Homemade Queso Blanco Cheese and Cheese Sauce

Queso Blanco – How to Make Mexican White Cheese. Fresh Mexican Same-Day Cheese.

Author: Whats4Chow

Recipe type: Cheese

Cuisine: Mexican

Prep time:  2 mins

Cook time:  30 mins

Total time:  32 mins

 

Queso Blanco is a fresh Mexican white cheese. The term fresh refers to the cheese not being aged. It can be eaten the same day it is made. The outstanding feature of Queso Blanco is that it does not melt when cooked, making it the ideal protein to add to soups, stews, stir-fries and even grills.

Ingredients

• 1 Gallon / 3.75lt Full cream cows or goats milk
• 60ml Cider vinegar (plus a little extra on the side)
• Salt to taste (non-iodated)

Instructions

1. Pour the milk into a large pot over medium low heat. Over a period of 20 to 30 minutes bring the milk up to a temperature of 83c or 180f stirring regularly.
2. Once at this temperature, hold the temperature here for 10 minutes by toggling the heat on and off as required.
3. Pour in the cider vinegar and stir continuously while the curds form. If the whey is not clear after a minute or so, add a little more vinegar, stirring continuously while you do this, until the whey is clear.
4. Remove the pot from the heat and pour the curds into a muslin lined colander in your sink. Allow the curds to drain briefly, then fold the edges of the muslin over the cheese.
5. Place and upturned side plate on top the cheese and weigh this down with about 5lb of weight.
6. Let the cheese press and drain for 3 hours.
7. Unwrap the cheese and trim the rough edge from the cheese. The trimmings can be used in any dish, so don’t discard them.
8. You will see that the cheese has a medium firm feel, and is remarkably similar in texture and taste to haloumi cheese.
9. If you’re not using the cheese immediately, salt both sides of the cheese and refrigerate wrapped in cling-wrap.
10. In our next episode we will use this queso blanco to make an amazing butter-fried Queso Blanco cheese dish.
11. Makes 600-800g of cheese

Recipe from WHATS4CHOW

Queso Blanco Sauce / Dip 

Author: Whats4Chow

Recipe type: Cheese

Cuisine: Mexican

Prep time:  5 mins

Total time:  5 mins

Serves: 4-8

 

Queso Blanco is an infinitely flexible ingredient. In this episode we make an alternative to the overplayed tartare sauce – queso blanco sauce makes a perfect dip for seafood, with a mild flavor that does not overpower the food it is served with.

Ingredients

• 200g Queso Blanco cheese
• 200ml Cultured Buttermilk
• 2 Pickled Jalepenos
• Salt to taste
• Dried red chilli flakes to garnish

Instructions

1. Dice the queso blanco into small pieces, chop the pickled jalepeno chillies, and measure out the cultured buttermilk. You will also want a teaspoon of red chilli flakes to garnish.
2. Place all of the ingredient except the chilli flakes into a jug. Using a stick blender, zap this until smooth and creamy.
3. Season the creamy sauce with salt to taste. Decant the dip to serving bowls, garnish each with a pinch of chilli flakes and serve immediately.

Recipe from WHATS4CHOW