Below, I have documented production with no editorializing (you can just imagine the challenge I found that to be), although I have called attention to schematic differences where they occured. Comparisons between the utility and aesthetics of the two methods and their cheesy results will be posted next, together with a discussion of issues arising and hypotheses about future mozzarella manufacturing measures. Watch this space!
Here is how I made mozzarella cheese a la The Cheese Queen.
I prepared my mis en place, which consisted of fewer ingredients than my previous batches (lipase and calcium chloride were omitted from Ricki's recipe): one gallon of raw whole milk went into my spaghetti pot with my candy thermometer; one quarter of a rennet tablet was dissolved in one-quarter cup of cool kettle water; and one and one-half teaspoons of citric acid were dissolved in one cup of cool water.
I vigorously stirred the citric acid solution into the milk and slowly brought it up to 88 deg F. Unlike Jeff's method, at this point there was no curd formation of any kind:
I removed the pot from the heat and added the rennet solution. I stirred the mixture slowly but with resolve for thirty seconds until I judged the rennet to be evenly distributed. I clapped a lid on the pan and walked away for ten minutes.
When I returned, I was dismayed to see that nothing had happened inside the pot (at this point in the previous batches, I had clearly visible curd formation beneath a puddle of whey). I feared the lack of calcium chloride had sabotaged my cheese. But then I realized that, instead of curds and whey, I had a big pot of soft creamy custard in which I could stand a spoon on end! I procured my longest carving knife from my butcher's block and sliced the curd all the way to the bottom of the pot, many many many times, to make cuboid shapes:
Stirring the resulting curd blocks carefully and slowly, I brought the mixture back up to 100 deg F. The curds became clearly separated from their solution and took on the appearance and consistency of soft tofu:
I removed the pot from the heat and stirred gently for another three minutes. The curd cubes firmed up considerably and it was a simple matter to decant them into a cheese-cloth lined colander. The cheese soft and homogeneous:
I emptied the curds from the cheesecloth into the colander (the cloth may not have been necessary in the first place, given the nature of the cheese at this point, but I had initially feared some might escape through the holes) and prepared a water bath by pouring boiling water into my biggest shallow mixing bowl. I lowered the colander into the hot water a few times and gently folded the cheese over and over onto itself using a silicon spatula. I added one teaspoon of cheese salt at this point.
When the cheese reached 135 deg F (internal temperature), I stretched it a bit and formed it into two eight-ounce balls. They were a bit loose, so I wrapped them tightly in plastic to help them keep their shape. I submerged the results in a bowl of icy cold water.
When the cheeses were cool, I unwrapped them to find creamy mozzarella balls very similar to the ones found in most American supermarkets - or should I say, the better delis round and about:
The texture was firm and homogeneous, with none of the dewy strands found in my previous two batches. The cheese was more durable, more sliceable, and a little drier. The taste was very different, probably due to the lack of lipase. We ate one whole ball while considering its relative merits and I drove the other straight to the 'Rents for a second opinion.
Next up: the definitive judgement and the path ahead
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