Cottage cheese, obtained by the formation of a clot in milk with the subsequent removal of the liquid that is formed during ripening, is a dairy product. In our article, we will talk about Kyzyl Eremsek. This is red curd. We will tell about how to cook it and what can be made of it later in our article. Otherwise, it is called red cottage cheese.
History of cottage cheese
History has no data when humanity began to use cottage cheese for food. Cooking researchers believe that someone has left milk in the sun. After some time, it turned sour and poured into the place where the tissue accidentally happened to be, through which the resulting liquid (serum) and separated from the main mass.
The remaining product liked the taste. It received the name "cottage cheese" (from the word "creates") and became popular in many countries of Europe. Historical documents indicate that the type of dairy product was widely used in ancient Rome.
The Romans used a tight bag from the stomach of a young calf for curling. It was filled with milk and placed in a vessel. Being in a warm place, the milk went through the process of curdling. After which the product was eliminated from serum and consumed as food.
In Russia, cottage cheese was made in a different way. Skim milk was poured into a clay container and placed in an oven until the mass was folded. Then the product was transferred to a specially prepared bag made of cloth and hung so that the glass was liquid. Its contents were called cheese, since the word “cottage cheese” did not exist in Russia at that time.
Now there are many types of this dairy product. Eremsek (red cottage cheese) is considered a national dish in Tatarstan and Bashkiria. Eremsek is divided, depending on the cooking option, into three types. There is wet, dry, as well as cottage cheese of medium humidity.
Wet eremsek. How to cook?
How to cook such wet cottage cheese from kefir at home? Fresh milk should be mixed with kefir and yogurt (katyk) in equal proportions. After the prepared mixture must be put on fire, with the expectation of slow boiling.
When bubbles appear, make the smallest fire. As a result of this, the product is gradually boiled until the curd mass is formed. Then you should drain part of the formed serum, add 15 grams of sugar, 30-40 grams of pre-melted butter, 1-2 eggs and continue to evaporate the liquid.
When the whey has completely evaporated, and the mass is compacted, it acquires a light brown color. Cooked eremsek should be cooled and served with tea or coffee. The amount of ingredients is calculated per one liter of milk and yogurt. About four hundred grams of wet eremsek is obtained from this amount of initial mass. Cooking time for red cottage cheese is thirty minutes.
The dry recipe. How to cook such cottage cheese?
To prepare dry eremsek, you need to prepare four liters of fresh milk, which is evaporated in the oven. Milk should be placed in an oven preheated to a temperature of no higher than 80 ° C and the evaporation process should be adjusted until milk in the pan is reduced to approximately 1.5-2 liters, while it must be constantly mixed. Then you need to add one liter of yogurt and bring this mass to stratification. This stage should take place on a small fire. The resulting liquid must be drained, leaving about two glasses. When the liquid has completely evaporated, then transfer the resulting curd mass to a hot pan. After some time, Kyzyl Eremsek acquires a light brown color, a reddish tint. To do this, it is advisable to use dishes that have a special non-stick coating. Metal or cast iron pans must be greased with ghee before use. To make the cheese product taste sweet, you should add three to five tablespoons of powdered sugar.
Red cottage cheese. Ingredients and recipe for eremsek medium humidity
You can make a sweet eremsek of medium humidity at home and serve it on a sweet table. In the prepared container, baked milk and ryazhenka are mixed in equal proportions, then this mass is evaporated over low heat. When a little liquid remains at the bottom, you need to add honey to taste and continue to evaporate until a solid brown mass is obtained.
Housewives offer a recipe for red cottage cheese, which can be cooked for four hours.
To do this, you will need milk, sour cream, kefir, sugar and butter. On a big fire put a saucepan, where there is a liter of milk, 250 grams of kefir and three tablespoons of sour cream (preferably 20%). All this mass must be thoroughly mixed.
After stratification, add 0.5 cups of sugar and continue to evaporate until brown curd is obtained.
Industrial Cooking Method
Given that red cheese is a popular product, it has recently been made in many dairies.
Milk is mixed with cream in order to obtain a liquid mass of 20%. Then it is poured into the digester, heated to 90 ° C and fermented with whey at the rate of 10-15% for the total volume of the initial mass.
The next step is to digest the cheese product for at least five hours with constant stirring and the gradual addition of a certain amount of sugar. To get rid of excess moisture, the product is placed in a thermal pressure chamber and kept until a light brown color is obtained. After that, the red sweet cottage cheese is cooled and further packaged.
Healing properties
In addition to taste, this cottage cheese has healing properties. Modern medicine has established that 100 grams of Eremsek contains 20% protein (protein), which is one of the important components for the development of all body tissues.
Red cottage cheese contains a high percentage of calcium, which strengthens bone tissue. In the oral cavity, calcium protects tooth enamel from damage. Dentists noted that eremsek protects against a common dental disease - caries.
In addition to calcium, this cheese product contains aminocarboxylic acid methionine, which acts as a fat burner and thereby protects the liver from obesity caused by high cholesterol. Doctors often advise eremsek to be included in the daily diet during a course of antibiotic treatment.
Red cottage cheese has a positive effect on the treatment of gastritis, ulcers and other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
Gubadia
In modern cooking, there are many different dishes where this product is used. The most popular is the closed round multilayer gubadia cake with red cottage cheese. It is served at a sweet table. The pie is a national dish of Bashkir and Tatar cuisines.
To make this cake you will need milk, dried yeast, sugar, flour, eggs, rice, raisins and eremsek. In warmed milk (100 grams), pour 2 tablespoons of dried yeast, a little sugar and put in a warm place for fermentation.
Then pour flour, 30 grams of sugar, one egg, water into this mixture and knead the dough, which should not stick to your hands. The amount of flour and water is determined empirically. The prepared batch, so that it does not dry out, should be wrapped in cellophane film.
The next stage in the preparation of the Bashkir dish is to create a filling for the pie. To do this, boil 0.5 cups of rice and three eggs. After that, boiled rice, dried grapes (raisins, 3 tablespoons) soaked in water and finely chopped boiled eggs are mixed.
A baking sheet is greased with sunflower oil and half of the prepared dough is rolled on it with a thin layer. Spread the filling, which will be the first layer. The second layer will be 100 grams of red cottage cheese.
At the final stage of preparing the product for baking, roll out the remaining dough, cover it with the filling, pinch the edges, grease the top and side of the cake with yolk and bake at a temperature of 180 ° C until golden.
Gubadia with rice and dried fruits
Another filling is used, which differs from the one indicated above. The filling consists of rice, pre-cooked, soaked prunes, raisins, dried apricots, chopped boiled eggs and eremseka.
Many housewives advise using fresh dough to prepare a sweet dish. Ingredients: flour - two glasses, one pack (200 grams) of grated margarine, kefir and a half glasses, 2 eggs.
Margarine is added to the flour, which should be grated by hand to the state of individual grains, and then add kefir, two raw eggs and knead all this. After you need to add salt to taste.
Casserole with sweet cottage cheese. Recipe
You can prepare a casserole for the sweet table using red cottage cheese. Mix the mass of Eremsek (300 grams), two raw eggs, two tablespoons of semolina and a pinch of vanilla powder. Add sugar to taste and bring everything to a uniform consistency.
After that, prepare metal molds, previously lubricated with refined sunflower oil. Put the curd mass in them and bake for no more than 20 minutes at a temperature of about 200 ° C. Then, after complete cooling, remove from the mold and serve on a sweet table with sour cream or berry sauce.
Dumplings with cottage cheese
Eremsek can be used as a filling for dumplings. For this, the dough should be kneaded in warm water (preferably in boiling water), pouring a fine stream of sifted flour through a sieve, adding salt to taste. Then pour one tablespoon of sunflower oil into the resulting mass. Prepared red cottage cheese should be mixed with cherries, having previously removed the seeds from it. Stir the filling to a uniform mass.
Roll out the dough in a thin layer and use a cup or a glass to cut out the mugs. After that, you should place the filling in the center, close the edges and cook in salted water. Ready dumplings should float to the surface. You can cook this dish without eating berries.
Interesting Facts
We have already figured out how to cook kefir cottage cheese at home. Now consider some interesting facts about this product.
In past centuries, in the summer it was forbidden to add dishes made on cottage cheese to the diet. This was due to the fact that the cheese product is perishable, and refrigerators did not exist at that time. Red cottage cheese was an exception to these rules. Eremsek did not deteriorate at freezing temperatures and was taken by nomads during long trips.
Sheep or goat milk can be used as the main raw material. In this case, the housewives do not use sugar, and this cottage cheese may be in the diet for diabetics.
In India, there is a belief that has come down to our time from antiquity. If a person breaks a pot of cottage cheese, it will bring him success in life. During large festivities on the squares of cities of this country, high wooden poles are installed, on which pots with cottage cheese are strengthened. After which the contest begins, which consists in breaking a hanging pot with a stone or a stick. The winner receives a reward of cottage cheese cake and confidence in success in all endeavors.
The vitamin composition of red cottage cheese, compared with the usual, is not rich. This is due to the fact that Eremsek undergoes prolonged heat treatment. But after this process, a complex of vitamins B and D remains in the cheese product, as well as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and other micro and macro elements that positively affect the overall health of the body.
Conclusion
Now you know what eremsek is, what delicious dishes with red cottage cheese you can cook at home. We hope that this information was useful to you.