Kitchen Creamery by Louella Hill is a Taste of Good Home Cooking

If you’ve ever considered turning your home kitchen into a home creamery, Louella Hill is the guide for you. Before moving to California from L’il Rhody, Hill helped launch Farm Fresh Rhode Island and Narragansett Creamery. For those familiar with her doings, it comes as no surprise that Hill has written a cookbook of her own: Kitchen Creamery: Making Yogurt, Butter & Cheese at Home (Chronicle Books, 2015).

As The Milk Maid, Hill has taught cheesemaking throughout the Bay Area, and she’s accustomed to guiding apprentice cheesemakers through what can seem like a daunting process.

Hill introduces core concepts before moving on to complex recipes and techniques: Once beginners have mastered the yogurt, farmer’s cheese and cultured butter, they can attempt beginners’ recipes for chêvre, whole-milk ricotta or mascarpone. Adventurous dairy lovers can then tackle challenging cheeses like Camembert, Havarti and Asiago.

Hill intersperses entertaining snippets from her life as a cheesemaker throughout her colorful book. While home cooks may not have the time or inclination to attempt some of the advanced recipes, the bright, user-friendly layout and Hill’s approachable tone makes Kitchen Creamery a great pick for dairy lovers interested in making their own creamy treats.