Cecil (cheese). Smoked cheese "pigtail". Caucasian Dietary Cheese

Tight pigtails, woven from a cheesy elastic mass, on the shelves rightfully lie next to other cheeses. Chechev - cheese is brine, brother suluguni, but has its own individual delicate taste. His history is interesting: produce cheese in the Caucasus by hand, threads stretch to the thickness of the hair. It will harmoniously approach wine and beer, decorate a sandwich or salad, add spice to a rich plate with cheese cuts in its appearance. This is the national Armenian cheese.

What is

Chechel (cheese) looks like fibrous tangles or braided plaits. It is simply tied in a bun and thanks to this all the nutritious juices and natural, natural properties of high-quality dairy raw materials are preserved. Chechel ripens in a solution of salt, it is a pickle cheese, therefore watery and salty. Its name in translation means "confusing". From his close relative, Suluguni, this cheese differs in that it has an increased stratification and a pronounced sour-milk taste. Produced in a variety of varieties. In addition to pigtails, it happens in the form of tangles, noodles, straws, ropes, spaghetti. Very often this cheese is smoked, adding to it piquancy. Such a transformation of fibrous cheese was very popular with beer lovers: the salty and dry product is irreplaceable as an addition to your favorite drink.

How to produce

Cottage cheese (cheese) is made from fresh pasteurized cow milk with low fat content, it is fermented with rennet enzyme, which has an animal origin. First, the milk is heated to 32 degrees, then pepsin is added. A clot forms, after which the sour-milk mixture is well mixed and heated to 60 degrees. The flakes that turned out are separated from the whey, salt hard and spread out in the sun. Then manually stretch in the form of threads, reeled five-kilogram tangles or braided immediately into braids. Until full aging, stored in a saline solution for almost a month. Seventy five days - the maximum period during which the cheese is on sale. After all, this "living" product, without any preservatives, it is prone to oxidation and very quickly deteriorates. Karan Abrahamyan received the right to author production of "braids" from Chechens. He manages the cheese shop at the training center of the Agrarian University of Kiev. He has a patent for an invention, a certificate for an industrial design.

Benefit

Chechel (cheese) has a low fat content - up to 10%, for this reason it is classified as dietary. Because of its low fat content it is used in various diets. For example, there is a diet Protasova, which is based on the use of raw vegetables and products made from milk, low fat. In the gristle it contains a lot of moisture - up to 60%, salt - 4-8%. Pickle cheese is a really useful product, as it is rich in vitamins and calcium. The energy value is from 290 to 340 calories per hundred grams of cheese.

Interesting Facts

If the cachet is properly prepared, then its fibers are stretched through the ears of needles. In this way the cheese is checked for quality. If raw materials of inadequate quality or the hand of a layperson touches the production of cheese, the Chechen will not work. The cost of the product is 350 rubles per kilogram. The price is considerable, but not to say that it is too high for such a delicious product. A variety of snacks are prepared from it, and it is also added to salads and soups. Such cheese in the Caucasus is fresh, washed down with delicious home-made wine. Even often cooked roasted censer. To this end, cut the smoked fibers horizontally and put them on a heated frying pan. When a golden appetizing crust, they are turned over and fried on the other side. This savory snack is very fragrant and has a special tenderness. What is the best food for beer lovers? Cheese chewed, the price of which is quite acceptable, although sometimes it comes to 500 rubles.

Smoked product

This cheese is made with the use of an unusual production technology: it is melted at the very beginning and only then do other manipulations. Smoked "braids" differ in unusual taste and high juiciness. Such a cossack does not have its original smell, it is the same as that of other varieties. But the taste is different: it is distinguished by smoked notes and light witticism. This product can be yellow or beige, which directly depends on the manufacturing process.

Smoked cheese "pigtail" is prepared from fresh milk of a goat or sheep. Liquid is squeezed naturally: first, the milk is heated a little and mixed with the rennet and a special ferment. Leaves on the curd of cheese for ten minutes, then it to re-heat the flakes. At this moment, and make eight-millimeter strips. Then they get out and cut into certain ribbons, and from them braids are already weaving. Then, before full ripening, they are put in a vat with brine. In certain cells a mature Chechen is sent. There he smokes. 5-10% - the fat content of the finished product. When making a choice of smoked "pigtail", look at its color. Do not take the cachet with a bright yellow color, as this indicates the use of chemical dyes. Look at the composition of the product. Cheese is natural if the list contains the least amount of ingredients.

Cecil (cheese): recipe

You can produce the product yourself, and then sell it on the market. From 10 liters of milk, a liter of sour cream and eight liters of whey, you can get one kilogram of cheese. For cooking, you need five liters of goat and cow's milk. It is poured in order to degrease the separator. Then the mixture is warmed up to 40 degrees, rennet enzyme is added . In a water bath, the mixture is held for 60 minutes. Clots are formed, the mixture is heated to 52-54 degrees and stirred for 15 minutes clockwise until "braids" are formed. Cheese mass can be compressed manually. The received pigtails should be weighed on the paving stones. When the cheese cools down, it is salted. Quality is determined by cutting lengthwise - you should get non-breaking thin threads. Cheese bound in skeins is washed in cold water, then placed in brine, where it ripens.