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HOW
TO COOK WITH GOAT’S MILK By Arlene W.
Correll We no longer keep
animals for food. We used
to keep all kinds when our five children were growing up.
We never kept rabbits or goats.
We get lots of email about recipes using goat’s milk.
So off I went on the “Great Goat Milk Recipe crusade.” Goat’s milk is the
most widely consumed milk in the world. Smen (semneh,
beurre ranci) is a traditional butter-based cooking oil made from
sheep and goat milk. Preserved butter, with its deep, pungent aroma and
distinctive flavor, enhances many of Morocco's savory dishes, especially
couscous. It is an aged butter similar to Asian ghee, and is a prized
flavoring ingredient in Moroccan dishes In Morocco, smen
(or sman) is still a delicacy. It is made by kneading butter with
various decoctions of herbs, cinnamon, and other spices; the mixture is
then cooked, salted, and strained like ghee. It
is poured into jugs, tightly stoppered, and buried in the
ground for months, sometimes years. Stores of the precious stuff are
saved for special feasts. The smell is considered especially
magnificent: a particularly aged pot of the family smen may be
brought out of the cellars for honoured guests to sniff. The smen represents
the riches of the house. The necessity of "doctoring" a
perishable substance in order to save it in hot weather is in this
manner turned into a gastronomic triumph, and hedged about with
tradition and prestige. Other versions of clarified butter, called samna
by non-Moroccan Arabs, are to be found throughout the Middle East. In Lebanon, samneh
is made from butter that has been boiled until the fat in the pan is as
transparent as a tear (dam'at el-eyn). It is then taken off the
heat and left to settle before being carefully strained through a fine
sieve into sealed containers where it will keep for a year or more.
Ethiopia has a spiced version, nit'r k'ibe.
Collected from cows,
butter can also be produced from the milk of buffalo, camel, goat, ewe,
and mares. Cream is separated from the milk. The cream can be either
supplied by a fluid milk dairy or separated from whole milk by the
butter manufacturer. The cream should be sweet (pH greater than 6.6),
not rancid, not oxidized, and free from off flavors. The cream is
pasteurized at a temperature of 95°C or more to destroy enzymes and
micro-organisms. A goat's
milk will generally have around 2 percent less fat than a Jersey cow's
milk, as it is not richer in Butterfat than Cow's milk. Goat’s milk is
also naturally homogenized. Thus, the fat globules in goat’s milk are
much more naturally digestible and assimilated than milk from cows. Many
people who cannot drink cow's milk can often drink goat's milk. It is
hard to manufacture butter from goats because the cream is dispersed in
the milk. However, if a cream separator is used, goat's milk butter can
be produced. Basically, there are two types of cultures: thermophilic (heat
loving) and mesophilic (moderate temperature loving). There are
also many variations on these cultures, such as goat cheese mesophilic
and fresh cheese mesophilic. Each culture will give the cheese a
different flavor, but the handling and preparation of the cultures is
the same. Buttermilk is a mesophilic culture and can be used as
such. Yogurt is a thermophilic culture and can be used to make
cheese that calls for a thermophilic culture. However, should you
be real serious about cheese making, you can culture your own
true cheese starters or use DVI cultures. Direct Vat
Inoculates or “direct set” cultures that can be added directly to
the milk with no need for re-culturing. This is easier, but can be
more expensive because they cannot be re-cultured.
However, if you make a lot of cheese, you can buy the DVI
cultures in bulk and save a lot of time and perhaps money.
It is up to you. Just
remember that you cannot re-culture DVI cultures, you must buy a
“regular” culture to prepare your mother culture. You can store all
your cultures, lipase powders and molds in sterile jars in the freezer.
Kept this way, they will last for over a year. Mesophilic
Culture- MA
Lactococcus
lactis ssp. lactis
Lactococcus lactis
ssp. cremoris is
used for hard and fresh cheeses: Cheddar, Colby, Feta, Chevre, and
others . Use 1/8
tsp. per 1 gallon Mesophilic
Culture- MM Lactococcus
lactis ssp. lactis Lactococcus
lactis ssp. cremoris 1/8
tsp. per 1 gallon Thermophilic
Culture- LH Lactobacillus
Helveticas is
used for Italian
cheeses: 1/4
tsp. per 2-4 gallons Should
you elect to make your own cultures, here is what my research came up
with. Mesophilic
Culture Cheese cultures
inoculate your milk with friendly bacteria. This is what gives
cheese its taste, and it helps the milk coagulate or turn into curds.
Mesophilic culture is for cheeses cooked at intermediate temperatures. Many
cooks use the mesophilic culture more than any other type. 1.
Start with 2 cups of FRESH store bought cultured buttermilk (it will say
cultured on the carton). 2.
Let the buttermilk reach room temperature or about 70 degrees F. 3.
Allow it to ripen for 6-8 hours at room temperature. Note:
If you take it out of the refrigerator after supper, put it in a
container with a lid, leave it out over night, it will be ready to work
with by the next morning. The buttermilk will now be thicker and
sourer than what you started out with. It should have the
consistency of fresh yogurt. If it doesn't, let it sit for a few
more hours. 4.
Shake or stir the culture well. Pour this culture into a clean ice
cube tray, full sized. Put it in your freezer. Once it is
solidly frozen, separate and remove cubes from tray and place in a
zip-lock freezer bag or a container with a lid. 5. Each cube is about 1 ounce of mesophilic starter for future recipe purposes. Label the container so you don't get it mixed up with other cultures. Add thawed cubes to your recipes as required (thawing takes about 30 seconds in the microwave). Cubes will keep for at least a month and probably as much as three months or more in the freezer, depending on how well you have them sealed. To make starter the
next time, add one thawed cube to 2 cups of fresh milk, mix thoroughly
with a wire whisk. Allow to stand at room temperature for 16-24
hours or until the consistency of fresh yogurt and freeze as above. Thermophilic
Culture Cheese cultures
inoculate your milk with friendly bacteria. This gives the cheese
its flavor, and helps coagulate the milk and turn it into curds.
Thermophilic culture is used for cheeses cooked at higher temperatures.
1.
Heat 2 cups of fresh milk to 165 degrees. Be careful not to heat
it too high or scorch the milk, then let cool to room temperature or at
least down to 125 degrees. If you are sure of your milk source,
pasteurizing as above is optional; and you can start with 2 cups of
fresh milk. 2.
Add one heaping tablespoon of FRESH yogurt, homemade or store bought.
If you buy from the store, make sure it says "live and active
culture" on the box -- and it must be plain yogurt. You can
add a couple of tablespoons if you wish. Mix it into the milk
thoroughly. 3.
Keep the mixture at 110 degrees F for 8-10 hours or until a firm yogurt
has set. Put the mixture in a
sealed, water-tight container, mason jar, zip-lock bag, etc., then put
110 degree water in your crock pot. Put the container with the
culture into the water, put the lid on your crock pot, set it on low,
and leave it alone. You may want to experiment with your crock pot
to make sure the low setting will keep it at 110 degrees. Since we
started this, my husband bought me a yogurt machine; so now I just use
that. It can also be done with the same type of water bath method
on the lowest setting of your electric range. 4.
Pour the culture into a clean full sized ice cube tray and place in the
freezer. Once frozen, separate the cubes and put them in a sealed
container or freezer bag. Label the container so you don't get it
mixed up with your other cultures. 5.
One cube is about 1 ounce of thermophilic starter. Add
thawed cubes as needed to your recipes. 30 seconds in the
microwave will thaw a cube. Cubes will keep for somewhere between
one and three months (maybe more) in the freezer, depending on how well
you have them sealed. To make more
starter, simply thaw one cube and add that instead of the fresh yogurt
using this same recipe Cottage
Cheese Note:
Do NOT use aluminum or cast iron. Use only stainless steel or
enamelware pans to make this recipe in. For some reason, if you
use aluminum especially, this recipe will NOT turn out (and many other
cheese recipes won't either). 1.
Start with one gallon fresh milk, raw or room temperature or
refrigerator temperature. 2.
Mix 4 ounces of mesophilic starter culture into your milk. 3.
Dissolve rennet in 1/4 cup cool water. Use 1 junket tablet, or 1/4
tablet regular rennet, or 1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet. Mix rennet
into the milk thoroughly using a wire whisk, stir for at least 5
minutes. 4. Cover and
set aside to ripen for at least 20 hours at room temperature (normally
70 degrees F or above). The milk will be a firm curd within that
20 hours, but the full 20 hours is needed to develop the correct flavor.
If you put it aside at about 10 p.m., then it is ready to work with by 6
a.m. the next morning. More than 20 hours (up to 24 hours, for
example) is fine, but less will not work. 5. After 20
hours, cut the curds into 1/2 inch cubes. 6.
Cover and Allow curds to sit and firm up for about 15 minutes. 7.
Over the next 30 minutes, cook slowly and slowly raise the temperature
of the curd to 110 degrees F. Pan should be uncovered for this. 8.
Cook for an additional 45 minutes at 110 degrees F, stirring often
enough to prevent matting or clumping. By this time, the curds
should have greatly shrunken and sunk to the bottom of the pan. Keep
in mind, the more you stir, the smaller curds you will get. If you
like large curd cottage cheese, use a slotted spoon to stir... If
you like small curd, use a wire whisk to stir. Don't over stir,
though, or your cheese will turn into mush... 9.
Line a colander with your cheesecloth and drain the curds, allowing them
to drain for 5 minutes. 10.
Lift the curd filled cheesecloth from the colander and repeatedly dunk
into a bowl of ice cold water for at least 3 minutes. Drain curds
again and place in a bowl or container with lid. 11.
Add about 1/4 cup milk to curds. Season to taste with salt
or herbs, whatever you wish.
Easy
Ricotta This is a good
recipe to use in your lasagna. 1. 2 quarts
fresh milk (cool or room temperature). 2. 1 teaspoon
citric acid powder dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water. Stir into milk
for about 20 seconds. 3. 3
tablespoons red wine vinegar. Add to milk and stir. 4. Heat milk
to 88 degrees F, stirring occasionally. 5. 1/2 junket
rennet tablet, dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water. Stir into milk,
and shut off heat. 6. Cover and
let milk sit for 1 hour. 7. Drain curds
in cheesecloth lined colander or cheesecloth bag. Gather corners,
tie together (hair ties work well for this), and hang bag until it stops
dripping. 8. Add
herbs/spices to taste. One may use garlic powder, onion powder
(not salt), parsley, and basil. One may also add about 1/4 cup of
cold milk back into the cheese and 2 ounces of mesophilic starter.
This will be your personal preference. So experiment! Fresh
Whey Ricotta 1. 2 gallons
fresh whey, no more than an hour old. 2. Heat to 200
degrees F. 3. Turn off
the heat while stirring and add 1/4 cup vinegar. (any kind of
vinegar will work, cider or white or even red wine vinegar). 4. Line a
colander with very fine cheese cloth or butter muslin. Carefully
pour the pot of whey into the colander and allow to drain. 5. When the
cheesecloth is cool enough to handle, gather the corners of the cloth
and tie, then hang to drain for several hours. A good thing to use
is a drawstring bag. 6. When the
cheese stops draining, place cheese in bowl and add salt and herbs to
taste. You may add garlic powder and onion powder at this time,
along with parsley and basil, especially if you will use ricotta in
lasagna. You can also add a small amount of milk to this to give a
moister, richer cheese. Also, if you add a few ounces of
mesophilic culture, it will enhance the flavor. 7. Because
this recipe is made using whey, it is a low yield recipe and will only
make 1-2 cups of cheese. Refrigerate cheese until used. It
will keep up to a week in the refrigerator. Goat
Milk Shake 1
Cup Milk frozen in ice cubes Combine
in blender and blend on highest speed for 3 minutes or until frothy and
smooth. Drink immediately. Yogurt
Cheesecake Crust: Filling: Dissolve
gelatin in 1/2 Cup boiling water, then add to yogurt. Stir in vanilla
and sugar then pour into crust and refrigerate. Use your favorite
thickened fruit or pie filling as a topping. GOAT
MILK FUDGE 2 1-oz squares
unsweetened chocolate Cajeta (Mexican
Caramel Candy)
Dissolve baking soda
and cornstarch into 1 cup milk. Stir well to dissolve any lumps. Add
rest of milk and add sugar. Bring mixture to boil, stirring constantly
while cooking. Cook until the mixture is thick and looks like caramel
sauce. Pour into jars, cool, and refrigerate. This makes a great topping
for ice cream and makes a delicious apple dip! Goat
Milk Fudge # 2
Combine
sugar, milk and margarine in heavy quart sauce pan. Stirring constantly,
bring to full rolling boil. Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling
five minutes. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips until melted.
Add marshmallow creme and vanilla, beating until well-blended. Pour into
greased 9 X 13 pan. Cool at room temperature. You can also add nuts, if
you wish. PEANUT
BUTTER GOAT'S MILK FUDGE 1
cup firmly packed light brown sugar Put
all ingredients except peanut butter, vanilla extract, butter and nuts
into a 1-quart saucepan. Grease an 8-inch square pan. Put 1/2 inch water
into kitchen sink. Dissolve
sugar, stirring constantly with wooden spoon over low heat until sugar
is dissolved. Gritty sounds will cease, and the spoon will glide
smoothly over the bottom of the pan. Increase heat to medium and bring
to a boil. Wash down any crystals that may have formed with pastry brush
dipped in hot water, using as little water as possible. Reduce heat
while retaining the boil. Stir no more than necessary. Test
in ice-cold water when mixture thicken and bubbles become noisy. A ball,
formed in ice water, should hold its shape until heat from your hand
begins to flatten it and should be slightly chewy. Temperatures are very
approximately so watch the bubbles and the thickening of the mixture. On
the average, the temperature should be 234 degrees F to 240 degrees F. Remove
saucepan from heat and place it in the sink. Add, without stirring,
frozen butter, peanut butter and vanilla extract, then allow to cool. Stir
when lukewarm and "skin" forms on top (110 degrees F). Stir
fudge thoroughly but vigorously by hand, with electric mixer, or in food
processor. Pause frequently to allow fudge to react. Watch for fudge to
thicken, lose its sheen, become lighter in color or streaked with
lighter shades, give off some heat, and suddenly stiffen. If mixing by
hand, fudge will "snap" with each stroke; by mixer, mixer
waves will become very distinct; by food processor, fudge will flow
sluggishly back to center when processor is stopped. Add
nuts before fudge totally candies. Pour, score and store when cool in
airtight container in refrigerator or at room temperature. Yields
1 pound. The recipe is easily doubled and can be frozen. Goat’s Milk Yogurt Ice Cream 1
Quart Goat's Milk Yogurt 1
Cup Goat's Milk 1/2
Cup Sugar 1
Teaspoon Vanilla Optional:
Chocolate, nuts, fruit (strawberries, peaches...etc.) Heat
milk and sugar in sauce pan until sugar is dissolved. Add vanilla and
any other optional flavorings. Stir yogurt into cooled milk mixture.
Pour the mixture in container(s) and freeze for an hour or two (until
the mixture is slushy). Stir or whisk and return to freezer. I usually
whisk a couple of times while it's freezing. It’s ready to eat when
it's frozen solid, or let it thaw a little and have a wonder yogurt
shake! To
Make Goat Milk Yogurt at Home Start
with fresh, un-pasteurized, goat milk that has been produced in a
sanitary manner. Heat milk to 108 degrees Fahrenheit. As a starter
culture (good bacteria), you can either use
plain yogurt or a freeze-dried culture purchased from a health or
natural food store. If you use store bought yogurt, buy the freshest
possible, as it will have more active bacteria. In addition, use yogurt
from a new cup and use a clean spoon to add it to the milk. Use l
Tablespoon per quart of milk or if using a freeze-dried culture, follow
package directions. After
the culture has been added, you must incubate the milk at 104-108
degrees. To do this, you can use a home yogurt maker or devise something
on your own. Some people use a heating pad wrapped around a jar, put it
in the oven on low, or a jar in a crock-pot. What ever you use,
experiment with water and a thermometer before you actually make the
yogurt to be sure you can hold the milk at the required temperature.
Incubate for 6-8 hours depending on your taste. When done incubating,
chill the yogurt before eating being careful not to agitate or move the
yogurt much until it is well chilled. NO-BAKE
RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE 1 box frozen
raspberries Goat's
Milk Pie Crust:
(makes
5 pie crusts. It can
be kept chilled in the refrigerator for up to a week. If you
freeze the dough, you can still thaw it and roll it out. Also, you can
roll it out, place in pie pans, put in zip-lock bags and freeze it that
way too. It's an easy recipe to make, easy to roll out, easy to
work with. The dough will stay flaky no matter how much you handle
it. It will shrink a bit in the pie pan so let it rest for about 5
minutes after you get the crust in the pan before you trim it and flute
it )
Mix the flour and
salt together in a large bowl. Add shortening and cut in until
ingredients are crumbly. In a small bowl, beat together milk,
vinegar, honey, and egg. Combine the two mixtures and stir with a
fork until all ingredients are moistened. Roll out and use as
any ordinary pie crust dough. Quick
and Easy Mozzarella Cheese This recipe is a
quick, simple, easy recipe to make a 2-lb block of mozzarella cheese: Ingredients: 1. 2 gallons
of cool milk, either fresh & raw or pasteurized and cooled. 2. Citric acid
powder. 2 ½ very
level teaspoons of citric acid powder dissolved in 1/4 cup of cool tap
water. Mix into the cool milk for 2 minutes. 3. Heat milk
to 88 degrees F. 4. Rennet ½
teaspoon liquid rennet (or 1/2 tablet regular rennet OR 2 junket
tablets). Dissolve rennet in 1/4 cup cool tap water. Add
this into the milk and stir for 14-20 seconds. Cover your pot with
a lid and allow milk to remain still for 12-15 minutes while it
coagulates. 5. Cut the
curd into cubes, around 1/2 inch in size. Let cut curds remain
undisturbed for 5 minutes. Apply low heat and stir gently so as to
keep curds separated. The curds will shrink as the whey is
expelled from them in this step. Slowly heat the curds to 108
degrees over about 10-15 minutes time. Then shut off the heat and
continue to stir every few minutes for an additional 20 minutes. 6. Drain curds
in a colander for about 15 minutes. You can dip or pour them out
of the pan and save the whey to make ricotta if you wish, or save it for
the pigs or chickens, or throw it out. After the curds sit for 15
minutes, they will be stuck together in a colander shaped clump.
Cut this into strips about 1 inch by 1 inch cross section. Lay the
strips in a criss-cross fashion in a large bowl. 7. Mix 1/4 cup
salt in ½ gallon of water
and heat to 170 degrees. Heat this water up while stirring
the curds for about 15 minutes in step 5 above. Add the salt water
to the bowl with the curds in it, make sure it is enough to cover the
curds. 8. Using a
wooden spoon or a pair of them, begin to stretch the curds in an upward
motion (sort of like stretching taffy only stretch it with the spoons).
It will begin to get stringy and will look plastic and shiny.
Stretch it for about 10 minutes, then place the whole thing on a board
and knead it just like you would bread dough, shaping it into a ball.
This takes the excess moisture out of your cheese. Place the
cheese in a plastic mold. You can place your plastic mold in a
bowl of cold water until its firm and cold or just put a lid on it and
place it in the refrigerator overnight. It's now ready to eat.
You can eat it in chunks or slices or grate it and cook with it. To store, place in
zip-lock bag or plastic wrap and refrigerate. NOTE:
If you want salt-free cheese, you can stretch it in the hot water
without the salt, but the flavor is better with the salt. Goat’s
Milk Sauce This recipe was
apparently used by the Romans in Britain. 250
ml/9floz goat's milk Pour
the milk into a saucepan. Remove
the crust from the bread and cut the remainder into small pieces. Boil
the milk and bread together for about 40 minutes or until the mixture
thickens so that it resembles double cream. Put
the resulting mixture to a food-processor and blend until smooth. Pour
the mixture into a bowl and place in the fridge for about an hour. Serve
chilled as a dip. 2.5 oz Coconut Oil 3 oz Olive Oil 4 oz Palm Oil 2.5 oz Shea Butter * 5 oz Goat Milk
(fresh or powder reconstituted in water) 1.65 oz Sodium
Hydroxide-Lye (6% lye discount) 0.5 to .75 oz
Fragrance, depending on personal preference Freeze
your goat milk first. Ice cube trays or Ziploc baggies are a great way
to freeze the milk. Melt the frozen milk by pouring the lye into it
a little at a time, stirring between additions. Proceed with your
favorite soap making technique. This recipe will work for either cold
process or crock pot hot process. This recipe makes approximately 1
pound.
Hopefully, you will
have a good running start on your goat milk recipes.
There is an extreme amount of pleasure when one makes one’s own
food, either by preparing it, or growing it, to say nothing of knowing
exactly what is in it and where it came from. ©Copyright 1996
- 2004 www.learn-america.com
All rights reserved.
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