The Cart, The Horse

Day 223: Sometimes the relative positions of the proverbial Cart and Horse are not easily within our control. I bought an Instant Pot and my initial experiment involved making jasmine rice, a task apparently beyond the skills of the Aroma rice cooker for some reason, and I was so pleased with the results from the IP that I decided to move to a significantly higher level of Pot use: yogurt. I happened to have some Greek yogurt in the fridge to use as a starter, and after reviewing dozens of YouTube videos (most of which prided themselves on being "no-boil" methods requiring ultra-pasteurized milk), I elected to use a "boil" method similar to that in the instructions for my old yogurt-maker. The process was very simple: bring standard whole milk to 180 degrees on "sauté," cool it to 110, add the starter culture and let the Pot do the rest. Eight hours from the time I set the IP to "Yogurt," I had...yes, yogurt. It seemed a bit loose, and in any event, I wanted Greek-style yogurt, so I poured it into a jelly bag and put it in the fridge overnight. In the morning, I had...yogurt cream cheese! Two hours probably would have been sufficient to leave it the consistency of Greek yogurt. Nine hours produced a bagful of the most delicious yogurt cheese imaginable (and salt-free!). This was the Cart, coming well before the Horse of bagels which I just harnessed and brought out of the oven stable. Little backwards there, but in the end, a very tasty lunch, and I can tell you this: I will never buy commercial cream cheese again.