The Home Creamery (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: homemade cream cheese, teaspoon liquid rennet, homemade sour cream, Red Bliss, Homemade Buttermilk, Herbed Goat Cheese (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Farrell-Kingsley's thorough but unintimidating recipe instructions will enable any reader to make a variety of dairy products, and many home cooks will be eager to try them.”

Library Journal

 

“You won't churn out any award-winning artisanal brie, but you could make a darn fine mozzarella. Kathy Farrell-Kingsley is ready to walk you through the latter (as well as a variety of other easy soft cheese and dairy products) in her recent book, "The Home Creamery." This isn't the book for serious cheesemakers (as in, those who hope to ditch the corporate life for a dairy farm in Vermont), but rather those who enjoy playing in the kitchen or want bragging rights at their next dinner party. The recipes are simple, easy to follow and would be great projects to do with the kids. Cheeses include cream cheese, cottage cheese, ricotta, goat cheese, mozzarella and marscapone. The book also includes recipes for using the cheeses. Farrell-Kingsley also explains how to make yogurt, kefir, butter, creme fraiche and sour cream.”

Associated Press

“Imagine crème fraiche that’s really fresh.  If you’re up for a really fringy pursuit, you can learn to make your own dairy products – butter, yogurt, sour cream, cheeses – from Kathy Ferrell-Kingsley’s new book, The Home Creamery. With this guide, you’re biggest challenge might be finding a source for milk-curdling rennet.”

The Newark Star-Ledger

 

Product Description

Butter, yogurt, ricotta, and other fresh dairy products have been made in home kitchens around the world for centuries. They are not difficult to make, require no complicated aging techniques, and offer the home cook a wonderful range of tart, sweet, nutty, silky, creamy, melty textures and flavors. With the growing availability of local, organic milk and the soaring popularity of raw milk, now is the perfect time to bring fresh dairy products back to the home kitchen.

Author Kathy Farrell-Kingsley begins with simple, step-by-step instructions for making sour cream, buttermilk, créme fraîche, mozzarella, fresh goat cheese, and 10 other fresh milk products. Home cooks will be thrilled with the simple but magical process of turning milk or cream into cultured dairy products and soft, unripened cheeses. There's nothing quite like watching cream turn into butter or tasting the slightly chewy tang of homemade mozzarella.

Following the dairy instructions are 75 delicious cooking and baking recipes developed to showcase products from The Home Creamery. Cheese Blintzes, Herbed Goat Cheese Bites, Mozzarella Panini, Spinach Ricotta Pie, Coleslaw with Buttermilk Dressing, Chocolate Sour Cream Cake, and Tiramisu are that much sweeter when made with the rich creamy goodness of homemade dairy items.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 214 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC; illustrated edition edition (June 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1603420312
• ISBN-13: 978-1603420310
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #90,295 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #7 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Agricultural Sciences > Animal Husbandry > Dairy Science
  #49 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Cooking by Ingredient > Cheese & Dairy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good primer, but not a great resource, February 3, 2009

By	Reader - See all my reviews

If you've never tried making butter, yogurt, etc. and you just want to learn how to make a reasonable quart of yogurt or marscapone (as opposed to trying to be a diary expert), this is a good and useful book. The instructions are clear and concise, and it doesn't bog you down with too much technical data. After all, showing the kids how to make butter shouldn't require a master's level course in chemistry. If you have illusions about becoming some kind of master craftsman with your homemade ricotta, this book is going to disappoint.

Two things potential buyers should be aware of about the book:
1. About 2/3 of the book contains recipes for using basic dairy items. Maybe that's helpful to some, but wouldn't someone wanting to make their own cottage cheese already know what to do with it? The recipes are fairly run-of-the-mill. I didn't see any recipes that I didn't already have a variation of in another source.

2. While the font size is large, the font is a very thin style, and the text is in a medium-brown ink against a off-white page. In other words, there is little contrast and it makes for poor legibililty unless you have extremely good vision (which I don't). Even my eagle-eyed spouse foudn the font color/type annoying. Also, the binding makes it difficult to lay the book flat without breaking the spine. To publishing houses: How-to and cookbooks should be functional first and foremost. Attractive is nice, but not when the reader has to fight to read the font or keep the book open so s/he can work from it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars leaves much to be desired, April 2, 2009

By	J. Carlile (Hannover, Germany) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have a lot of cookbooks, and besides making recipes from them, I simply enjoy reading them, getting the author's perspective etc. I bought this book hoping for an in depth introduction to making cheeses at home, plus some tips and tricks from someone who knows what they are doing. And well, this book is just boring. It certainly has easy to follow recipes for the basics -- yogurt, ricotta, butter, farmer's cheese -- but doesn't go beyond this. And the writing is sterile and without character.

Basically, my takeaway message is there is nothing in this cookbook (recipes, directions, witty writing even) that I couldn't easily find elsewhere, and is a boring read. Don't waste your money.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Assumes too much a cookbook, January 27, 2009

By	liberty man (Balltown,ME.) - See all my reviews

I think this book assumes you know more than you do as a beginning cheese maker. More info is available with a little searching. Explanations for what is happening from a scientific point of view. Stirring,temp., setting times are important. Processes are happening during these times and you can monitor these changes and understand them.Basic cheesemaking David Fankhauser Prof of biology and chemistryu of Cincinati Clarmont College,A good site.Also this book has about 100 pages of cheese info, the second 100 are a cookbook.I think this book was pretty cheesy, only fair.