Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Recommended Posts

Posted

Please let us know how it comes out, cyalexa. I keep reading about how easy and fun it is, but haven't taken the plunge myself yet.

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
HosteG Forumsnsmith@egstaff.org

Follow us on social media! Facebook; instagram.com/egulletx

"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

Posted

Please let us know how it comes out, cyalexa. I keep reading about how easy and fun it is, but haven't taken the plunge myself yet.

I will definitely report. I have made ricotta quite a few times with grocery store milk. I'm looking forward to the upgraded ingredients.  

  • 3 months later...
Posted

What matters is the pressure applied to the top of the cheese. Not the force applied!

For a specific diameter of 'hoop' (mould), the pressure produced will be proportional to the force applied. Change the hoop size (radius or diameter, the height doesn't matter), and the same specified force gives a different pressure!

In other words, PSI (pounds per square inch) is what really matters.

 

And with the Dutch Press, the weight is hung from the end of the lever arm. Consequently, with different presses, one needs to be aware of the lever lengths (or rather proportions) to calculate the force that the lever delivers to each press's piston.

You need to know the mechanical advantage. Mechanical advantage is usually expressed as 2:1, 3:1, 4;1 etc. it's the distance from where you hang your weight to the pivot point, divided by the distance from the pivot point to where the presser arm (that applies the weight to your cheese mold) is attached. In other words 4:1 mechanical advantage would mean that for every one pound of weight you hang at the end of the lever equals four pounds at the end of the presser arm.

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

  • 2 years later...
Posted

I was sent the following "recipe" for making a feta style cheese by a friend of mine. I have not tried it as yet but was wondering if anybody else had heard of this method. Here is how I received the instructions:

 

 



SALTWATER CHEESE

This is quite an amazing recipe (and amazingly simple), to make a basic cheese which is similar to feta.
  1. Mix equal parts full cream milk to salt water. Bring to where it just starts to boil and it will separate curd from whey.
  2. Pour into colander lined with a cheese cloth (or similar) to drain whey.
  3. Gather up sides and squeeze out liquid. Tie it closed and put a tea kettle or heavy pot on top to press for about an hour or so.
  4. You will have a cheese similar to feta

Tip: You can make the cheese equally well using full cream powdered milk and only filtered seawater. For example, if the milk powder instructions calls for one cup of powder to 3 cups water, use sea water, not fresh water, and cheese is perfectly salted.

You can crumble in pasta, pour some olive oil on it, serve on crackers or use in salad etc. etc.

Add lemon pepper or other flavourings (herbs) if you feel incline but on its own its super!

Cape Town - At the foot of a flat topped mountain with a tablecloth covering it.

Some time ago we had Johnny Cash, Bob Hope and Steve Jobs. Now we have no Cash, no Hope and no Jobs. Please don't let Kevin Bacon die.

Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, JohnT said:

I was sent the following "recipe" for making a feta style cheese by a friend of mine. I have not tried it as yet but was wondering if anybody else had heard of this method. Here is how I received the instructions:

 

 

 

I am not sure that without some acid it will actually separate into curds and whey. And I am afraid I have no clue what saltwater is without some sort of percentage of salt to water.   Let's see what others have to say about this.  

 

Here's a recipe that at least gives some idea of how salty the water must be.  So perhaps it will work without acid. 

Edited by Anna N (log)
  • Like 1

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

Posted

Thanks @Anna N for that link. I am going to give it a try later today and see what the results are. I will report back.

Cape Town - At the foot of a flat topped mountain with a tablecloth covering it.

Some time ago we had Johnny Cash, Bob Hope and Steve Jobs. Now we have no Cash, no Hope and no Jobs. Please don't let Kevin Bacon die.

Posted
22 minutes ago, JohnT said:

Thanks @Anna N for that link. I am going to give it a try later today and see what the results are. I will report back.

Look forward to hearing your results. I dabbled in cheese making for a time and found it to be a very satisfying endeavour. 

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

Posted

REPORT-BACK TIME

 

Okay folks, do not waste your time, milk, water, salt and energy! I followed the instructions using a 3% salt solution (more-or-less equivalent to the salinity of sea water) and obtained about half a teaspoon of non-cheese tasting scum. No curds or separation observed. I actually did it twice - the first time I turned the liquid through the cheesecloth lined colander within a minute of it starting to boil and the second time I waited for the salty water/milk mix to cool substantially before straining. Same result both times! Maybe raw milk will react differently, but that is hard to obtain here.

  • Like 1

Cape Town - At the foot of a flat topped mountain with a tablecloth covering it.

Some time ago we had Johnny Cash, Bob Hope and Steve Jobs. Now we have no Cash, no Hope and no Jobs. Please don't let Kevin Bacon die.

  • 3 years later...
Posted (edited)

Here's my first attempt at actual cheese making (I only made yogurt, paneer and ricotta before).

This is acid set cheese (the acidity coming from sour cream, buttermilk and cream of tarter). The acidified milk was cooked until curdles, drained well and salted. Then mixed with a bit of store bought blue cheese dissolved in sour cream. Pressed, salted and left to age in a closed container in the fridge. 5 days later I flipped it, punched holes and salted. Another 5 days and it was flipped, punched from the other side and salted again. I've been draining and letting some air in every couple of days.

 

It now has a light blue mold scent, and the drained water is tasty (if very salty) with pleasant blue mold and lactic acid flavor. You can see some blue bits in spots.

 

 

PXL_20201206_140618754.jpg

Edited by shain (log)
  • Like 8

~ Shai N.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

Cheese update. Seems to be doing well, which is to say it looks blue and gnarly. Smells pleasant (assuming one finds blue cheeses to smell pleasant).

I think I'll open it up soon, my technique was not perfect, and I'm worried that letting it fully age might result in off flavors or even spoilage, and I prefer it to be mild rather than risk it being inedible (am I being paranoid?).

 

PXL_20201216_112315713.thumb.jpg.ce0666d973ca3cd04b25609029e0941e.jpg

Edited by shain (log)
  • Like 5
  • Thanks 1

~ Shai N.

Posted (edited)

On this topic, I've recently fallen down this Youtube rabbit hole: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE31MqUy6nIMJ_f8y4R3_AA  Australian cheesemaking fellow who shows the process very comprehensively.  Lots of inspiration material. Now I need to go shopping for molds and mold cultures. 

Edited by cdh (log)
  • Like 1

Christopher D. Holst aka "cdh"

Learn to brew beer with my eGCI course

Chris Holst, Attorney-at-Lunch

Posted
2 hours ago, shain said:

Cheese update. Seems to be doing well, which is to say it looks blue and gnarly. Smells pleasant (assuming one finds blue cheeses to smell pleasant).

I think I'll open it up soon, my technique was not perfect, and I'm worried that letting it fully age might result in off flavors or even spoilage, and I prefer it to be mild rather than risk it being inedible (am I being paranoid?).

 

I would say "prudent," rather than "paranoid."

 

After you've tried this one, and have a sense of how it was progressing, you can try another and let it go a bit longer. Eventually you'll find the point of diminishing returns.

  • Like 1

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

Posted (edited)

So it was time to try it out.

At about 3 weeks of age, there is nice blue mold growth on the outside, and I'm pretty sure there's also some Camembert mold there.

It's quite mild, the interior is between a Sainte Maure style cheese and a very rich ricotta - it's nutty, creamy, a bit flaky, with a mild blue cheese note, and a bit too salty. The crust is a bit like a young Camembert, which is to say it is separable with a pleasant bite. It has a bolder flavor of blue cheese and Camembert but is still quite gentle.

Overall I'm super happy, next time I'll apply what I learned.

We ate one quarter of the 280g wheel (almost 10oz). We'll let the reminder age a bit more and have another go.

 

PXL_20201221_192040787.thumb.jpg.92b4794cec8194c58d14236c3315c3af.jpgPXL_20201221_192630142.thumb.jpg.79c2fea4e9ca1305cea4293465346d1d.jpgPXL_20201221_192152033.thumb.jpg.98bd2c73ea91aba06b60271f59d7e94e.jpg

 

The mold pattern resembles a drawing of a stormy ocean, I think.

PXL_20201221_192051571.thumb.jpg.7283b9b733c9e51178df2830cc6fa62f.jpg

 

I'll be happy to share the instructions if anyone is interested, it was a fun experience and require no special ingredients.

Edited by shain (log)
  • Like 11
  • Thanks 1
  • Delicious 2

~ Shai N.

  • 1 year later...
Posted (edited)

It's been 2 years already? Sheesh.

 

Started another batch.

The acid curdled cheese is mixed with sour cream and some store bought Danish blue, and salt.

I've pressed it for a day, salted it, and left to firm up and lose water.

Punctured with a skewer that was dipped into the same blue cheese (I don't think the latter part is needed, given there is mold mixed in already). The holes allow some air in.

It's now maturing in the cold storage room.

 


 

PXL_20220123_185736454.MP.jpg

Edited by shain (log)
  • Like 11

~ Shai N.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

Cheese update. Very blue. Mild smell.

 

PXL_20220131_203716522_MP.thumb.jpg.dc4e9869a4ee9628d094a56c2db2d5ea.jpg

 

SO named it Shaimembert.

Edited by shain (log)
  • Like 3
  • Thanks 3
  • Haha 5

~ Shai N.

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...
Posted (edited)
On 10/27/2010 at 2:22 AM, Honkman said:

We followed the basic recipe from Ricki Carroll's "Home Cheesemaking" and used the direct-set Fromage Blanc starter. Overall we liked the slightly sour taste of the fromage blanc.

One of the ingredients we really miss from Germany is good "Quark". There is some quark commercially available in the US but it tastes lousy. So it was time to make our own which tasted actually better and fresher than most of the quark you will get in Germany. It's very versatile - you can eat it with salt and pepper on bread, mix it with fresh fruits, mix it with jam and use it as a crepe filling or use it for quiche dough.

Quark 1.JPG

Can you post your recipe for Quark? I'm baking my way through Classic German Baking (Luisa Weiss) and I'm looking for a good recipe or substitute. My oven only goes down to 170F and all the recipes I see (including Luisa Weiss's) says it should be at 150F. 

 

Any thoughts/help would be appreciated!

 

Thanks!

Edited by mmlstarr
typos (log)
Posted
4 hours ago, mmlstarr said:

Can you post your recipe for Quark? I'm baking my way through Classic German Baking (Luis Weiss) and I'm looking for a good recipe or substitute. My oven only goes down to 170F and all the recipes I see (including Luis Weiss's) says it shouls be at 150F. 

 

Any thoughts/help would be appreciated!

 

Thanks!

 

Got Sous Vide?

  • Like 1
Posted
1 minute ago, mmlstarr said:

@gfweb

 

I don't, but that's a great idea. Maybe I'll get one!

I'd recommend having one, so many uses - excellent for heating and holding the milk for yogurt at an exact temperature. I have the Joule, and love how the app reminds me when the program is done.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 9 months later...
Posted

Tried fresh mozzarella and ricotta today. The mozzarella seemed firmer than I had thought, more like regular. Good flavor though.  Ricotta was good. May put it on a pizza this week. I bought some only pasteurized milk from a dairy in Georgia, so it definitely tasted different from store bought milk.

IMG_5240.jpeg

IMG_5241.jpeg

  • Like 7
  • Delicious 1
Posted

@RWood, Mozz takes practice in my experience.  I used to live about a mile from an Amishish raw milk dairy and made mozz semi-regularly.  At first I kneaded it too much and got a tougher, almost store-bought skim-milk mozz result.  Then I learned to knead it as little a possible to get it to cohere and got a much moister, softer, more pleasing result.

  • Like 3
×
×
  • Create New...