UPDATED SEPTEMBER 11 2016
On a quest to make Creole Cream Cheese Ice Cream, I realized I can’t easily find Creole Cream Cheese at my local grocery. Hmmm. OK, Professor Google gave me a lot of choices for making it myself: Emeril Lagasse, John Folse, Emeril again via The Food Network, Nola Cuisine, and even Arnaud’s Restaurant. Here’s a very interesting post on The New England Cheesemaking Supply Company’s website with lots of photos documenting the process and a clipping from 1997 that has a recipe from 1940!
There’s a similar thread throughout: skim milk, buttermilk, rennet; heat it (or bring to room temp) and let it sit; drain the whey, put in containers, cover with cream and refrigerate. Louisiana natives are quoted as saying they ate Creole Cream Cheese for breakfast with some sugar and fruit. Although I grew up in south Louisiana in the 1960s, I have no memory of this confection, but then I don’t remember what I had for breakfast yesterday either, so who knows…
I’m guessing in a city the size of Houston, with the number of Louisiana natives residing here, I could surely find a source of already-made Creole Cream Cheese. But hey – it’s crafty and science-y so I decided I. Can. Do. It. So I did.
By the way, Barbara found it at Calandro’s grocery on Government, made by Mauthe’s Progress Milk Barn after she left the farmers market. She bought some for comparison. We ended up making some really good ice cream at her house with this brand!
The one recipe I ended up following the first time is from Smokehowze on the Kamado Guru forum; it follows John Folse’s Creole Cream Cheese recipe, and Emeril Lagasse’s Frozen Creole Cream Cheese (Ice Cream) recipe. (I admit I liked that they only let it sit 3-4 hours before starting the draining process. I changed that on the second batch!) Here’s what I did:
I combined the ingredients in a porcelain-coated cast iron Dutch oven. I heated the mix to 80 F degrees and - well, "hold it for 5 minutes" per Smokehowze's instructions actually meant turning off the stove because it kept getting hotter. I took it off the stove, put the lid on it and left it for 17 hours. I lined a colander with a clean kitchen towel and spooned the curds into the colander, which went into the refrigerator to drain I waited about 10 hours, and checked the progress of the draining by emptying the bowl, and putting the colander back over it to see if anymore whey was coming out. I think it was pretty dry at this point and after packing it in a quart yogurt container, it seemed to be about 3 cups, which will make 2 batches of ice cream. On draining the cheese the first time: I learned 8+ hours in the fridge wasn't enough, however it might also be a factor of not letting the cheese sit long enough before draining. The second time, I let it sit much longer, and I drained in the fridge for about 10 hours.Creole Cream Cheese Recipe, adapted from John Folse, via Smokehowze
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The first time I made it, I let it sit 4 hours per the John Folse/Smokehowze recipe. I found it to be a little bland, and wondered if it might taste better if left alone longer. I saw anywhere from 12 – 40 hours in other recipes. I tried again and let it sit 17 hours before spooning the curds into the lined colander. The texture is a little more like a firm yogurt, and the flavor is better. When I tried it the first time in ice cream, it left rubbery curds almost the size of pencil erasers which did not taste bad but were a horrible texture in ice cream. I later learned that using too much rennet can be a reason for rubberiness in cheese (not specifically Creole cream cheese), so this time I was more careful and used a pill cutter to cut the rennet tablet into 4 equal pieces. It’s so tiny, I guess even a few grains more would be significant.
Here’s what it looked like after 17 hours, and after cutting the curd and removing one chunk.
The first removed chunk, into the colander lined with the flour sack (from World Market – I need to get more). You can see it’s got a firm texture, slightly glossy, like a Greek yogurt.
More closeups of the curds and whey. Feeling a little Miss Moffet here.
Here’s the whole mess of curds in the colander. It’s less volume this time than the first, where it did not all fit into the colander. I guess it firms up more and releases more whey with time. I’m such a noob about all this!
I did not keep the whey this time, although with all that lactic acid, I keep thinking it should make a good manicure soak or something! (<-click that link for some ideas, none of which I have tried) I did share some of the final tiny curds and whey with Miss Lucy however. She is recovering from flavor overload here – too tired to play with her toy.
And now on to my experience with making it into ice cream…
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