We hear you: The homemade ricotta recipe from Mozza in our September 2011 issue isn't working out for everyone. It's our job to get to the bottom of a pesky recipe, so we brought it back to the test kitchen and asked Deputy Food Editor Kay Chun what's wrong. Her answer: Lemons! They're a pain!
Kay's advice, after the jump.
Ricotta is a simple mixture of cream, milk, salt, and acid. Mozza uses lemon for the acid component. But readers may be getting wacky results because all lemons have different levels of acidity, so the amount of lemon juice needed to make ricotta varies. If there isn't enough acid, the cream won't thicken to form curds. If yours is not thickening and changing to form curds after 10-15 minutes, add another tablespoon of lemon juice, give it a quick stir, and wait another 10-15 minutes. Repeat until it works.
Please accept our apologies if this recipe didn't work out for you, but don't give up. Try it again with these tips and let us know how it goes.
If you ever have questions or comments about one of our recipes, don't hesitate to contact us at askba@bonappetit.com.
Photograph by Peden + Munk
