not a cheese maker with the expertise to get it perfect.

Were you making the curd from milk? One gallon of milk does not make much curd at all. I use to make paneer often and I practically need a cow to get enough milk to make it worth while.

I buy the Mozzarella curd for $3.00 a lb.

Yeah, I made the mozz from milk, not from already formed curd.

I can get a big block of Polly-O whole milk mozzarella from restaurant depot for less than $3 a pound.

Just... not worth it to me at this point in my life... and I'm the kind of guy who loves to make what I can from scratch, on my own.