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Making Cheese

Bouland

By Bouland
in Cooking

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Placebo

Placebo

Posted
Posted

Smith Brothers may also sell a non-homogenized milk, and if so it may be orderable through the Pike Place Creamery (the creamery gets stuff from them already, I believe).

Bacon starts its life inside a piglet-shaped cocoon, in which it receives all the nutrients it needs to grow healthy and tasty.

-baconwhores.com

Bacon, the Food of Joy....

-Sarah Vowell

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girl chow

girl chow

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So I went to Gig Harbor this weekend in search of milk at the alleged Whole Foods Market I found on the Internet ... you guessed it, it's a totally sound alike grocery store (what a ripoff). It was closed on Sunday, but I looked inside and it looked nothing like the actual Whole Foods chain (who granted them their biz license?).

I was mad for about 20 seconds and wondering why I just didn't call before driving the 30 minutes to GH. BUT, alas, I walked down the street and found myself in cheese heaven at Isa Mira, a brand new gourmet cheese shop and cafe (3313 Harborview Drive, Gig Harbor; 253-857-7511)

They had a stellar looking cheese display case. Hubby and I bought a hunk of Cahills Farm Cheddar, an Irish cheddar cured with Guiness. Oh yeah, it's good. I just finished it off with a pink lady apple about five minutes ago.

Here's the best part: THEY SELL CHEESE CULTURES. That's one thing I've had trouble finding locally, so now I know where to go once I start making hard cheeses (it's just a matter of time). Debbie, the owner of Isa Mira, said that she'll be carrying more cheesemaking supplies in the future and they might even start making cheese there (her shop is small, so she'd probably have to expand).

Placebo, thanks for the info on Smith Farms. I actually work about 2 miles from the dairy, but I don't think they have a retail store (I'll call or drive by and check today). I might have to find a retail source closer to home for them.

My quest for good milk and cheesemaking supplies continues...

I made mozzerella this weekend with fresh sage from my garden and garlic. Milk came from the Faith Dairy. I also picked up a quart of Faith Dairy ice cream. It's decent in an old fashioned ice cream kind of way, but not blow-off-your-socks quality. I had the butter brickle.

A palate, like a mind, works better with exposure and education and is a product of its environment.

-- Frank Bruni

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  • 2 weeks later...
jogoode

jogoode

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We're planning a mozzarella-making session on next Sunday(4/18) at my place. Annyone interested?

I am! And my job ends Thursday!

JJ Goode

Co-author of Serious Barbecue, which is in stores now!

www.jjgoode.com

"For those of you following along, JJ is one of these hummingbird-metabolism types. He weighs something like eleven pounds but he can eat more than me and Jason put together..." -Fat Guy

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JosephB

JosephB

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Wish I could make it -- will be out of town. But I'll be looking forward to the discussion and pictures. What a great idea!

If the mozz experiment is successful, will you be making other cheeses in the future?

Look out Artisanal, here comes eGullet. :wink:

Darn! I forgot that you were away next weekend. Don't worry, we'll do it again - projects like this require several sessions to perfect the product.

Did I mention that I'm getting raw, grass-fed milk from PA to make the mozz? Should be good.

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docsconz

docsconz

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Sounds awesome. When I get home tomorrow I should post my pics frm making mozzarella di bufala in Campania this past November. Unfortunately, I wasn't the one to make it. I just observed and ate it :laugh: Man, was that good. That is where I got my avatar.

John Sconzo, M.D. aka "docsconz"

"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster."

- Ferran Adria on eGullet 12/16/2004.

Docsconz - Musings on Food and Life

Slow Food Saratoga Region - Co-Founder

Twitter - @docsconz

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JosephB

JosephB

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Sounds awesome. When I get home tomorrow I should post my pics frm making mozzarella di bufala in Campania this past November. Unfortunately, I wasn't the one to make it. I just observed and ate it :laugh: Man, was that good. That is where I got my avatar.

That would be great. Pictures are very helpful. I wanted to use this recipe, but we're going to try something a little less ambitious first. Here, except that we're going to do one batch with raw milk.

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docsconz

docsconz

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Posted
Sounds awesome. When I get home tomorrow I should post my pics frm making mozzarella di bufala in Campania this past November. Unfortunately, I wasn't the one to make it. I just observed and ate it :laugh: Man, was that good. That is where I got my avatar.

I just reviewed my pics and now realize why I didn't post them after my trip :laugh: While the mozz pics are good as souveniers, they do very little to illustrate technique so I won't waste everyones bandwith :sad:

John Sconzo, M.D. aka "docsconz"

"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster."

- Ferran Adria on eGullet 12/16/2004.

Docsconz - Musings on Food and Life

Slow Food Saratoga Region - Co-Founder

Twitter - @docsconz

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balmagowry

balmagowry

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I need to find rennet and pH paper for this project.  There's no time to order them on the internet.  Where do you think I can find these items in town?  Thanks.

Don't know about pH paper, but I saw rennet yesterday at my local health food store. Dang, I was hoping to join in on this plan, but judging from the forecasts I've been hearing I suspect I'm going to have to be in the garden, desperately trying to catch up. Weren't for that I'd be volunteering to bring the rennet; but I can't imagine you'll have any trouble finding it in town. You're near Fairway, aren't you? bet you they would have it.

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JosephB

JosephB

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I need to find rennet and pH paper for this project.  There's no time to order them on the internet.  Where do you think I can find these items in town?  Thanks.

Don't know about pH paper, but I saw rennet yesterday at my local health food store. Dang, I was hoping to join in on this plan, but judging from the forecasts I've been hearing I suspect I'm going to have to be in the garden, desperately trying to catch up. Weren't for that I'd be volunteering to bring the rennet; but I can't imagine you'll have any trouble finding it in town. You're near Fairway, aren't you? bet you they would have it.

Near Fairway? Now how did you know that?

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alacarte

alacarte

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I need to find rennet and pH paper for this project. There's no time to order them on the internet. Where do you think I can find these items in town? Thanks.

Joe, did you find the rennet and pH paper? I'm especially curious about where one finds pH paper (other than PhD programs, ha ha ha). :biggrin:

Spice & Ice and more
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JosephB

JosephB

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I need to find rennet and pH paper for this project.  There's no time to order them on the internet.  Where do you think I can find these items in town?  Thanks.

Joe, did you find the rennet and pH paper? I'm especially curious about where one finds pH paper (other than PhD programs, ha ha ha). :biggrin:

I haven't bought it yet, but I think pH paper is the same stuff you use to test saliva for the body's acid level. It seems to be a health store product. See here. I'm going to search for it in the morning. Rennet is easy enough to find.

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JosephB

JosephB

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Oh, MAN! Even though I don't post much, I would love to go... but, I have to go to Queens that day! Dang! If this happens again, though, could I attend? I'll bring lots of bread?!

You got it Pumpkin.

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balmagowry

balmagowry

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Guess what?

We didn't make cheese!

We made pizza. "We" being kind of a misnomer, because mostly it was slkinsey who made the pizza with able assistance and marvelous toppings courtesy of josephb. The rest of us (jogoode, bergerka, donna AKA Mrs. josephb, and Eubie the terrier) sat around and gossiped and drank and stole ingredients out from under their noses and snarfed down one pizza after another, and generally had rather a lovely time. I'll be posting photos, but have to wait until some time tomorrow because I'm having monitor calibration problems and it's hard to tell at the moment where tomato ends and crust begins. But I did preview them last night and the occasion is not going to be insufficiently documented - of that I am sure.

There would have been cheese, but... well, I have a picture of the culprit.

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JosephB

JosephB

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The mozzarella-making project got off to a good start on Saturday morning. Slkinsey and I headed down to the East Village to pick up a gallon of grass-fed raw milk from a raw milk club. The plan was to use this recipe, which required a two-day process.

I had everything I needed to make the cheese except the rennet, which based on sound advice I presumed I could find in the grocery store. Uh, no. After spending the better part of Saturday and Sunday morning (I gave up on the two-day plan) searching for rennet, I finally got some rennet from picaman (Thank you Jamie). By this time I was feeling a bit rushed, and I still had other errands to run. I commenced an abridged version of the same recipe.

Things were going fine after the inoculation, addition of rennet, and the curd formation. I got a beautiful "break" of silky curds. I cut up the curds and set it to rest for several hours so that the acidity level would increase. The recipe called for maintaining the curds at 97 degrees, so I covered the pot with a towel and placed it near the oven exhaust, and turned on the oven to low. The recipe called for a 5-8 hour rest -- I had only three hours to spare. Then I took my pup to the park.

I came back two hours later and took a peek. The milk seemed to hot. When I inserted an instant read thermometer into the liquid it read 110 degrees! I tasted the curds. They squeaked like rubber. I had killed the beautiful curds. I proceeded with the rest of the instructions in the recipe just for the heck of it. In the end, slkinsey described the thing I made as a "puck." I'll get it right next time. With the leftover whey, I made a delicious ricotta. I wish you all could have tasted it.

Thank you to everyone who participated. We'll do it again soon.

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picaman

picaman

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Sorry I wasn't up to actually attending the cheesefest. Sounds like everyone had a really great time in spite of the outcome, and I'm proud that my rennet was used in the interest of such a noble scientific pursuit :wink: I'm looking forward to the pictures.

With the leftover whey, I made a delicious ricotta. I wish you all could have tasted it.

What did you do with the ricotta?

:smile:

Jamie

See! Antony, that revels long o' nights,

Is notwithstanding up.

Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene ii

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