Creole Cream Cheese: ...the hell?

When I mention Creole cream cheese, the most popular response (aside from a confused look) is, "What's that?"

 

It's a cheese regional to the New Orleans area.

 

My first encounter with Creole cream cheese with through Baskin Robbins when I was in high school... I think.  They had a Creole cream cheese ice cream and it was delightful.  This was my last encounter with it until I found a recipe for it in my copy of Commander's Kitchen.

 

By God, I was on a mission. 

 

I was contemplating buying some, but it was nowhere to be found in Austin.  That left ordering.  The best reviews I've gotten are for Bittersweet Plantation and Dorignac's on Veteran's Blvd in Metairie, LA.

Psssh!  I wasn't wanting to order, and it was a long while till I was visiting back home.

"I'm making it!"

...one small problem--finding rennet.  It was a pain.

 

After going to HEB, Whole Foods (who USED to have it), and Central Market, we were finally able to find rennet at Austin Homebrew Supply. 

Oh, and you need to understand, unless you live in the NOLA region, it's not going to be exactly the same.  It's that whole weather thing--humidity FTW.  Conditions are ideal there... I'm in Texas... there's been a super-long drought... not ideal.

Accept this fact, move on, and enjoy the awesome that you'll still get.

-SO, it's actually a pretty simple recipe:

1 gallon skim milk

1/2 cup butter milk

2 tablets rennet dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water

(I halved the recipe, because I don't have a bowl large enough...yet)


-[Hardware--cause' Lord knows I didn't have most of this stuff when I set out to make this]

Cheese cloth

1 very large non-conductive bowl (glass or steel will work)

1 average sized colander

some clips to hold the cheese cloth in place

1 very large tupperware or some other container large enough to house the colander and the crap-ton of whey that's going to drain

A good bit of saran wrap


-For when you're done with the heafty part:
(Always good to know before getting everything else done--hopefully saving someone a second trip out to the store)

[This is the traditional way to eat it, but I'm not the law, make up your own mind as to how you'd like to enjoy this awesome]

half & half

sugar

whatever berry/fruit you might want to eat with it
(if you're in to that)



-SO, here's what you do:

-First, get all your dairy together

God, I love dairy...

-Pour all the skim milk into said bowl

• (Things tend to work better, if they're room temperature, but I'm historically impatient...and forgetful, and that's not good when dairy is involved)

-Pour in the butter milk

• -stir 

-Dissolve rennet tablet in water



(It's in the little measuring cup)
Looks gross, but it'll be okay... I promise

• -I suggest swirlling it just a bit before pouring it in
• this helps to lessen or prevent the dissolved bits from sticking to the bottom of the cup

-Have your spoon ready (seriously)
-Pour in the rennet-water solution

• Stir ONCE (seriously, once)
• The first time I made this, I stirred maybe three times, and it broke up the forming cheese. The WHOLE THING was off...WAY firmer than intended.
   
• Cover the whole damn thing in saran wrap and leave out somewhere where it won't be bothered by temperature variations or any other nonsense
• (My bad--totally forgot to take a picture after this--will repost once I make this again)

-After about 24 hours, you'll see a giant floating disk  that's separated from the edges

• That's cheese, my friend
• don't touch it
• seriously
• Wait another 12 hours

-Get your colander set-up together
  (OR, your cheese mold, if you're being fancy--not sure if you need the cheese cloth for that one)

• Dampen the cheese cloth
• you've got some options
• enough cheese cloth to fold over itself
• two pieces of cheese cloth
• I usually go for the former
• if the cheese cloth is not wanting to stay in place, this is where the clips come in
• Set the whole thing over the sink
• it's gonna be messy
• other folks say to spoon it into the colander
• it's not preferable to break up the mass
• so, I just dump the whole thing in
• as delicately as possible, of course
• good luck with that
• don't be tempted to pour off some of the excess whey before transferring it to the colander
• the draining is part of the process
• don't mess up the process!
• After a bit of the whey has drained out, put the whole damn thing into your container
• you won't be able to have all the whey drain out at once
• again, part of the process
• Cover that thing in saran wrap
• if you plan, you can use the same saran wrap that you used earlier
• it might look something like this:

Yeah, that.
It's not pretty, but it's effective.

• Oh, and do your best to get a good seal
• we have an open, glass pitcher for filtered water
• whey-flavored water is quite unpleasant first thing in the morning
• Now you wait, for 48 hours
  (Hey, I said it was simple, not quick...)
• Oh, and you're baby-sitting...a little
• every now and then, pour off the whey that drains

See that viscous looking stuff at the bottom there?  Yeah, that's whey.  Get rid of it.
(Or, you can save it--I've been told that there's other stuff you can do with it, but I don't remember what it is)

-After 48 hours...

• Have a tightly sealed container ready that can hold the solids comfortably
• I use a pyrex container
 
• I'll forewarn you that (if it lasts that long), you'll have to drain a little whey off every now and again
• Should last about 2 weeks if tightly sealed and kept refrigerated

-To Serve Creole Cream Cheese:

-Get out some sort of dish
  (Maybe one that makes you feel proper or fancy)

• Spoon some cheese into said dish
• Sprinkle some sugar over cheese
• Pour some half & half over the cheese and sugar
• Now, here's where you have a decision to make
• you can start eating it as is
• you can fold everything in for a minute
• it'll become one
• After making that decision, you actually have another one
• fruit?
• If so, CONGRATULATIONS! 
• You've made Creole Cream Cheese Evangeline
   (If you used a mix of at least 4 fruits...but still, you're at least very close!)
  
  
  [Again, my bad...I got excited and didn't actually take a picture of the final product.  I'll post it later.]
   
• I know there are other things you can do with it, but this is the only one I've tried so far
• Most importantly...you get to say, "I made cheese."
• Don't lie
• You're totally at least a little proud
• It's okay...
• ...enjoy it :)

Merry Happy Chrismachanukwanzakah: Starting a new job during the holidays is...interesting (I realize this is way late)

[Note:  I realize that this is WAY late, but it happens.  Some things are way easier to write, and sometimes I don't have the patience to deal with the pictures that I prefer to accompany a particular post...
...Also, I got pretty busy with that job-thing.  Ahh, well.]

A story of the holidays:

I started a job!:  I'll pause for your well-wishes... Aww, thanks.  You're pretty awesome too.

  Yeah, so I started this position just before the holidays, which was...interesting.  We're supposed to go out and find people in the community (not selling stuff...that crap makes me shudder and want to punch somebody), but during the holidays, people ain't out.  All that is its own stress, but that's not the focus of the posts I put out there.  It's just a little background.

  In order to get to my place of work, it's close to an hour there and an hour back... it is the suck, my friends.  When I get home, I'm super wiped, and that turns into me not being good about fixing my lunch for the next day.

  I quickly see just how expensive it can become when you eat out for lunch for a few days.

  Yeah, fuck that noise.  I was much better starting week 2.

  ANYhoo, this part leads into the next.

Chanuka PJ Party: My bad.

I get home after a long, but purposeful day, and I'm about to pass out on the couch.
  Picky-eater: "Aren't we supposed to be somewhere tonight?"

  Me:  "Fuck!  Hanukah!"

Yeah, my bad!  So, the party had already started, and there was NO time to cook.  Luckily, the picky-eater had asked that I pick up a pecan pie on the way home and we always keep a bottle of white wine in the fridge.

Non-chip party contribution FTW

Christmas Eve Day: STOCK! 

We decided to do our gift exchange early (probably because I'm an impatient creature), and the picky-eater got a Le Creuset stock pot for me!  It was one of the many items that remain on our registry.  I'm not complaining, though.  It's an easy go-to list for future gifts. 

The picky-eater is very difficult to shop for, so I went ahead and got a game that'd been mentioned.  Oh, word to the lazy, all new Wii games require the Wii motion plus attachment.  And, don't worry, they did not, in fact, stop making them... contrary to what folks at some Gamestops might say.

GoodEats!

Christmas Day:  Chill.

For the puppies?:  Oh, yeah, they get Dingos.  With a solid supply already in the closet, we decided to forgo our customary Dingo Candy Cane.

Pumpkin Plotting: Meet Mortimer

Okay, so I have a bit of a competitive streak...occasionally.

Our apartment complex has a yearly pumpkin carving contest.

I like being creative, so I thought we'd just do it for fun...

...then they said they'd take off up to $100 off rent.


Umm, yes.

Year 1: Mortimer's Day Out

So, being broke the first time around, there was the balance between doing something awesome and doing something as cheaply as possible.

Behold!

Mmmm...pumpkin tastes good.

We got 3rd place!  That's $50 off rent
(I thought we should have gotten 2nd and the awesome Dia de los Muertos themed one should've gotten first...some stupid snake thing won...I'm not bitter.)


And, credit where credit is due.  We were inspired by this:

Mad props, and can't currently find the link for it.

Year 2: Little Mortimers

Again, trying to balance awesome and cost, we caught a church pumpkin patch on the last day and got a few for way less that we could elsewhere.

Huzzah!

There are more...and they're working together!
(Dude, I know, the date is all kinds of messed up...I fixed it later)

We got 3rd place, again! $50 off rent
(I'm fine with this.  A GIANT spider made of several large pumpkins  with a web-wrapped body made of several more large pumpkins won 1st, and something adorable won 2nd.  Estimating the cost of those large pumpkins, we made a net win better than their win...so, HA!)


Year 3: Mortimer is a hardcore vegan

I don't know why, but we got a crazy awesome deal on a huge pumpkin.  Normally we carve the day of and about an hour or so prior, but because I was actually employed this year, it all had to be done the night prior.

He's so creepy...it makes me happy.

I didn't let the picky one set it outside till right before work...I don't want other bitches having time to get awesome inspiration from us and have time to do something about it. (Can you see the competitive side coming out?  My college roomie would be so proud.)

Hardcore vegan...only Mortimer can be a cannibal (see Year 1) and still be vegan.

Place: Alas, we did not place this year.  The winners were more...delicate than Mortimer.  Ah, well.  For participating, got $25 off rent.  Woot!


I think Mortimer will continue to be a feature of future pumpkin carving endeavors, and I'm always a fan of creating tradition.  This one is just a little dark and twisted, but I'm okay with that.