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Chongos Zamoranos

The curd cut once into squares and then never stirred again, because a broken curd will not come back.

Not vegetarian — contains rennet the source does not identify as animal or microbial.

Ingredients

Method

  1. THE CURD IS CUT ONCE INTO SQUARES AND THEN NEVER STIRRED AGAIN, because a broken curd will not come back. The milk is set with rennet into a single soft block, and then a long knife is drawn through it in a grid -- down and across, right to the bottom of the pan -- and that is the last time anything touches it. From there it cooks for two and a half hours in syrup without a spoon going near it, and the squares slowly firm into the dense, chewy, almost-fudgy pieces the dish is made of. One stir at any point and the curd shatters into grains, the syrup goes cloudy, and what results is a pan of sweet ricotta. There is no recovery; the structure is the dish.
  2. IT IS SET UNDISTURBED AND THE PAN IS NOT MOVED. Rennet stirred in, and then the pan left absolutely still for an hour at room temperature. Even carrying it across the kitchen while it is setting breaks the forming curd. It is set when a finger pushed in at the edge leaves a clean break rather than a smear.
  3. THE HEAT IS AS LOW AS THE STOVE GOES AND IT NEVER SIMMERS. Two and a half hours with the surface completely still. Any bubbling agitates the curd from below and does the same damage as a spoon, and it also toughens the squares into rubber rather than firming them.
  4. THE SYRUP GOES IN AROUND THE CURD, NOT POURED ON TOP. The piloncillo is scattered over and allowed to dissolve through the whey on its own, or a little dissolved syrup is poured gently down the side of the pan. A stream poured into the middle punches a hole through the curd.
  5. THEY ARE LIFTED OUT WITH A SLOTTED SPOON AND SERVED IN THEIR SYRUP. Each square eased out whole. The syrup is reduced a little if it is thin and poured over. Tipped out of the pan, half the squares break on the way.
  6. The milk warmed to blood heat -- about 37°C, barely warm on the wrist.
  7. The rennet dissolved in the 2 tablespoons of cold water and stirred through the milk quickly and thoroughly.
  8. THE PAN LEFT ABSOLUTELY STILL at room temperature 1 HOUR. Not moved, not touched.
  9. TESTED: a finger pushed in at the edge should leave a CLEAN BREAK, not a smear.
  10. A long knife drawn through the curd in a GRID -- down and across, right to the base of the pan -- into squares about 4 cm.
  11. NOTHING STIRRED FROM THIS POINT ON.
  12. The grated piloncillo scattered evenly over the surface, and the cinnamon sticks and lime zest tucked in at the edges.
  13. The pan set over the LOWEST possible heat.
  14. Cooked 2 HOURS 30 MINUTES. The surface must NEVER bubble.
  15. WATCHED: the squares will shrink, firm and turn golden as the whey reduces around them.
  16. TESTED: a square should be dense and chewy right through with no soft curd at the centre.
  17. The squares lifted out ONE BY ONE with a slotted spoon. The syrup reduced a little if thin and poured over. Served warm or cold.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes