How to make Mascarpone
First, a bit of history
As usual with food and recipes it is difficult to identify an exact origin. Many recipes go back a long, long time and were born out of what nowadays we call the cucina povera (poor people’s cuisine).
One of the most prominent and probable theories on the name mascarpone has it that it derives from the Lombard expressions mascherpa and/or mascarpia, which, in the local lingo of that region of Italy, denotes another well known milk derivative, ricotta. Mascarpone indeed originates from that area, and nowadays is made in many places which is why I am excited to share this recipe with you so that you can make it at home.
Mascarpone is used to make tiramisu'. Come visit our underground Trattoria in The Hague, Netherlands and try our home-made Tiramisu' as part of your menu; We are Home of the home-made pasta, fresh produce from The Hague Market and we have a FREE bottle of Italian wine for you with every meal. Our way of saying "Welcome!". More on us? Click here now.
To make anywhere from 200 (7 oz) to 400 (14 oz) grams of Mascarpone, you need
½ liter cream (1 pint) from the fridge of your supermarket, or directly from a farmer if possible (boil it first, ONLY if you get it from your farmer)
6 (0.2 oz, or one teaspoon) grams of lemon juice. A gram here or there will not deeply influence the result…
kitchen thermometer
Super simple
on very gentle heat, bring your cream to 85 deg C (185 F) in a pan
add lemon juice
keep stirring for some 2 or 3 minutes with a whisk. You will see your cream thickening just slightly. If that happens you are on the right track.
let cool for some 15-20 mins
prepare a colander with a kitchen cloth - or a cheese cloth - in it. Under your colander, place a bowl. Make sure your kitchen cloth gets washed with odorless washing agents. You don’t want your mascarpone to taste of spring fields or ocean blue…:-). After the resting time of 15-20 mins, pour the mix in your colander with cloth. Place some cling film right on top of your cream (to prevent a hard crust from developing). In other words, have cling film touch the mass. Place it all in the fridge, for an absolute minimum of 8 hours (tip, prepare it in the evening so it has a whole night to rest), more likely to be closer to 24 hrs. I made a batch that took nearly two days to solidify to the desired consistency.
Is it Mascarpone yet? You need to be able to make quenelles (see this video on how to make quenelles). Then you’ll know it has the right consistency.
Et voilà, you are one step closer to making home-made, highest quality tiramisu, for which you can find a recipe and lots of history by clicking right here.
