Cook this: Balaboosta cream cheese from Bagels, Schmears, and a Nice Piece of Fish

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Our cookbook of the week is Bagels, Schmears, and a Nice Piece of Fish: A Whole Brunch of Recipes to Make at Home by Cathy Barrow. Over the next two days, we’ll feature another recipe from the book and an interview with the author.

To try another recipe from the book, check out: The pumpernickel bagel and home-cured lox (cured salmon).

“It’s a commitment of time to make your own cream cheese,” says writer, recipe developer and teacher Cathy Barrow. “But it is so delicious.”

It may take up to four days for culturing and draining but making your own cream cheese is straightforward, she adds. “A thermometer, some cheese cloth and a little bit of time, and you’ll have this gorgeous cream cheese.”

Commodity cream cheese manufacturers commonly add stabilizers such as xanthan gum, locust bean gum, guar gum or a combination of all three. DIY cream cheese, on the other hand, doesn’t need any of these, which results in a different spreading quality and mouthfeel.

“Both are really delightful without the gum stabilizers that most block cream cheeses have,” says Barrow. “And if you are using really nice milk, you get that milky flavour — the way good sour cream or good cottage cheese has that good, sweet dairy.”

This recipe is one of several in the book aimed at helping readers find their “inner balaboosta.” A Yiddish term of endearment, balaboosta means an “impressively competent homemaker,” Barrow writes.

Recipes including this homemade cream cheese, sour cream and pickles are “all evidence that I’m doing my best to join the ranks of the balaboosta.”

BALABOOSTA CREAM CHEESE

2 cups (475 mL) whole milk (see note)
2 cups (475 mL) heavy cream (not ultra-pasteurized)
1/2 cup (120 mL) full-fat buttermilk
1/4 tsp kosher or fine sea salt

Step 1

In a 3 qt (2.8 L) or larger saucepan over low heat, bring the milk and cream to 75°F (24°C). Remove from the heat and gently stir in the buttermilk.

Step 2

Cover and wrap the pan in a clean tea towel and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to culture the mixture. (If your kitchen counter is made of stone, marble, or some other cool-to-the touch material, place it somewhere else.) In about 24 hours, a small amount of whey should separate from the curd, which will become thick like Greek yogurt. If there seems to be mostly liquid under thick cream, the culturing has not finished. This step can take as long as 36 hours. The firmer the curd, the easier the next steps will be.

Step 3

Once the culturing has finished and you have a thick curd, line a colander with the tea towel and place the colander over a large bowl. Transfer with a spider or slowly pour the cultured cheese into the colander and let it drain for 30 minutes. There should be about 1 cup (235 mL) of whey. Reserve for another use or discard.

Step 4

Gather the towel by all four corners, turning one corner around to knot the towel into a pouch. Bind a length of kitchen twine around the knot. With the twine, tie the pouch securely to a cabinet handle, faucet handle, or any place it can be suspended over a bowl. This setup uses gravity to drain the rest of the whey from the cheese. Place a bowl under the pouch and let it drain for 8 hours. The ideal temperature for the space is 78°F (26°C) — if it’s cooler, it may take longer for the cheese to form. If it’s warmer than 85°F (29°C), the cheese will spoil.

Step 5

After 8 hours, place a large piece of plastic wrap or wax paper on a cutting board. Untie the pouch and scrape the cheese onto the covered board. The cheese should be smooth and thick and hold together; it will firm up further in the refrigerator. If it is still liquidy in the centre, return it to the towel, retie the pouch, and hang it for another 2 to 6 hours.

Step 6

Add the salt to the cheese and use a flexible bench scraper to incorporate it. Salt helps extend the cream cheese’s life. It will dissolve through the cream cheese, so only a couple of folds will do the trick. Use the plastic wrap or wax paper to form the cheese into a log or a block. Chill for at least 8 hours.

Step 7

The cream cheese will keep for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Makes: about 12 oz (340 g)

Notes: Use the very best dairy you can find: organic, certainly, and from a local farm is ideal. Cream-top milk makes beautiful cream cheese.

You’ll need a threadbare cotton or linen towel or a double layer of fine cheesecloth and some twine, as well as a place to hang the cheese as it drains. Allow 4 days for culturing and draining.

Recipe adapted from Bagels, Schmears, and a Nice Piece of Fish: A Whole Brunch of Recipes to Make at Home by Cathy Barrow, photographs by Linda Xiao © 2022. Reproduced by permission of Chronicle Books. All rights reserved.

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