Quark: German Cheese

As I said in my last post, I recently had a German potluck. I must say I am pretty proud to be German. My dad was born in Germany and I adore my little blonde-hair blue-eyed grandmas thick german accent. I've never been to Germany (although it is something I would love LOVE LOVE to do!) but I have been fortunate enough to be exposed to the great food...

Beer, bratwursts and saurkraut...they may not smell the best but they sure do satisfy this tummy. I think the little German in me forced me to move into my neighborhood, German Village, where on every corner there are german pubs and restaraunts with good authentic eats. The food is fabulous here and brings me back to visiting my family in Minnesota eating my grandmas and grandpas german potato salad, fried bread, german pancakes and Spaetzle or as us American's call it "spatula".

I wanted to try and be daring and take a pumpkin cheesecake recipe and make it German...seeing as to how my risks don't always go as planned, I made the cheesecake and the cream puffs in case one didn't work. I lucked out and both turned out great...German and fall flavors all in one...can't beat it.

Apparently in Germany, when they make cheesecake they use quark instead of cream cheese like we American's do or ricotta like many Italians do. Quark is a soft creamy cheese comparable to cream cheese. It's hard to find but relatively easy to make. It takes about 12 hours, but it was worth it...in my eyes at least.

Quark

From Germancorner.com

Ingredients:

1 quart buttermilk

1 large Pyrex form with lid or any other form with lid
1 large colander

1 cheesecloth or plain linnen

Directions:

Pour the buttermilk in oven proof form, cover with lid and put into oven overnight at lowest temperature (150 F). Next morning line the colander with cloth and pour the lumpy buttermilk into it. Cover with the ends of the cloth and let drain in sink for about 2 hours. This process can be speed up by putting a bowl filled with water on top. This instruction will make about 1/2 lbs of quark.

*Totally off topic but if you like comedy I recommend checking out Orny Adams. I was up late one night unable to sleep and turned it to comedy central and this guy was doing standup and I was laughing away...alone...in my bed. His jokes are clever and I think he may be a bit intoxicated which is all the more funny...you might be able to check him out here http://www.amazon.com/Orny-Adams-Takes-the-Third/dp/B004AD9L9E/ref=pd_vodsm_B004AD9L9E