Animal, Vegetable, Miracle_ A Year of Food Life - Barbara Kingsolver [74]
“What are they doing?” she whispered, as she stared at the tube of encased raw meat that was steadily growing longer on our countertop. “Oh, that’s just sausage. Don’t worry about it.” I nudged her past the kitchen toward my room. The scenario was a little embarrassing, but it probably
would have been more uncomfortable to come home to parents who used the kitchen for screaming and throwing dishes at each other. Anyway, whose parents aren’t embarrassing sometimes?
The hardest thing about being raised in a household where most everything is made from scratch is that someday you move out and have to deal with store-bought bread and yogurt. My mom was quick to catch on to the leverage she got out of that. “I guess you’ll have to come home more often if you want good food,” she would tell me. Away from home, I realized I missed more about mealtimes than just the food. I missed picking fresh greens from the garden, or taking a jar of dried tomatoes from the pantry, as the starting point of a meal. It’s obviously convenient to grab a salad or package of sushi from the dining hall between classes, but eating on the fly seems like cheating to me.
Maybe I feel this way because my make-it-yourself upbringing drummed into me the ethic of working for the things I want. I’ve been involved in growing and cooking the food that feeds me since I was a little kid, and it has definitely given me a certain confidence about relying on myself. Just as meals don’t materialize in the grocery store, I realize a new car and a good education won’t just spring into my life on their own, but hopefully I will get there. If everything my heart desired was handed to me on a plate, I’d probably just want something else.
Cooking meals doesn’t have to be that complicated. Most of the recipes in this book take less than an hour to prepare. The average American spends three and a half hours watching TV every day. Even if a family can only manage to eat a meal together a couple of times a week, whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner, my vote would be that it’s worth the effort. For most of my high school years, dinner was often the only chance I’d have to see my sister or parents all day. We could check up on each other and recount the traumas and victories of our days. We might end up laughing through the whole meal. A choking hazard, maybe, but also a pretty good way to relieve stress.
Cheese is one of our favorite special foods to make from scratch. This recipe for homemade mozzarella is from Home Cheese Making by Ricki
Carroll and really does take only thirty minutes. For the rennet, plus the cultures for making other cheeses, contact New England Cheesemaking Supply Company.
30-MINUTE MOZZARELLA
Measure out all additives before you start, in clean glass or ceramic cups. Use unchlorinated water.
1 gallon pasteurized milk (NOT ultra-pasteurized)
1½ level teaspoons citric acid dissolved in ¼ cup cool water
Stir the milk on the stove in a stainless steel kettle, heating very gently. At 55° add the citric acid solution and mix thoroughly. At 88° it should begin to curdle.
¼ teaspoon liquid rennet, diluted in ¼ cup cool water
Gently stir in diluted rennet with up-and-down motion, and continue heating the milk to just over 100°, then turn off heat. Curds should be pulling away from sides of pot, ready to scoop out. The whey should be clear. (If it’s still milky, wait a few minutes.) Use a large slotted spoon or ladle to move curds from pot to a 2-quart microwaveable bowl. Press curds gently with hands to remove as much whey as possible, and pour it off. Microwave the curds on high for one minute, then knead the cheese again with hands or a spoon to remove more whey. (Rubber gloves help—this gets hot!) Microwave two more times (about 35 seconds each), kneading between each heating. At this point,