Sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey.
What she was eating was a loosely curded farmer’s cheese or “cottage” cheese, named as such since most often produced in the home by housewives in a cottage. The cheese came from many sources, but what all varieties of curdy fresh cheeses had in common was their distinctive plumpy nodules of cheese, swimming in a bath of light cream and whey. Sometimes the cheeses were destined to be slightly acidic, and other times, a little milky sweet.
Cottage cheese, even in it’s full fat 4% version, still only has 110 calories and 5 g of fat per serving.
I usually buy the 2% milkfat Breakstone, which is available for Passover. Breakstone (formerly Breghstein from Lithuania) has a Jewish past.
This year, my stores ran out. I had to travel to a town once over to find 2 final tubs of 4% Breakstone.
I got these home, but 3 days into Pesach, the tubs were nearly all gone. I know there are recipes, but I usually just eat it on matzoh.
Why do I like cottage cheese so much? I love that milky, slightly sour flavor and the soft, chewy curds. It is a wonderful cheese, and with such a farming history. This is a cheese meant to be made in the kitchen and sold immediately, not aged.
Here is a recipe for cheese latkes. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough to make this, but I have before. Dryer, drained cottage cheese, farmer cheese, and goat chevre/cheese are excellent ingredients. For Passover, matzoh or bread meal.
This is not coconutty’s pic, but enjoycountryfresh.com. In my experience farmer, goat, or cottage cheese latkes have turned out very irregular. That’s what makes them so good!
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Ingredients
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup milk or 1 cup buttermilk
- 2⁄3 cup cottage cheese
- 1 cup matzo meal or 1 cup matzo cake meal
- salt and pepper
- oil, for griddle
Directions
- Lightly oil griddle or frying pan and heat the pan.
- Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
- Adjust thickness of batter by adding liquid (or matzo meal).
- Pour batter into hot pan and cook the pancakes on each side.
- These are great with strawberries and yogurt.
- For non-Passover use, you can substitute regular flour for the matzo meal.
Kosher Cheese with the Cheese Mistress 