Let's Talk About Cottage Cheese!

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launderess

launderess

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Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage
It seems to be the food either people love or hate. Conjures up images of dieting females or a poor substitute for ricotta.

That being said have never truly cared for the stuff, but on a dare bought some on sale last week at supermarket.

First thought was our grandmother who consumed cottage cheese with fruit for breakfast, lunch or even dinner. This usually was anytime she was on a "diet" and left us kids going "ewwwww" or "yuck'', and stayed clear.

But never the less topped off a small cup of CC with some pineapple and had a go; it wasn't *that* bad. Tastes sort of like ricotta but not quite as rich. Wouldn't want to eat the stuff daily nor will it replace yoghurt as one's favourite dairy snack food, but wasn't nearly bad as thought.
 
I like regular large curd, creamed cottage cheese, (not low fat or non fat)which is next to impossible to find in our area anymore. It’s all small curd, and low fat, which just isn’t as good. And, yes it sure was considered to be a diet food in the 50’s and 60’s.

Lots of lunch counters used to have a Diet Plate on their menu’s which usually consisted of a scoop or two of cottage cheese, a couple of canned cling peach halves and some melba toast or Rye Krisp (remember that, another “diet food” LOL) sometimes a slice or two of tomato was also on the plate.

I use cottage cheese every Thanksgiving in my Lime Jello Salad, a family tradition.

Eddie
 
My mom loves it, and buys it all the time.
She likes some of the flavored varieties.
I can take it or leave it.
I don't dislike it, but I never buy it myself.
I'm much more of a yogurt guy.

Barry
 
It is a midwest thing. My Mom was originally from Kansas, her family came to California in May of 1935 after “Black Sunday”, one of the worst dust storms during the dust bowl. Mom used to make homemade cottage cheese once in a while. If I remember correctly she put renent into warm milk, the milk would set up, and then she would strain it through cheesecloth and cut the curds up into pieces and mix cream into it and add a little salt. Now I’ve never made it myself, so I think I may have left out a step somewhere, but this was bascially how I remember her doing it. I think she used to leave the milk out over night so it would begin to sour a little to give the cheese flavor to it.

When we moved to the country in 1964 we used to buy our milk fresh and unpasteurized from the rancher up the road from us for 50 cents a gallon. We brought our own glass jars, and they would fill them with milk. This was during the time that Mom would make her cottage cheese. It was my job to make the butter. We always had plenty of fresh cream and butter. About 3 to 4 inches of cream would rise to the top of the gallon jars, and we’d skim about 2 inches off for the butter and cream, and mix the rest into the milk so we wouldn’t have to drink skim milk.

Eddie
 
Eddie, I wonder if the disappearance of large curd is a local thing.  I can't remember the last time I saw large curd in any store's dairy case.  Like you, I prefer it.

 

I don't buy CC on a regular basis, but don't mind the stuff at all.   Pineapple is one of the best things to pair with it, IMO.  Fruit cocktail would be a distant second.  Having been born and raised in what was once the nation's fruit basket with the many area canneries running 24/7 during the high season, I know that fruit cocktail was/is made from waste product like rejects and scraps.   Old time cannery workers (and everybody here had relatives that were) wouldn't touch the stuff. 

[this post was last edited: 11/8/2018-22:37]
 
Yes Ralph,

Pineapple is one of the best things to have with cottage cheese. Really, any canned fruit is good with it, canned pear halves are really good with it too. I wouldn’t put fruit cocktail with it though, thats more for Jello IMO. But, I never thought about fruit cocktail being the “leavings” from the canning process, wish I didn’t know that, since I do like it in Jello once in a while.

And like you, I seldom buy CC either, but I really do like it. I conjures memories of childhood for me.

Eddie
 
When you think about it

Fruit cocktail is made up of things that are mostly skinned/peeled. A tremendous amount of fresh fruit and veggies in this country now and in past simply is rejected for not being *perfect*. That is deemed worthy to display in shops, so one outlet apparently is canned fruit.

Doesn't much matter what pineapples, cherries, and peaches look like before going into FC or otherwise canned, long as they aren't over ripe or something.
 
my grandmother used to put it in a lot of things....

but yeah, an after school snack was CC with peaches or mandarin oranges...

she used to make a mac and cheese type of dish with it....

1 lb of bow tie macaroni..cooked and drained

then take a stick of butter, and melt/brown in a small skillet and pour over the noodles...

she would use the dry flake small curd CC....1qt container

and add 1 cup of sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

toss and serve while hot!

it was just something we grew up on....
 
Dry cottage cheese is just the curds, without being creamed. Last time I saw dry cottage cheese it was packaged as a brick in plastic wrap in the fresh cheese section. I could see the curds thru the plastic wrap. I’ve never eaten it, I think its more for cooking, kind of like Farmers Cheese.

Eddie
 
Eddie has me thinking

It has become very difficult to find real buttermilk or clabber anymore. The stuff sold today as BM seems just to be "soured" milk.

Have so many recipes for baked goods that call for buttermilk, and that trick with whole milk and vinegar doesn't cut it.

Know there is powdered buttermilk used for baking. Tried it once and it was ok, but can't drink the stuff.
 
Launderess

I know what you mean! I love real buttermilk and I can’t remember the last time I actually had a glass of it. The kind that leaves little streaks along the inside of the glass as you drink it, from the little flecks of butter traveling down the the glass. There is no comparison in the flavor with the kind that is sold now. But alas, I have no idea how to make it. I think that they used the whey that separated from the churned butter, but they had to have also added some more sour milk to give it body, because the whey from the butter making process is watery.

But that being said, I’ve found the milk and vinegar or lemon juice trick towork out OK when baking, but of course it doesn’t have the same flavor as authentic buttermilk. It’s the acid in the soured milk or buttermilk that reacts with the baking soda to act as a leavener.

Eddie

[this post was last edited: 11/9/2018-00:28]
 
Me mum used to serve it up in the '50's. Can't remember with what, exactly. Probably fruit cocktail, I suppose.

I have tried a few times since then, at least 30 years ago, but can't really say I'm a big fan. It's OK, just OK. Pretty bland with a slight salt flavor. Nutritionally probably on a par with whatever milk it was made with.

I *think* people stuff it into celery stalks with a sprinkle of paprika, too. Never tried that.
 

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