Mascarpone

Usually I would never think of making cheese, because in my mind, it was something too complicated, something only cheese makers knew how to do.

This changed my mind. Living in the US, it’s sometimes difficult to find imported cheeses, such as mascarpone. In the past, stores like Rainbow or Whole Foods carried various Italian brands such as Santa Lucia. In any European country, you can find Italian mascarpone anywhere. For whatever reason in San Francisco, they stop selling them, selling only domestic mascarpone, and with no offense, domestic brands are not good, either the texture is too solid, too yellow, too this or too that, making really bad tiramisù. So in my mind, I could no longer make good tiramisù, and I have to admit that I got a little frustrated and annoyed. Then I tried to find on the web some information of the fabrication of mascarpone, which I was curious to know why it was called cheese (it’s because of the caseine). And here we go, the easiest thing on earth is to make mascarpone with just two ingredients! Yes it is possible! I was amazed when this came out of the refrigerator.

One pint will give you about 250-300 gr of mascarpone (a little more than the quantity of the container you find in the store)

Morale of the story: Do not buy domestic mascarpone any longer if you want to make a killer tiramisù, make it yourself, it’s worth it.

Ingredients

  • 1 pint of heavy cream (a great quality, I used Straus)
  • 1 tbs of lemon juice (filtered)

Preparation

in a large pot, bring about 2 cups of water to a boil. Pour cream in a mixing container that could be exposed at high temperature (I used a pyrex one), place on top of the pot and lower the heat. Stir cream and let it reach about 80-90C, then add lemon juice. Keep stirring for about 10 minutes, at that point the cream will become thicker and coat the spoon. Remove from heat and let it cool.

Place a cheese cloth (the thick kind, not with holes) on top of a strainer, then pour cream in it. Cover with a cloth and place in the refrigerator for about one day (24 hours). Use withing the next few days.