Mascarpone is an Italian cream cheese.The main ingredient is cream with a high percentage of fat. The texture resembles a soft whipped cottage cheese or thick country sour cream. This product is very high in calories, since it contains 75% fat. The taste of it is creamy and very tender, and in consistence it looks like a cream. This cheese is often used in the preparation of confectionery: desserts, cakes, cakes, etc.
Properties of Mascarpone
It is very nutritious and useful:it contains vitamins of groups A, B, C, K, PP, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, etc. In addition, as a derivative of milk, it contains high-grade proteins and amino acids necessary for the body. Thanks to the vitality of the vitamins, the cheese improves the cardiovascular system, helps strengthen the immune system and nervous system, helps fight depression and irritability, strengthens bones, and also improves growth and promotes muscle development.
The harmful properties of the product include highcaloric value. Therefore, excessive consumption of this cheese can lead to increased cholesterol and obesity, so often mistresses think about how to replace mascarpone. In addition, because of its composition, this cheese is not recommended for people suffering from milk intolerance, with weak liver and diseases of the intestinal tract, as well as children under three years old.
Where to use mascarpone cheese?
It is a multifunctional product:
- It can be smeared on bread instead of butter - tasteThe sandwich will only get better. At the same time, the cheese contains fewer calories than the butter, and is suitable for those who want to get rid of excess kilograms.
- From it you can make a delicious, gentle sauce.
- If you mix cheese with fruits and berries, you will get a wonderful dessert.
- It can be mixed with liquor and chocolate. Get a special treat.
- Mascarpone - one of the main ingredients for the preparation of curd casseroles and tiramisu.
The most common way to use itis the use in confectionery. But it's hard to find it in the store, and it's not cheap. This fact stops many novice cooks before preparing interesting new dishes. In this connection, the question arises as to whether it can be replaced with something. Therefore, it is worth considering the mascarpone cheese: what it is and what to replace it in different dishes.
Mascarpone: what is it and what to replace?
Before we talk about how to replace the cheeseMascarpone in various dishes, should consider the composition of the product. The main ingredient, as mentioned above, is a cream with a fat content of at least 20%. They add wine vinegar, tartaric acid and lemon juice. Therefore, the product has a velvety, rich taste.
Маскарпоне применяют при приготовлении соусов, casseroles, added to pasta and risotto, but the most common method of use - desserts. Since this delicacy is very fatty and high-calorie, when preparing main dishes and desserts, the hostesses often try to replace it with something. For cooking casseroles, pasta or glaze, you can use less high-calorie, low-fat foods, but with desserts it will not work. This raises the question of how to replace mascarpone cheese to preserve the consistency and taste of the dish. Consider options for replacing this product other, derived from milk, options.
Mascarpone Alternatives
To replace this cheese in cake cream oranother dessert, you can use your own cooked cream mixture. To do this, take 150 grams of cream cheese, a quarter cup of twenty percent cream and 2 tablespoons of butter. At the same time, cheese and butter should be at room temperature. Whip the cream with a whisk or a blender, add butter and mashed cheese with a fork. All ingredients are mixed to obtain a light, air homogeneous mass.
To replace the mascarpone in other dishes (for example, pasta, risotto, soups, etc.) you can use less fatty and high-calorie substitutes:
- In a lasagna or pasta, you can put a soft low-fat cottage cheese;
- in soup, salad or risotto - low-fat sour cream;
- in the glaze - low-calorie cream cheese;
- In sauce - thick low-calorie yogurt without additives.
Ricotta instead of mascarpone
Another famous Italian tender cheese -ricotta Therefore, many are interested in whether it is possible to use ricotta instead of mascarpone. Can. It is ideal as an alternative, as it has the same properties: similar texture, soft taste and light texture.
For a full replacement, you will need 150 g of cheesericotta and 200 ml of twenty percent cream (can be higher). Both ingredients must be put into a container and mixed with a blender or a combine until a homogeneous mixture is obtained, and then beat up until a light, airy mass is obtained. In this case, this mixture should be used immediately, otherwise it will lose its properties.
How to replace mascarpone in tiramisu?
Italian dessert tiramisu is known throughoutthe world. Therefore, every self-respecting hostess wants to pamper herself and her loved ones at least once with this delicacy. One of the most important ingredients of tiramisu is mascarpone cheese, which is sometimes difficult to find in the store. But there are two common options than to replace mascarpone in tiramisu.
An alternative to this cheese will be simple fat cottage cheese or a mixture of cottage cheese with cream. And it will be even tastier if you mix cottage cheese, cream, butter and milk.
Also, mascarpone can be replaced with ordinary sour cream. To do this, pour it into a canvas bag and leave it overnight. To get a pound of the finished product, you need one kilogram of sour cream.
If you still want to add mascarpone to the dish, but you don’t have it in stores, you can make this cheese yourself.
How to make mascarpone?
The most common are two ways to make a product yourself.
Take the cream with a fat content of at least 20% and lemonjuice at the rate of a spoonful of juice per glass of cream. Heat the cream to 90 ° C in a water bath, then add lemon juice and mix. Pour the mixture into a container (plastic or stainless steel), cover with gauze, then leave for 12 hours at room temperature. The resulting liquid is drained, and the thick transfer into a sieve, covered with gauze. Remove the sieve in the refrigerator for 24 hours, placing some container under it so that the remaining moisture drains out. Ready cheese to put in a container with a resealable lid. Put the product in the fridge. Consume within three to five days.
Take sour cream or a mixture of sour cream with kefir and hang in cheesecloth for a day. The cheese will be ready when all the liquid has drained and the remaining mass becomes harder.
Lovers of Italian desserts and simply deliciousdishes should not be limited only because one of the main ingredients is difficult to find in the store, or it is very high in calories. Mascarpone can be easily replaced with a lower-calorie ingredient, and if this is not possible, with another milk-derived product of a corresponding fat content. The taste of the dish will remain as excellent!
