The Art of Cheese Making with Mama Isa

     The Art of Cheese Making in Italy

By Chef Mama Isa

THE ART OF CHEESE MAKING 

INGREDIENTS 

Milk: You can use a wide variety of milks, from TB certified raw cow's milk, pasteurized homogenized cow's milk, goat's milk, sheep milk. All will make cheese, each with its unique flavor and taste. Cheese can be made from "latte intero" (whole milk 3.5%), or from "latte scremato" (skimmed milk 2%), but the richness of flavor of the cheese is related to the amount of butterfat in the milk. We prefer to use TB certified raw milk, because if we make cheese with pasteurized homogenized milk, we need to add a small amount of calcium chloride to aid coagulation and form curd.

Starter: Bacteria must be added to acidify the milk so that the rennet will work, and to aid in the curing. Yogurt serves as a thermophilic starter (it prefers warmer temperatures). We prefer the flavor of cheese made from bacterially acidified milk.

Rennet: An enzyme rennin converts milk protein (in Italian "caseina" - casein) from a soluble to an insoluble material, causing the milk to gel. It will only work well in acidified milk. We purchase liquid rennet (we use "caglio di vitello" calf rennet) from a cheese makers supply house. The amount to use will vary on the condition of the milk, season and type of cheese we are making.

EQUIPMENT
1- Heavy stainless steel pot (with A heavy bottom) with lid (never aluminum, because the acidifying milk can dissolve pot);

2- A cover is needed for the steps when the milk must sit for periods of time;

3- An accurate thermometer which reads in the range between freezing and boiling for water (0°C to 100° C): the temperature is very important, because the texture of the cheese depends a great deal on achieving a temperature to within one degree;

4- Whisk thorough mixing of starter and rennet is important;

5- Cheese Cotton Cloth: The purpose of "cheese cloth" is to catch the curd (in Italian "cagliata") and allow the whey to drain out. If your curd is fine, it passes through. Even if it is large curd, the curd can become enmeshed in the coarse weave;

6- Cheese press for the hard cheeses;

7- Cheese molds, used to form and consolidate curds, giving a finished cheese its desired shape.

The art of cheese making with Mama Isa in Italy

The art of cheese making in Italy

Fresh Ricotta Homemade with Mama Isa

Philosophy | Mama Isa

Philosophy | Mama Isa

I have a strong love for Italian Regional Cuisine: I am a cooking class instructor.

I try to maintain the values of my work and my family’s cooking traditions (for three generations, mother to son). I must have my roots, my feet, planted firmly in the cooking traditions!!!

This is me: my name is Isa.

My knowledge has been handed down to me primarily from my mother, Paola, but also from other women in my ancestry, my paternal and maternal grandmothers (Ninetta and Elisa).  

My techniques are based in classical Italian Regional Cooking.

I am not a convert to the food processor. I am convinced that the food processor is not the true way to facility with nearly all doughs (i.e. fresh egg pasta dough, pizza dough, bread dough, focaccia dough....) If you mix the dough in the processor and if you kneading it by machine, the taste and texture of the dough will not be the same. Perfect fresh egg pasta is a delicate balance of wheat flour 00, eggs and kneading. "Kneading the fresh egg pasta dough, rolling it out, cooking and saucing it" helps me to connect to the essence of the real and traditional Italian Cooking.
One of my earliest memories is of sitting at the kitchen table and watching my grandma Elisa make pasta. Elisa rolled pasta with a long rolling pin, but she used other pasta accessories: a special wooden board and a rectangular kitchen knife. Of course she used other tools to help work faster and better: "tagliatortellini", "Tagliaravioli", "grattuggia per gnocchi", a special comb to make garganelli - a sort of fresh penne, or a special coin to make corzetti, a fresh pasta from Liguria.
I use the same tools!

Pasta Accessories  | Mama Isa 

Pasta Tools  | Mama Isa 

I don't remember when exactly I started rolling out the pasta dough..... maybe I was too young!

Rolling pasta with a long rolling pin  | Mama Isa

Rolling Potato Gnocchi | Mama Isa

Shaping Potato Gnocchi with the Parmesan Grater | Mama Isa

All the techinques I used is from the family. Unfortunately the industrial production of fresh or dried pasta is increasing, and young women will not do fresh pasta by hand now. However I continously encourage chefs and my audience to not abandon the classics, and the classical Italian Regional recipes.

My passion is to share with people the art of Italian cooking in the traditional way.
Of course I teach how to make fresh pasta dough with varying ratios of different kinds of wheat flour and eggs, or sometimes with water or milk. I persist to use the old recipes and I love the old poor way to make the traditional cooking.

My whole philosophy and approach is centered around something very authentic and humble. I select simple, fresh, seasonable ingredients.
Butter is certainly present in my cooking, but less than in the past. Unsalted butter is the predominant fat for cooking "risotto", but I love and use extra virgin olive oil as the main fat.
My cuisine is noted for its diversity, abundance of difference in taste, but the tradition is very important.

I love the "cucina povera": "the humble cuisine". I am certainly patriotic, but I love Italian Regional food for all the fascinations it offers, and I love to cook the huge variety of Italian cuisine. You cannot understand the cooking in Italy without seeing it in relation to the history of the country, based on more civilizations that flourished here: The Greek (Magna Grecia), the Etruscan...... then the Arab/Saracen.
During the Renaissance, the Italian Cuisine emerged as the one that influenced the whole of Europe. The first cookbooks were written in Italy (at the end of the 14th century: "ricettari" -recipe books).

But not only history is important for the Italian Regional gastronomy, but also another source. It sustains the appeal, and the variety: the family. So my cooking is a distillation of my personal experiences: I take example from my ancestors. Now in Italy there is a new generation of cooks or chefs with new concerns: they don't have much of a "tradizione" (tradition).  I worry about the death of Italian Regional Gastronomy.
My philosophy on cooking is my philosophy on life: I promote the traditions. All that I cook is the fruit of my work and that of my family!