This month's Forging Fromage challenge was to make queso oaxaca and a Mexican-style chorizo. I've made chorizo before, but I've 
never even heard of this bizarre, knotted string cheese before, let alone made it. In the words of Harry Potter "This is the weirdest thing we have ever done".
I followed the recipes that Heather sourced for both. Finding citric acid turned out to be the trickiest bit - I used to buy it from the supermarket but I ended up having to get it from the chemist. There was a brief moment when I wondered if I'd have to use cystitis relief sachets... but fortunately not.
Once the ingredients were sourced, it was really very straightforward.
It is not a high-yielding cheese! I ended up with a lot of fairly creamy whey, which I have cooked down to a sort of cajeta.
I served slices of the cheese melting onto hot, fresh bread along with some of Ben's Mexican chorizo bruschetta topping. Delicious! It was interesting how the flavour of the chorizo developed over the couple of days in the fridge. It became much saltier and more pungent. Delicious, but definitely more of a flavouring condiment than something you could just eat as a sausage.
12 comments:
Making your own cheese AND chorizo? That's all kinds of awesome!
At least here in the US, I go to Indian spice stores to buy food grade citric acid. A lot of people use citric acid here to make paneer.
Leafy - this kind of loose chorizo is very straightforward! I haven't made Spanish-style yet.
Wildtomato - I've used it to make pavlovas too. I don't know why they don't sell it at the supermarket anymore, but fortunately the chemist stocks food-grade.
What a beautiful cheese - I've never seen one so knotted before!
I have not seen this type of cheese in any of my cheese-making books. It looks cute. Another place to look for citric acid is a beer- or wine-making supply store.
Gorgeous! I have seen the cheese at the Latin mercantile here but it doesn't look as good as yours. The chorizo must be heavenly. ;-)
Su-Lin - isn't it bizarre?
Simona - it must be very regional. That is a mozzarella recipe, because Heather couldn't find a real queso oaxaca recipe.
Put that cheese & some of that chorizo in a tortilla with some scrambled eggs & you've got my husbands breakfast of choice
Kat - that sounds like a brilliant breakfast! I will have to try that.
Ben - thanks for the recipe!
Oh, great job! It looks just like...no BETTER...than the knots of Oaxaca cheese at the Mexican market.
Wow, it looks so great! You did a fantastic job on the forges.
Heather - thank you!
Natashya - I was actually surprised how easy the cheese was.
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