Cheese Making

[Robson Valley]

How Paleo. I bought a seat in a 4-day cheese-making class of 20 and it's on in 2 weeks!
Had to wait and wait and wait to see if they get the numbers to run it.

Partly for entertainment and partly to watch for any potential start-ups to help.
Don't hold your breath, I'll add to this.

 

[Janne]

Ask about that Jewish fresh cheese food I wrote some months ago. Liptauer or Rozhuda.
You will be the ⭐️ of the course!

I look forward what you will tell us about it.

 

[Robson Valley]

This is a white bread and mayonnaise village. Yeast is a flavoring for beer.
We might not get beyond cheddar or Kraft cheese slices.
For the price of a seat, I hope so. If cheese was made in an oil refinery, it would sell well here.
Gruyere, Emmenthal, Brie, Camembert, Gouda, Mozzarella, Wensleydale (sp?) are things I like.

 

[Janne]

You are a rare Canadian!

Most people today prefer non matured cheeses. The Brits are still liking well aged Stilton.

 

[Robson Valley]

I like Stilton. Use fresh Rosemary, 1/4" apple slices, pecan halves and Stilton or Roquefort on a pizza done in the BBQ with smoke.
I wouldn't reach for it first if there's something interesting like Tressa on the table.

We have to put up with Gouda-style and Gruyere-style Canuck cheeses that have little developed taste.
I always look for the imports. Found a great British cheddar called "Coast" which has some serious zip to it and no added color.

Funny, as much as I like fresh cheese curds (aka cottage cheese), I think that poutine was invented by the guys
at BP and Exxon from petroleum residue. I've stepped in nicer things in the forest.

 

[Toddy]

Have you made crowdie ?
It's simplicity itself, and is probably among the first cheeses of temperate regions.
All it needs is milk and something to act as a rennet. You can buy rennet now, but in the past everything from calves and hens stomachs were used, as well as the plant based ones like bedstraw roots (why cheddar is still coloured red ) and nettles.

I'm in the notion now, and my friend who grew up on a hillfarm in Argyll was just talking about it last week. Our families are both grown up, and we rarely bother to make it for ourselves now, but I think I'm going to make some and we'll share

It's easy to flavour too. Usually we just add a little salt, maybe stir through some cream if there's leftovers. It takes well with pepper, with onions/chives, herbs, pineapples, and such like too.

If you press it firmly into an cloth lined mould, then unwrap it and let it sit on an ashet someplace cold and dry, it does mature well too. That takes time though, and it needs to be kept clean and free of pests and so on, so usually we just make it from fresh.

I hope your cheese making course is both fun and inspirational Interested to hear how it goes.

M

 

[Robson Valley]

Toddy, you really should get back to it. I read that it's an ancient skill that even children can appreciate.
Preserving milk to use next year. My twin grandsons are just 4 yrs old. They could do this.

As a biology lab enzyme experiment, I've made small amounts of raw curd cheese more than 30X over the years.
I'd bring crackers and wind up eating most of it myself. Their loss.

The rennilase enzyme is in most big grocery stores here. The basics now are really easily done.
I don't know how to scale up the volume, or mature it. Guess I'm going to learn.

There's a big website with big kits for fairly big money.
Just as that caught my interest, this cheese-making class came up.

My greatest hope is that there's enough milk available for somebody to mess with this on a much larger scale.
There is zero competition in the whole district. It's all yours. I would trade financial support for cheese.

BUT
We don't have a big enough population here alone to support such a business.
If all the "work-aways" are home, maybe 600 in the village.
They will have to market successfully in several cities.

 

[Janne]

We have the "Coastal" Cheddar here too. Together with the "Waitrose extra matured" the only decent cheddars.

"Coastal" is the best. Plus, much cheaper than the Waitrose one!

 

[Monikieman]

Hi Toddy.

Any more info on Crowdie making. I didn't really find a lot on tinterweb! just about leaving buckets of milk by the fire and at that point the bell rang and someone in authority in the house called 'Time'!!!!!

Cheers

 

[Arya]

Have any of you ever tried to make cheese from mares milk? I´m really keen on trying to make it myself, but I´ve never even tasted it. Mares milk yes, good for lots, but what´s the cheese like?

Good luck in the cheese making class, Robson Valley! I must admit I´m a bit envious.

 

[Robson Valley]

Arya: I made a note. Thanks. Have started a paper page of notes and questions that I'll ask if they don't offer the answer.
I'll bet there's some ethnic group somewhere that uses mare's milk for cheese or some other milk based culinary product.

Ask your government agriculture/food people (that's how this class is sponsored). See what's possibly going around.
I found out nearly a year ago that the cheese class was held away far west of here.
So I encouraged those with the right connections to ask if it might happen here.
I bought a seat partly to "bulk up the numbers" in the hopes that enough people would enroll so it would not get cancelled.
I made a lot of village noises (up to my usual tricks, yes?) as well.
Much to my obvious delight, the class is a 'go.'

 

[Janne]

Yes, the Mongols use Mare's milk for cheese making.

Of course I have never tried it, but it is supposed to be similar to Feta sand the unaged Goats Cheese,, but a different taste.

I have tasted Reindeer cheese though. Tastes a bit like Goats cheese. The Same make it. I only tasted the fresh one, but apparently they age it too.

They put it in their Coffee.

Sami Coffee: Or as we used to say: Lapp jaevel kaffe.

Boil Coffee the Swedish style. Add a small pinch of salt. Cut Reindeer cheese in small pieces and put in the coffee.
stir.
Enjoy.

The other Coffee they like is Vodka Coffee. Similar to the classic Swedish Coffee with Vodka ( Brannvin) but they like more Vodka in it.

Edited to add useless info

 

[Toddy]

Hi Toddy.

Any more info on Crowdie making. I didn't really find a lot on tinterweb! just about leaving buckets of milk by the fire and at that point the bell rang and someone in authority in the house called 'Time'!!!!!

Cheers

Would you like a tutorial ? or just a quick run through ?

It's really easy. My Granny didn't hold with this skimmed milk nonsense, but she was thrifty. So she took ordinary milk (non whatever they do to mix the tiny amount of cream they leave in it now to claim that it's full fat ) and took the cream off for butter, and then slowly heated up the milk in a pan with rennet. Thing is though, there are dozens of rennets nowadays. I use vegerennet, but you can buy the ordinary calves stuff in some supermarkets (Sainsbury's had it last time I looked, I think Holland and Barrett did too though). Gently stir the rennet through the gently warming milk and leave it in peace until it curdles. Don't boil it, just bring it up until it's at blood heat. If you can keep it at that for an hour or so, it'll be better crowdie, I think.
Then you take a knife and cut cross wise into the mass, cube it, and that lets the whey rise up/seperate out. Line a sieve with muslin (a good sized, new, and kept for the job, gents hankie ! )
and pour the whole lot into it over a bowl. The whey is drinkable, and my Father used to be keen on it.
Leave the crowdie to drip for an hour or so. Then you just break up the crudes with your fingers, or a spoon , and sprinkle a little salt on it. It's good with oatcakes and it's good with black pepper. It's very good with oatcakes and potted hough.
Ehm, measurements....about a litre of milk to a couple of teaspoonsful of ordinary rennet.

atb,
M

 

[Robson Valley]

Thanks Toddy. That's exactly what students made in a bio lab to study the properties of enzymes (heat, salts, pH, etc).
The enzyme here goes by the trade name of rennilase.
As the instructor, I'd press it into a ball, size of a small orange.
Some students would eat some, the rest of them didn't comprehend the concept of "cheese."

 

[Monikieman]

Would you like a tutorial ? or just a quick run through ?

It's really easy. My Granny didn't hold with this skimmed milk nonsense, but she was thrifty. So she took ordinary milk (non whatever they do to mix the tiny amount of cream they leave in it now to claim that it's full fat ) and took the cream off for butter, and then slowly heated up the milk in a pan with rennet. Thing is though, there are dozens of rennets nowadays. I use vegerennet, but you can buy the ordinary calves stuff in some supermarkets (Sainsbury's had it last time I looked, I think Holland and Barrett did too though). Gently stir the rennet through the gently warming milk and leave it in peace until it curdles. Don't boil it, just bring it up until it's at blood heat. If you can keep it at that for an hour or so, it'll be better crowdie, I think.
Then you take a knife and cut cross wise into the mass, cube it, and that lets the whey rise up/seperate out. Line a sieve with muslin (a good sized, new, and kept for the job, gents hankie ! )
and pour the whole lot into it over a bowl. The whey is drinkable, and my Father used to be keen on it.
Leave the crowdie to drip for an hour or so. Then you just break up the crudes with your fingers, or a spoon , and sprinkle a little salt on it. It's good with oatcakes and it's good with black pepper. It's very good with oatcakes and potted hough.
Ehm, measurements....about a litre of milk to a couple of teaspoonsful of ordinary rennet.

atb,
M

Mary.

That's superb. I'll give it a go. You've just set me off though mentioning hough!!!!!!! My friends mum (God bless her, she passed away recently) did ask me when I was a bairn "How does your mother cook hough? Mine just goes all watery"

 

[Toddy]

The answer is long and slow, or use a pressure cooker

Hough from the butcher, and ask if he'll break it for you. Put it into the pressure cooker with just barely enough water to cover maybe half way up it. High pressure for a good half hour.
Run it under a cold tap until the lid can be turned, and check that it looks as though the meat is falling off the bones. If it's not, put it back on the heat. When it is ready to fall off the bones with just a fork, lift the meat out onto an ashet and scrape and shred it with a fork. Season the shredded meat; salt and pepper is usually all it needs; then pack it 7/8ths full into ramekins. The jus that's still in the pot ought to be gelatine rich. Don't strain off the fat. Pour the jus over the hough to the top, fat and all, and the liquid will soak through the meat, and the fat and jelly will rise and the whole thing will set neatly. If the ramekin isn't one with ridges then a table knife run round inside will let the meat just turn out upside down into a tidy shape. If it is ridged then you need to pop it into a bowl with some hot water for a moment or two just to loosen and soften the edges, and then it will turn out too.

This can be done with most meats, but if not quite jelling, see if you can get a bit of pig's trotter or the shin bones to add to the boiling. Chicken jelly is too soft on it's own.
I'm told that it can be done too with fish heads. Lot of meat on a salmon head, and fish bones boil down to virtually nothing in the pressure cooker, just that most of the meat on a salmon, or trout, really doesn't need that much cooking, iimmc ? it'd be a waste. Oxtail is, I'm told (I'm vegetarian) very good too when made into potted meat.

Anyway, potted hough, good on oatcakes, served with black pudding, or a bite of cheese or a slice of dumpling.
If you do it right, the fat seals it so well that it keeps for months....well, that might be apocryphal....it's never lasted longer than a day or two in any house I've known

M

 

[Janne]

So basically 'headchese' or 'brawn' ?

Never had it made with fish though. Pig, milk piglet, cow, calf. Sulze in my family.

Salmon or Trout in Aspic is a classic dish. 1970's favourite in Sweden and Norway.
Only because they started importing a nasty variety of a Salmon (salmonid) that was cheap but not nice to eat the normal way we eat salmon.

Just the thought of Salmon in Aspic brings out a shudder in me.......

 

[Janne]

You can make a nice fresh cheese by genly heating up Youghurt or kefir.
Heat gently until separation, while stirring gently.
Strain through a Melitta filter (or muslim cloth)

Mix with whatever you like. Sweet or savoury
Or use on cakes type Kolacky.

 

[Monikieman]

Mary. My bad perhaps. Great reply but I meant that she was trying to fry the potted hough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It kept going runny in the pan. Sorry (seeing as you typed a long reply)

 

[Toddy]

Fried ? potted hough ?? It makes good stock for stovies

M