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Jocoque

Left to sour at room temperature before it is strained, because the souring and the draining are two separate jobs.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (whole milk), dairy (yoghurt).

Ingredients

Method

  1. IT IS LEFT TO SOUR AT ROOM TEMPERATURE BEFORE IT IS STRAINED, because the souring and the draining are two separate jobs and doing them at once does neither. The milk is warmed, soured with a little live yoghurt, and left covered on the side for twelve to eighteen hours until it has set and tastes sharp. Only then does it go into a cloth to drain. Hung while still sweet, it drains into a bland fresh cheese and goes on souring in the cloth unevenly -- the outside sours and the centre does not. Soured fully first, the flavour is even throughout and the draining is purely about texture.
  2. IT IS SOURED AT ROOM TEMPERATURE AND NOT IN A WARM OVEN. Twenty degrees or so, twelve to eighteen hours. Warmer and it sets in six hours with a thin one-note sourness; slow and cool gives a rounder, more complex acidity. It is the only thing in this collection deliberately fermented on the worktop.
  3. THE MILK IS WARMED AND COOLED BEFORE THE CULTURE GOES IN. Heated to just below boiling and then cooled to blood heat. The heating gives a firmer set; and yoghurt stirred into milk hotter than about forty-five degrees is killed outright, and nothing happens overnight except spoilage.
  4. THE SET CURD IS NOT STIRRED BEFORE IT GOES IN THE CLOTH. Ladled in gently, in slabs. Stirred or whisked, the curd breaks into fine particles that pass straight through the cloth, and half of it ends up in the whey.
  5. HOW LONG IT HANGS DECIDES WHAT IT IS. Four hours gives a pourable jocoque for drinking or dressing; twelve gives something like a thick spreading cheese; twenty-four gives a firm paste that can be rolled into balls and covered in oil, which keeps a month. All three are the same thing at different points and it is worth deciding before starting.
  6. The milk heated to just below boiling, then COOLED to blood heat -- about 40°C, warm on the wrist and no more.
  7. The live yoghurt whisked into a cupful of the warm milk, then stirred back into the pan.
  8. Covered with a cloth and left at ROOM TEMPERATURE 12 to 18 HOURS. Not in the oven, not in a warm place.
  9. TESTED: it should have SET to a soft curd and taste distinctly SHARP. If it is still sweet, another 4 hours.
  10. A colander lined with a double layer of muslin and set over a bowl.
  11. The curd LADLED in gently in slabs. NOT stirred or whisked.
  12. The salt scattered over and folded in with two turns.
  13. The cloth gathered and tied, and hung over the bowl in a cool place.
  14. DRAINED 4 HOURS for a pourable jocoque, 12 for a spreading one, or 24 for a firm paste.
  15. The whey kept for bread or soup, or discarded.
  16. The drained jocoque turned into a jar and covered with a film of olive oil.
  17. Keeps 2 weeks in the fridge, or a month if drained to a paste, rolled into balls and covered in oil. Served with tortillas or flatbread.

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