Norwegian & Icelandic · Breakfast
Skyr
- Intermediate
- 25 min
- roughly 2 of 4 for cost
- Vegetarian
Leads with a silken, spoon-slow texture, richness that coats and comforts, on a slow, honest burn.
Ingredients
- 4 litres skimmed milk
- 60 g live skyr from a previous batch, or shop bought with live cultures
- 2 drops vegetarian rennet, stirred into 30 ml cool water
- 100 ml double cream, to loosen (optional)
- 300 g blueberries or crowberries, to serve
The skills inside
Tempering a custardStraining & passing through a sieveSkimming: foam, fat and a clear broth
Allergen screen
Found: dairy
Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.
Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.
Method
- Heat the milk to 88C (190F) in a heavy pan, stirring so it does not catch, hold it there 10 minutes, then cool to 38C (100F) in a sink of cold water. 10 min
- Whisk in the live skyr until no streaks remain, add the diluted rennet and stir for no more than 30 seconds; too much movement now and the curd will never knit.
- Cover and hold at 36 to 38C (97 to 100F) for 4 to 5 hours, until it has set to a clean custard that shears off a spoon in a sharp edge and beads a little clear whey. 300 min
- Chill the set curd, then ladle it into a muslin lined sieve and drain in the fridge for 8 to 12 hours, until it has lost about three quarters of its volume and holds the ridge of a spoon. 600 min
- Beat smooth with a splash of milk or the cream to the thickness you want, and keep the drained whey for baking; serve cold with berries.
How to tell it is going right
This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the techniques it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.
Tempering a custard 59 recipes
- The hot liquid went into the eggs a little at a time with constant whisking, and only then did everything go back to the pot.
- The heat under it stayed gentle throughout and it was never allowed to boil.
- Stirred continuously and right into the corners of the pan, where it thickens first and sets unnoticed.
- Judged by behaviour: it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and hold a clean line when a finger is drawn through it.
- Taken off before it looks finished, and strained. Residual heat carries it the rest of the way, and a custard held on the heat until it looks right arrives past right.
Where it goes wrong The hot liquid went in too fast, or the pot went back over full heat to save time. The yolks set into threads before they could thicken smoothly, and a scrambled custard does not come back; straining hides a little of it and nothing hides the rest.
Skimming: foam, fat and a clear broth 73 recipes
- It is held below a rolling boil for the whole time. Agitation drives fat and fine protein into the liquid as an emulsion, and nothing skimmed afterwards will take them back out.
- The grey foam that rises in the first minutes is lifted off and discarded rather than stirred back in.
- Fat is taken from the surface where it gathers, the pot moved off the centre of the heat if that is what it takes to collect it in one place.
- The liquid is visibly clearer at the end than it was at the start: it is possible to see down into it.
- Nothing lifted off goes back in. What was skimmed is discarded, not tipped back once the ladle is full.
Where it goes wrong The pot was allowed to boil, usually while something else was being attended to. Fat and protein emulsify into the liquid under agitation and cannot be lifted off afterwards, so the finished broth stays cloudy and greasy however patiently it is skimmed from then on.
At the Table
- The Pour
- Mimosa (weekends only)
- Also Right
- Cava, straight
- From the Taps
- -
- Zero-Proof
- Fresh orange juice & café au lait
Morning food wants brightness and bubbles, or honest coffee: nothing that argues before noon.
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