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This one should whet your appetites: Actually, it tastes remarkably good. Not varietal, but a nice sharp tang, and the texture is great. 18 months of aging: looks like QA was not on the job when the wax went on that day...

Are both volumes of Cheese: Chemistry, Physics, and Microbiology recommended? At about $250 per volume, the price is pretty steep. Fox also has a book called "Fundamentals of Cheese Science" that looks like it might be a more concise treatment of similar material. (And cheaper!) In our experience, very technical winemaking references are easy to come by, but we've not been able to find a good discussion of the subtleties of pH or other details along those lines, when it comes to cheesemaking.

Ooh, now *that* is what I'm talkin' about. However, I am gonna try to find some PVC pipe big enough that I can fit the weights on the press. I LOVE the pic though, and post your recipes if you can!! I love the epidemiology and microbiology books weighing in on yours! My wife is really the cheesemaker. I am the gofer who is only grudgingly permitted to cut curds, monitor temps, assist in replacing whey when the curds are being heated, etc. Most of her recipes are modified versions from the Ricki Carroll book, although she's also pulled recipes in from elsewhere. She makes all of the fresh cheeses, along with an ash-coated mold-ripened goat, a goat feta, and the aforementioned gouda to die for. One of the keys to our success is that we have a very good supplier for goat milk on the eastside in Seattle, and my wife will typically make the cheese immediately after milking. She often actually has wait for the milk to *cool* to the right temp, rather than heating it up. In the "concentrated" foods that we make on a regular basis - cheese, butter, and wine - the ingredients that we start with seem to matter more than almost any other variation. (OK, OK, cultures, chemicals, and cleanliness also play some minor role...)

Nice press! Here's our own DIY press, used to make goat goudas that come out remarkably well (especially when aged a year or 18 months).

Thanks for the cautionary tale! I think of many braising liquids as already being pretty acidic? (Wine, orange juice, tomatoes...) I wonder if there is something else going on. Nonetheless, I'll be careful with it, and try it out on a few ribs.

OK, so we're finishing this month's batch of butter right now, which means a quart of buttermilk goes into the fridge. And I'm planning to braise some meat tomorrow... Carnitas recipes sometimes call for milk. Would the buttermilk make a good braising liquid? I usually use stock and/or citrus juices, but why not? Any guidance or war stories? Thanks!

A few of those growers may have serendipitous results. Owen Roe "Ex Umbris" was a Syrah made from grapes with smoke taint. I wouldn't want to drink it every evening, but it did make a fantastic pairing with strong smoked meats. My bottles are long gone. It received some high scores from mainstream critics, if I'm not mistaken. For the rest of the affected growers, I am sorry; winegrape farming is not a big profit business, and something like this can definitely be a disaster.

Anyone interested in braising cubed shoulder should read the large carnitas thread. It is a good thing...

Concur with much of the above commentary. Which leads me to a question for you experts: Is there a decent indie coffee bar to be found in Bellevue? On the eastside, I find myself having to go to Victor's in Redmond...which is great, except that it is far from Bellevue...