Cheese Making

[MadJohnShaft]

Yes!  The top one is the Gouda and the bottom is the creamy whatever the hell it is.





They do all sort of look the same, since there is no coloring and the press is the same, but they taste very different. I made a Parmesan this weekend. Parmesan gets oiled with olive oil at the 3, 6, 9 months mark and needs about a year.  I suppose if I make cheese 10 times are year you get a back log going and a year out you always one or two ready to eat.

Oh yeah!


Maybe I will do a Parmesan-regianno next, you need goat milk for that. I know whole paycheck carries it but I need it to be not ultra-pasturized.   The cheddar is the next one I can eat, just have to decide how long I can wait.

[khoomeizhi]

nice.

[RAGER]

Nice work on the cheese.

[MadJohnShaft]

"I got the Thermo-whatever culture to try a Parmesan next.  I got a couple of nicer pieces of cheese cloth, the grocery store cheese cloth is too sticky."


You can apparently make your own starter cultures for both the low temp and high temp cheeses - yogurt and buttermilk use those same active whatevers - and you can stick some in milk and freeze in ice trays.  You don't want them to die off so you can just keep making a new batch of starters when you get to the last cube.  Interesting..... I did rinse and reuse yeast for beer once and it worked slick.   


I would recommend getting cheese cloth from the cheese supply places - it is better than the store cheese cloth which is too wussy.  They sell one that is made of plastic that works great and you can wash and re-use over and over. It worked great.


I will put a picture of my cheese press here later, since I came up with a kick ass solution....

[El Zombre]

Muslin cloth? It works for tofu making better than cheese cloth.

[MadJohnShaft]

Yes that is right

[deleted account]

Shaft admits to making tofu!  closet vegan!

[MadJohnShaft]

Clearly you've earned a promotion, vegan. Reading comprehension skills even worse than Fartbarth.



Flipping over a cheese everyday after work is good honest dedication and makes you smart for doing it. Who will flip my cheese when I am on Holiday?

[khoomeizhi]

^ this is why most real farmers never go on vacation.

[MadJohnShaft]

That would be because of the need to milk cows

[khoomeizhi]

inextricably related

[MadJohnShaft]

I would like to toot my own horn on this - those storage shelves with the plastic holders removed make a cheese press which you are seeing here on The Internets for the first time. This is now to be known as a MadJohnShaft Cheese Press setup.


Cheese press mind fuck

It budges not an inch to the north south east nor west, yet you can add and remove 50 pounds on it in the blink of an eye.  If you store your cheese making supplies on that shelf, when you need that shelf.... It is already empty.

[RAGER]

I like it.  I love coming up with shit like that.

[MadJohnShaft]

The Parmesan was olive oiled this last weekend. Other than that, cheese stands still for human time. 

[RAGER]

YOU SHOULD DIG A DUTCH CAVE UNDER YOUR HOUSE FOR YOUR GOUDA, GEK

[khoomeizhi]

and maybe a swiss cave, and do some gruyere.

[MadJohnShaft]

As promised, the Asagio cheese split open so I dipped it in a brine bath everyday for a couple weeks hoping the salt layer would chill it out. We'll see.

I got four of them going, I should make a few more before my rennet gets old.  They seem happy enough sitting in the fridge in the basement with no mold in evidence.  Maybe I'll bust open one for Thanksgiving.


For Cheese October I made a cheddar again and put some homemade horseradish in it - it's resting in the  living room.

[MadJohnShaft]

I think Cheddar II has some mold under the wax. The fix is to un-wax it, cut off the mold, put a some dilute vinegar on the wound and rewax.  It's like a little being you are going to eat.  I recently read the wax needs to get up to 220 to get sterile.

I need a wine fridge for the cheese - the basement fridge has cheese, bread, meat, beer and stock in it. It's a little gamey.

I just made a Colby from the un-homogenized (but still gently PASTURIZED) Milk from the butcher store. It is sitting in a brine.  I have messed up every single step.  It didn't set up so I rebooted the rennet.  Then we went out to dinner.  I went to work so it got pressed for a whole day at too much weight.  When I went to brine it this morning, the brine was frozen solid so it let it just sit in the laundry room in the basement a whole day.

[juggernaut]

[RAGER]

During my year off (2016) I made all kinds of cheese. I still have quite a lot aging. I'll dredge up some pics and memories soon.

[RAGER]

Dang I still haven't posted and of my cheese.

Anyways. Totally cheese related. One of our local cheesemongers  (Sarah) who is a very cool lady just won the Cheesemonger Invitational. So proud of her. When I go to Cheesebar I always feel lucky to have her assist me in my selections.

[RAGER]

Got my cheese of the month haul. Theme is Goats milk.

[RAGER]

The cheddar is really mild but very dense and smooth.

The tomme de chevre' is nice and strong and a bit chewy. Super noms.

The Gouda is my favorite. So much depth and ooooh the calcium lactate crystals.

[Muffin Man]

I love those little nuggets like pop rocks. I miss my Gouda, gonna find some smoked.

[RAGER]

I'll prolly sign up for another 3 month deal if we're still alive.