I found a review of industrial paneer production that said adding salt (0.25-0.5% w/w) to the milk before the initial heating improved sensory qualities.
Everyone preferred it, smoother consistency, just as soft but with a slight bite without rubberiness. I used 0.5% salt, I think it was ~11g in a 4 pint jug.
My paneer has been extremely consistent making it weekly for a good few months so although I’ve only tried this once I’m reasonably confident it was down to the salt.
Interestingly the amount of vinegar I needed was a fair bit higher (it has consistently been ~65 ml but I needed 90) which also makes me think the salt was doing something.
The concentration of acid and temperatures for adding the acid that I’ve settled on was similar to the optimum ranges in the paper as well which I found interesting (I dilute 5% acidity vinegar to 1%,). Lower end but a lot of the parameters were a trade off between yield and sensory properties. Makes sense of my priorities are skewed to the opposite end of that scale.
Will definitely try it again anyway, maybe just a fluke or a weird batch of milk (it was same brand etc…)
I see your and raise you
I did find a few recipes that said their Indian mum/grandmother added (a big pinch to a tsp) salt to the milk before boiling which I thought was interesting. Certainly a tiny minority of recipes though.
Making a large batch of chicken dopiaza today. Instead of the usual chillies I’m using some that my Dad has grown in his greenhouse. He gave me a huge bag of them to bring home and now they’re in my freezer.
I have no idea what they are
and neither has my dad, “well they’re just chilli peppers”
and raise you 
).
