Ingredients
Cheese
- 8 litreswhole cow’s milk
- ¼ tspcalcium chloride in 2 tbsp water, if using shop milk
- ½ tspliquid rennet in 50 ml cool water
- 3 litreshot water at 70°C (158°F), for stretching
- 2 tbspsalt
To store
- 200 gbutter, softened
- a clay pot or a lidded jar
Directions
- Warm the milk to 34°C (93°F), add the calcium chloride if using shop milk, then the rennet, and leave undisturbed for 45 minutes until it gives a clean break.
- Cut the curd into 2 cm cubes, rest 10 minutes, then stir gently for 20 minutes. Drain off the whey.
- Leave the curd in a warm place to acidify for two to three hours. It is ready when a piece dropped into water at 70°C (158°F) stretches into a smooth rope rather than tearing. Test every 20 minutes; this window is the whole difficulty of the cheese.
- Cut the ripened curd into slices, put them in a wide bowl and pour over the hot water. Work the curd with a wooden spoon until it comes together into a single elastic mass.
- Now the part that gives tenili its name: pull the mass out into a long ribbon, fold it back on itself, and pull again — then keep dividing it, pulling each length thinner and thinner until you have a mass of fine threads no thicker than string. This is done entirely by hand and takes the better part of an hour.
- Salt the threads as you work them, keeping the water hot enough to re-dip the mass whenever it stiffens.
- Gather the finished threads loosely, layer them into a clay pot with the softened butter worked between the layers, and press down. The butter keeps the threads from knitting back together and stops them drying out.
- Cover and keep cold. Eat within a fortnight, pulled apart in strands.
Technique
- The stretch window decides everything. Too early and the curd shreds; too late and it dissolves into the hot water.
- Work with rubber gloves. The water is hot and the curd holds the heat for a long time.
- This is genuinely a skilled job and it nearly died out for that reason. Expect the first attempt to give coarse threads rather than fine ones.
Substitutions
- Vegetarian microbial rennet, which works here.
- A pH meter or strips, which take the guesswork out of the ripening.
- Sheep’s milk, which is traditional in Meskheti.
Variations
- Some makers store it in oil rather than butter.
- Chechil and the Slovak korbáčiky are related pulled cheeses, plaited rather than packed loose.
History
A Meskheti speciality made only by hand, once served at weddings and funerals; production nearly died out in the twentieth century.
Frequently asked questions
What is Tenili?
Tenili is a cheese & dairy from Georgia: cheese pulled into fine threads and stored in a clay pot with butter. A Meskheti speciality made only by hand, once served at weddings and funerals; production nearly died out in the twentieth century.
How long does Tenili take to make?
Tenili takes 2 hours plus 3 hours acidifying of preparation and 40 min of cooking. The recipe makes makes about 500 g. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Tenili?
Yes, within limits. Vegetarian microbial rennet, which works here. A pH meter or strips, which take the guesswork out of the ripening. Sheep’s milk, which is traditional in Meskheti.
What is the most important thing to get right in Tenili?
Leave the curd in a warm place to acidify for two to three hours. It is ready when a piece dropped into water at 70°C (158°F) stretches into a smooth rope rather than tearing. Test every 20 minutes; this window is the whole difficulty of the cheese.
