Homemade ricotta: No whey man!

After I found out that Peter Stephanopoulos (of Four Brothers and The Boathouse restaurants) was no longer making his sublime fresh goats milk ricotta cheese, I went through all the stages of grief, from disbelief to anger to sadness and at last to acceptance.Acceptance in this particular case doesn’t mean learning to live without fresh ricotta. It means I had to figure out how to do it myself. I was encouraged to do so by many people who told me it’s really easy to do. Well, as it turns out, making ricotta is easy — although figuring out which recipe to use is not. Long story short, I used the Ina Garten method (she does the Barefoot Contessa books and television show); her recipes always work for me and this was no exception. A few important points: First, what we’re talking about here is not true ricotta, which is made from whey, a byproduct of the cheesemaking process. Peter Stephanopoulos makes true ricotta, using whey left from the production of feta and chevre. What I ended up making is a homemade whole-milk ricotta, which tastes and acts the same as whey ricotta but is, from a scientific point of view, actually queso fresco (or paneer, if you’re from India).Second: no substitutions here. You’re going to need to use whole milk, not low-fat.Third, you’re essentially eating essence of milk here, so the milk you use is very important. I made two versions, one with raw milk from Stone Wall Dairy Farm in Cornwall and one with whole milk from Guida’s. For the cream, I used Guida’s gourmet heavy cream.My testers universally said that, while both versions were good, the raw milk version bordered on heavenly. But when they learned it was raw milk (rather than pasteurized), some of my tasters got a little nervous. To find out if their fears were valid, I called Stone Wall farmer Chris Hopkins. Obviously, he’s a fan of raw milk but just as obviously he’s very aware of why people are concerned about drinking it (and about giving it to their children). The U.S. government decided back in the 1930s that milk should be heated or pasteurized, to kill any germs and bacteria that were growing in it.“Milk is a living, vibrant food,” he said. “And anything that gets into it will grow, especially if it’s warm. Pasteurization was developed as a way of killing germs. Children had been getting sick and even dying because of the things growing in the milk; and after pasteurization was started, that stopped happening.”If raw milk is not produced in a clean environment, he said, germs can grow. But the same is true of all food products. Our government, he says, tends to err on the side of trying to eliminate all bacteria from the U.S. food supply. The result is blander, less flavorful edibles; and human bodies that are less resistant to disease. “We’re creating a sterile gut,” he said.He invites anyone interested in raw milk to visit his very clean farm (where raw milk sells for $7 a gallon or $4.50 for a half gallon; it can also be purchased at LaBonne’s Market in Salisbury). For directions and more information, go online to stonewalldairyfarm.com.Whole milk ricottaFrom Ina Garten’s “How Easy Is That?”2 cups whole milk; 1 cup heavy cream; 1/2 teaspoon kosher or other coarse salt;1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegarPour the milk and cream into a stainless steel or enameled cast iron pot such as a Le Creuset. You’ll want to use the largest one you’ve got, because at a certain point, no matter how careful you are, the milk and cream are going to boil and foam up, very fast, and if your pot is too small, the milk will overflow and make an unholy mess out of your cooktop. Stir in the salt.Put the pot over medium heat and let it heat up, stirring occasionally, until it boils. While you’re waiting, take a deep bowl and put a colander or sieve (the finer the mesh, the better) on top. Line the colander/sieve with either two layers of cheesecloth or a lintless dishtowel or a clean piece of muslin.When the milk boils, which should take less than five minutes, stir it down and then stir in the vinegar. Let the pot sit for a full minute. The combination of the vinegar and the heat will cause the thick milk curds to separate from the watery whey.Carefully pour (don’t dump) the curds and whey into your cloth-lined collander/sieve and let the liquid drain out for between 25 and 45 minutes. The longer you let it drain, the thicker (and drier) the ricotta.Eat it right away or stick it in the ’fridge, where it will last about four days. Be sure to wrap it, so it doesn’t absorb the scents of other foods in there.If you don’t want to eat it plain, add it to pasta and salads, serve it with fruit and herbs, use it in lasagna or try two amazing recipes we’ve published in the past. Both can be found online at The Lakeville Journal website at tcextra.com. Go to the “search” tab at the top of the home page and type in “Cooking with the tender greens of springtime” (you can use spinach instead of chard) and “ricotta cheesecake.”