The most important thing to have when making cottage cheese or butter is a source of milk. AKA, “moo juice”. At this point it is important to note that a cow (Genus Moo) is not the only viable source of milk. There are several other common sources of milk. They include, but are not limited to:
Goats and sheep: (Genus Baaa)
Mountain goats and bighorn sheep: (Genus Baaa, wild)
Tibetan Yaks: (Genus Moo, shaggy)
Water buffalo (Genus Moo, horny)
Horses and mules: (Genus neigh or Genus bray)
Camels: (Genus Humpus1 or Humpus2)
The above can be divided into two sub Genus categories: Two handled and four handled or (-2 and -4) as they are known to us cheese and butter makers. This has no real meaning to the subject at hand so we shall not go any further into the matter.
The first and most important task is to extract the milk from the animal at hand. Under some conditions this can be a difficult and possibly even a dangerous job. In an effort to make this essay simple and not go into too much detail we shall consider only Genus Moo. This is not an attempt to slight the other milk producers but this essay is going to be long enough and possibly boring...
For the purpose of this essay, we shall consider the cow to be a single cow (a loner, not one without a mate), and not a member of a herd or not a strictly dairy cow. (Bulls cannot be milked and attempting to do so would embarrass the bull and possibly even piss him off) Necessary items to get started in the milking process are 1. A cooperative cow. 2. A milk bucket. 3. A milk stool. The cow is milked by firmly grasping a set of “handles”, closing the thumb and forefinger at the top of the “handle” and firmly closing the three remaining on the “handle” and then closing the fingers firmly against the palm of the hand. The result is a stream of milk. One must be careful in that the stream of milk must be aimed directly at the bucket. The result is a satisfying “zing” as the milk strikes the inside of the bucket. After the flow of milk starts to diminish, one must perform the operation of “stripping” This amounts to grasping the “handle” between the thumb and forefinger and gently stripping down the “handle”. When the flow completely stops, the operation is repeated on the final set of “handles”. It is the choice of the milker to select the proper set of handles of the “milkee”. There is, however an inherent danger involved in milking a cow. A cow may take offence to being milked for some reason or another. The cow may lift a dirty rear foot and search for the milk bucket. Once found, the cow may give a mighty kick sending the bucket and milk hurtling across the stall. The milker has no choice other than to get a clean bucket and try over.
The bad behavior of the cow can be cured, (sometimes) by installing a set of “kickers” to the cows rear legs just above the hock. (Knee). This set of kickers looks similar to a u-shaped set of steel cuffs about the size of your hand. The problem with the kickers is that an inexperienced cow may try to kick anyway. If the cow kicks hard enough, she may on occasion, lose her balance by carrying the “tripod” leg along with the kicking leg. The result is that the cow falls on its rear and in the milker’s lap. On its way down the cow hits the milk bucket, spills the milk, knocks the bucket into a sensitive area of the milker, and generally makes a mess of things. The milker is left with no choice other than to grab the milk stool and beat the crap out of the cow. The only thing this accomplishes is a sense of satisfaction on the part of the milker and bewilderment on the part of the milkee.
After the milking process is finished, the next process is to separate the milk from the cream. The old fashioned way is let the milk stand (cooled) and allow the cream (fat with lower specific gravity) to rise to the top of the container. The newer method is to run the whole milk through a cream separator. A separator is nothing but a small centrifuge. In the “early days” these units were hand cranked but later models were powered by an electric motor...I cannot remember the exact process but I do remember that the whole milk was poured into a large bowl set atop the separator. The skim milk came out of a big spout and fell into a big bucket sitting on a big swiveling shelf. The cream came out of a smaller spout located at 45 degrees to the large spout. Cream fell into a smaller bucket sitting on a smaller shelf. The “best” milk had a butterfat (cream) content of about 3.5%. You can do the math to see how much cream you would get from 5 gallons of whole milk. The skimmed milk not used for household use was deposited in a large barrel along with any surplus whole milk to feed the hogs. This barrel was known as the “swill barrel” After the skimmed and whole milk separated into curds and whey; it was fed to the hogs. They loved it. During the fermentation of the milk, the flies had a field day. You have no idea how many thousands of flies a barrel of rotten milk can attract. Sometimes a wire screen was placed over the top of the swill barrel. This tended to anger the flies
The next step is to churn the cream into butter. For small household amounts the cream is usually churned in a small hand cranked churn. The churn consists of a large (one gallon) glass container topped by a “screw on” set of wooden paddles. One or two unfortunate kids are assigned to take turns cranking the damned churn. Turning the churned cream into butter is sort of a two edged sword. The cream is easy to churn. As it thickens into butter the littlest kid doing the churning is usually left to end up the process as it can be very difficult. The butter is then transferred to a large (12”) wooden bowl. A 4” wide wooden spoon is used to “swab” the butter to work out the “buttermilk”. As the buttermilk is worked out, it is transferred to a glass and the lucky churners get to drink it. This ain’t your run of the mill cultured buttermilk, but the real thing. A great treat. Salt is usually added to the butter before the swabbing action is started. The completed butter is packed into a bowl much like a cereal bowl and cooled in the refrigerator. Thus ends the butter making process.
To make cottage cheese the whole milk is left to curdle. When the “curds” separate from the “whey”, the whey is drained off and the curds place in a cheese cloth bag. (And where did you think the name “cheese cloth” came from). The bag is tied at the top and left to hang in the sun, usually from the clothes line. After the bag hangs for a period of time (just before it rots), it is deemed done and removed from the line. The next step is to place the dried curds in the wooden bowl that was mentioned in the prior paragraph. Next, whole milk is added to separate the large curds into smaller ones. The curds are “rolled” using the aforementioned paddle until the curds are about the size of b-b shot. Salt and pepper are added to taste.
There, you have it. Dal
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