Brian sent me this recipe which he saw Alton Brown use on the food network. I don’t think this how to make true cottage cheese but it’s definitely a reasonable proxy that is very easy to make and quite tasty.

What you’ll need:
• 1 gallon skim milk
• ¾ cup white vinegar
• 1½ tsp sea salt
• 1 pint heavy cream

Start by heating the milk over medium heat until it reaches 120° F. I used a meat thermometer with an alarm to notify me when it reached the desired temperature.

Once you get to 120° remove the milk from heat and let it sit for five minutes. Then add the vinegar to your milk and gently stir for two minutes. The curd will separate from the whey.

Pour the contents of the pot into a colander lined with cheese cloth or a tea towel. You may want to get someone to hold the cheese cloth to the edges of the colander to keep it from being pulled down when you begin to pour (Thanks Anne!). Otherwise pour carefully! Let the curd sit and strain in the colander for five minutes.

Pick up the corners of the cheese cloth to hold the curd inside. Rinse the curd under cold water for five minutes or so squeezing the curd until it is no longer warm. Then remove it from the water and squeeze it until fairly dry.

Deposit the curd and the salt into a mixing bowl and stir it together breaking up the curd into smaller bite size pieces as you stir. If you’re going to serve it immediately then add the cream now, if not then store it in the fridge and add the cream before serving. Makes about 2 cups.

In my opinion this didn’t quite taste like cottage cheese to me, it almost had a fresh mozzarella quality to the flavor and almost a riccotta-like texture. I think perhaps I didn’t rinse my curd well enough and that the heavy cream also curdled a bit when I added it because it lost a lot of viscosity after being stirred in with my curds. None of this took anything away from my supreme satisfaction with my resulting cheese though. It tasted great and was quickly consumed.

What could be better than a hard boiled egg, wrapped in sausage, rolled in breadcrumbs, and deep fried? Please let me know if you can think of anything. Scotch eggs are a fantastic, artery clogging, heart attack inducing, gastrointestinal experience not to be missed. They are also messy and annoying to make; but it’s worth it.

What you’ll need:
• 7 eggs
• 1lb sausage
• 1 tbsp water
• some flour (about a half cup)
• breadcrumbs (I actually smashed up some stove top stuffing, I bet saltines would also be good)
• oil for frying (or a deep fryer)

Begin by hard boiling six of the eggs. While they are boiling crack your seventh egg into a mixing bowl and beat it along with the tablespoon of water. Smash up your breadcrumbs if they aren’t already. Get your sausage out and also put your flour out on a plate.

Once your eggs are done peel them and roll them in the flour until they’re coated. Also coat your hands in flour. Now the fun begins.

Separate your sausage into 6 equal portions and begin wrapping your eggs in the sausage. I found the best way to do this was to form the sausage into a patty of sorts and then push the egg into the center of it while wrapping the sausage up around the egg. Stick and pinch the sausage together so that the egg is completely coated in sausage. You will probably want to wash your hands after this. My dog was very happy to clean off all of the sausage stuck to my hands when I was done.

Once your eggs are covered in sausage, dip them in the beaten egg with water and roll them around until they’re completely coated. Now dip them into your breadcrumbs and roll them again to completely coat in breadcrumbs as well.

Deep fry (or pan fry) the eggs in oil at 370° F until they are well cooked. You want to be sure that your sausage is cooked all the way through which takes longer than you’d think (or at least it took longer than I’d think). I don’t have a deep fryer so I cooked my eggs individually in a small frying pan with about a quarter inch of oil in it. If you use this method it’s important to keep rotating the eggs and rolling them around in the oil to keep from burning the breadcrumbs, or you could probably cook them on a lower temperature than I did, it’s up to you.

Cool your eggs on a paper towel to soak up some of the excess oil, slice them in half and serve.