Cottage cheese can be frozen, and it comes back grainy with a puddle underneath.
How big that puddle is depends almost entirely on what you do before it goes in.
Step 1. Drain it
The step that decides everything else. Tip the tub into a sieve and leave it an hour.
Less liquid in means less weeping out — and cottage cheese is sold sitting in liquid
precisely because that is what makes it cottage cheese rather than
tvorog.
Step 2. Portion by recipe
250 g is a standard batch of cheese pancakes. Thawing 500 g to use half of it
and refreezing the rest is how you end up with something unusable.
Step 3. Press it flat in the bag
It freezes faster and thaws faster, and a flat slab stores better.
Step 4. Label it
Three months is the working limit, and thawed curd is hard to tell from ricotta by sight.
Step 5. Thaw in the fridge, then drain again
There will be more liquid. Pour it off.
Step 6. Press it through a sieve or blitz it
This is what removes the graininess. In a baked dish nobody will know afterwards.
Step 7. Add flour, not liquid
Thawed curd is wetter than fresh, so cheese pancake batter may need an extra spoonful
of flour to hold shape. Adjusting the other way is the mistake.
Where it works and where it does not
| Cooked | Uncooked |
|---|---|
| Cheese pancakes | Eaten plain |
| Baked puddings and casseroles | With fruit for breakfast |
| Dumpling fillings | In a salad |
| Cheesecake batter | As a dip |
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