Making Mozzarella Cheese (and Transglutamacurd...?) - Part 1

WATCH IN HD!

***IMPORTANT NOTE: Some sections of this video are sped up due to time restrictions. They are sped up between 150 - 200%.***

In the following video you will see us making American-Style Mozzarella Cheese. American-Style means that it is the version of mozzarella most of us consider to be "pizza cheese," although it is much fresher and tastier!

In addition to making a normal pot of mozzarella cheese we are going to do a transglutaminase experiment with cheese and the Activa YG for dairy applications.

We are running side-by-side the exact same setup for making mozzarella cheese, although the red pot will also contain some transglutaminase.

Based on my research I found that transglutaminase supposedly increases the yield of cheese being made. Note in the cheese recipe below I make notes, especially at the end, about the addition of the transglutaminase. Please disregard that if you are just making mozzarella cheese.

Recipe: Homemade American-Style Mozzarella Cheese

*NOTE: See addition to this recipe at the end. For research purposes this whole recipe will be doubled and ran side-by-side and therefore each thing on this list is needed in duplicate.*

Ingredients:
1 gallon whole milk (raw preferred, but store bought okay -- see note on calcium chloride)
1 ½ teaspoons citric acid, dissolved in ¼ cup cool filtered water
½ teaspoon calcium chloride (if milk is store bought), dissolved in ¼ cup cool filtered water
½ tablet Junket Rennet tablet suspended in ¼ cup cool filtered water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
BRINE: 1/3 cup kosher salt into 1 quart of cool filtered water

Tools:
Large non-reactive covered pot (stainless or enameled)
1 cup pyrex measuring cup
2 cup pyrex measuring cup or glass bowl (microwavable)
Thermometer (20F -- 220F)
Long bladed knife
Sterile towel (I use bar towels that are 2 layers of fine mesh non-terry cloth -- they work great)
Colander or 8-inch Strainer
Receiving container to catch draining whey (if saving for Ricotta Cheese)
Microwave

Method:
1. Sterilize cheese pots by boiling ½ inch of water in each pot (covered) for 5 minutes. Dump the water and recover the pot until you are ready to add milk.
2. Warm the milk slowly making sure not to scorch to 88F. Turn off heat.
3. Stir thoroughly each into the milk: calcium chloride solution (if needed for store-bought milk), followed by the citric acid solution, followed by the Rennet solution.
4. Cover and allow solution to sit for 2 hours undisturbed. If a clean break is not achieved at 2 hours let continue to sit. To check for clean break: 30 degree angle of entry for index finger through curd, lift straight up. If clean break is achieved curd will split at edges and space will fill with whey.
5. GO TO CHEESE VIDEO 2 FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS.

Final Note: For research purposes -- To the second batch of cheese. Prior to Step 2, add 5.7 grams of Activa YG (for dairy) to 1 cup of the warmed milk and then reintroduce into the entire solution, mixing thoroughly. The final yields of both will be measured and the percent difference will be calculated. 1 gallon of milk weighs about 8.4 pounds, which equals 3810 grams. We are utilizing approximately a 0.15% TG by weight for our calculation and experiment. For improved cheese yield it is suggested that the TG be utilized from 0.0025-0.35%. We feel that this is a happy, slightly overindulgent, medium.

Music: "Chord Sounds" by Moby, from the album "Hotel, Disc 2"

Concept, Writing, Direction, and Production: Rob and Jason
Camera: Rob, utilizing an HD CANON Vixia HF100
On-Screen Demonstrations: Rob and Jason
Video Editing: Rob
Voice-Over Written and Recorded: Jason
Recipe Development: Jason

Enjoy this video as well as our many other videos!

www.youtube.com/procrastinationpics


I'd also like to thank my new found spice haven at My Spice Sage. High quality spices at really cheap prices!

Check them out at www.myspicesage.com

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• molecular gastronomy
• molecular cooking
• cheeseburger
• mozzarella
• homemade cheese
• how to make cheese
• tomato
• roasted tomato jam
• bacon
• transglutaminase
• meat glue
• Activa
• Ajinomoto
• Willpowder
• white cheddar
• jalapeno
• my spice sage
• dos equis xx amber
• woot
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• bread
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• homemade bread
• how to make bread
• hamburger roll
• Canon Vixia HF100
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[ProcrastinationPics]

So, we learned something interesting in our quest here and after I contacted Ajinomoto. Our failure in this experiment was in our calculation of the weight percentage for TG addition. We should have been calculating this based on the calculated weight of protein in the milk rather than the milk itself.

[Iv0ntheterrible]

what do the tablets do, and can they be replaced by something else, i can't find the tablets anywhere.

[ProcrastinationPics]

@Iv0ntheterrible: What vardy said.

Also, you can order them on Amazon along with many other places. Just google: Junket Rennet Tablets

There are a few kinds of rennet - animal, vegetable, powder/tablet, liquid, and hell they even make a recombinant gene rennet now - why? who knows!

i get my rennet at a supermarket that is an hour from where i live, because my town's supermarkets don't carry it either.

[dazzaboy88]

Was dead interesting until he whipped out the kosher salt

[2010DCtv]

krogers ice cream section.

[Vardy7]

@Iv0ntheterrible the tablets separate the curds from the whey - basically they cause the milk to curdle and separate. You can use Rennet, either animal or vegetable.