Tried my hand at Halloumi the other day. After reading quite a few posts on the subject, including one with a very meticulous comparison of eight different recipes, I decide to use the online Cheesemaking.com recipe.
Fresh non-pasteurised milk (cow) is not available on a daily basis in Canberra (the Nation's capital), and my choice was a few days old ($5.50/2 litres). The cream had separated out, sticking around the neck of the plastic carton. In trying to swish it out, I managed to tun it into something like butter...Ah well!
Heat 4 litres (1 gal) milk to 31 C
Add CaCl2
Add calf rennet
at 40 mins, cut curd to 25mm (1"), waiting a few minutes between cuts. My new homemade horizontal knife works a fair treat
Cook to 40 C over 30 minutes (temp actually crept up a little faster than that)
Stir every few minutes (by agitating/spinning/swirling back and forth the pot, initially, rather than by direct stirring. Seems gentler on the soft curds)
Held at temp for 30 minutes; stirring.
Pitch off, remove whey, ladle into two 100 mm (4") forms.
Press at 450 g (1lb) for 1/2 hr, then 900g for another.
Meanwhile, back at the stove, heat the whey and make ricotta.
Check the firmness of halloumi curds in forms, and completely loose faith in the ability of such floppy cheeses to hold together if I move them to the hot whey. Press for a few hours more (but actually don't extract a great deal more whey). Finally bite the bullet and move the first cheese to the whey at 90 C.
Now I've read a deal of comment on cooking times: most recipes say the cheese will come to the surface in 45 minutes; some people's cheeses never surface; other rise in 20. Mine both rose in less than 5...so I let them cook for an extra 15.
Remove from whey, split in half (easier said than done) and sprinkle each 'split' with 1 tsp salt and dried mint. Fold each 'split' in half; press lightly back together.
Test cook a piece in dry pan, and eat.
Squeaky, minty, lightly salty: nice.
Be great on a kebab between cubes of lamb (dry rubbed with a cumin/coriander seed mix). Might also go well with salmon steaks...
