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.
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.
It is a multifunctional product:
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.
Before talking about what to replace the cheeseMascarpone in different dishes, you should consider the composition of the product in more detail. The main ingredient, as mentioned above, is cream with a fat content of at least 20%. To them add wine vinegar, tartaric acid and lemon juice. Therefore, the product has a velvety, rich taste.
Mascarpone is used in the preparation of sauces,casseroles, add to the pasta and risotto, but the most common way to use - desserts. Since this delicacy is very fatty and high-calorie, when preparing the main dishes and desserts the mistress often tries to replace it with something. To prepare the casserole, pasta or glaze, you can use less calorie, low-fat products, but with desserts it will not work. Here the question arises as to what to replace the mascarpone cheese, so that the consistency and taste of the dish is preserved. Consider options for replacing this product with other, derived from milk, options.
To replace this cheese in a cream for a cake oranother dessert, you can use a self-prepared creamy mixture. To do this, take 150 g of cream cheese, a quarter cup of twenty-percent cream and 2 tablespoons of butter. In this case, cheese and butter should be at room temperature. Cream well beaten whisk or blender, add to them butter and carefully kneaded with a fork cheese. All the ingredients are mixed until a light, airy, homogeneous mass is obtained.
To replace mascarpone in other dishes (for example, pasta, risotto, soups, etc.), you can use less fatty and high-calorie substitutes:
Another famous Italian gentle cheese -ricotta. Therefore, many are interested in whether it is possible to use ricotta instead of mascarpone. Can. It is ideally suited as an alternative, since it has the same properties: similar consistency, soft taste and light texture.
For a full replacement, you need 150 grams of cheesericotta and 200 ml of twenty-percent cream (can be higher). Both ingredients should be put in a container and mixed with a blender or combine until a homogeneous mixture is obtained, and then beat until a light, airy mass is obtained. At the same time, use this mixture immediately, otherwise it will lose its properties.
Italian dessert tiramisu is famous throughoutthe world. Therefore, each self-respecting hostess wants at least once to pamper themselves and their loved ones 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 replacing mascarpone in tiramisu.
An alternative to this cheese will be simple fat cottage cheese or a mixture of cottage cheese and cream. And tastier than that, 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 for all night. To get half a kilo of the finished product, you need one kilogram of sour cream.
If you still want to add a mascarpone to the dish, and there are not any in the shops, you can make this cheese yourself.
The most common are two ways to make a product yourself.
Take cream with a fat content of at least 20% and lemonjuice from the calculation of a spoonful of juice on a glass of cream. Cream warm to 90 ° C in a water bath, then add the lemon juice there, mix. The mixture is poured into a container (plastic or stainless steel), covered with gauze, then left for 12 hours at room temperature. The resulting liquid should be drained, and the thick should be transferred to a sieve covered with gauze. Remove the sieve for 24 hours in the refrigerator, placing a container under it, so that the remaining moisture will flow out. Finished cheese is put into a container with a closing lid. Put the product in the refrigerator. Use within three to five days.
Take sour cream or a mixture of sour cream and kefir and hang in gauze for a day. Cheese will be ready when all the liquid drains, and the remaining mass becomes firmer.
To lovers of Italian desserts and simply deliciousdishes do not limit yourself just because one of the main ingredients is difficult to find in the store, or it is very high in calories. Mascarpone can easily be replaced with a lower-calorie ingredient, and if this is not possible, then the other derivatives of milk are a product of appropriate fat content. The taste of the dish will remain as excellent!
