Author Topic: Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg  (Read 8517 times)

Offline Webmaster

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Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg
« on: May 22, 2008, 12:16:47 AM »
« Last Edit: January 11, 2009, 02:06:31 PM by Webmaster »

Tea

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Re: Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2009, 09:11:36 PM »
I have been wanting to try this cheese for a while now, and my last attempt was a failure.  As I had made a successful batch of yoghurt I decided that I would give this another go.

The only quantities Reg gave were for the yoghurt starter and I wasn't sure whether this was a separate starter that was added to milk or not.  As there was no other measurement given I assumed that this was for a 1 gallon cheese.  So here is what I did.

10ltr of milk heated to 20C
3/4 cup of fresh yoghurt

Stir in yoghurt well and let sit 12 hours over night.
(NOTE:)  As it is hot here I placed the milk pot into another larger pot and did a water bath using ice water to try and keep the milk at around 20C over night, as the last batch I made had separated and gone off by morning.

Next morning I skimmed off the cream that have settled to the top, (and made some cultured butter), and heated the milk to 30C.  Added 2.5ml rennet in the usual method, and let set.
(NOTE:) Reg said to let set for 1 hour before testing for clean break, but I decided to check at the 1/2 hour mark and found it to be ready for cutting.

Cut the curd as per Reg's instructions.  Allowed the curd to settle a little and scooped out around 2ltr of whey which I heated to 50C.  Continued to cut the curd while stirring and added some of the hot whey every five minutes to heat the cheese to the reguired temp fo 38C over the next 1/2 hour.
Stirred for another 1/2 hour, until I could hand press some curds but they would then fall apart when you ran your finger over them.  They were also quite firm to touch.

Drained into a collander then spooned into my press.  Here things got a bit tricky, as I had way too much curd for the press.  So over the next hour I gradually managed to get all the curd into the press and pressed at 50lb over night.

Unhooped the next morning and was not at all happy with the press.  The top and bottom melded together well, but the sides did not come together at all.  Considering I stuffed so much extra into it, I am really disappointed.

Brined over night in a saturated solution, and I am now going to dry for  couple of days, and then into the oil bath with the provolone.

Tea

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Re: Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2009, 09:18:02 PM »
Woops sorry about the press photo, I forgot to flip it.
Here is the cheese in the brine.  As you can see I really need to get this pressing stage done much better.  With all the stats that you men have given on pressing and PSI, I think I really need to look into a better solution, as this was a major disappointment, as everything was going well up to this point.

Offline Cartierusm

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Re: Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2009, 03:21:36 AM »
Your curds in the pot look beautiful. Anyway, the problem I see with most presses is that they are not nearly accurate enough, meaning you have no idea what pressures you actuall have. Second most cheese videos I see they all mill the curds with a machine that breaks them up into uniform pieces, this in turn will create a uniform defect free cheese. I'm working on that same problem at the moment.

Tea

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Re: Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2009, 08:38:02 PM »
Yes the curd were looking so good and everything had gone so well up to then, that I was really disappointed at the crappy press.  You can see how far down the tube the follower is, so I had really pressed them in there.  Turned the correct amount of turns to give me the pressure   :(

Anyway decided last night to put it into the oil marinade, so we will see how this matures.

Tea

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Re: Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg
« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2009, 02:57:28 AM »
Decided that I would go ahead and age this in the oil bath as well.  Here is it in the bath along with a Jack.

After trying the provolone in the oil bath it is going tobe very interesting to see how these turn out.

LadyLiberty

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Re: Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg
« Reply #6 on: February 12, 2009, 06:41:04 AM »
Tea, are those mangoes in the background?  Beautiful curd btw!

Tea

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Re: Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg
« Reply #7 on: February 12, 2009, 08:55:19 PM »
Hi LL and yes they are.  If you go to the mead thread, I have the photo and explaination of them there.  Fulled that table up three times during mango season, but it is almost over now, so no more until next year.

LadyLiberty

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Re: Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg
« Reply #8 on: February 12, 2009, 09:37:28 PM »
Hi LL and yes they are.  If you go to the mead thread, I have the photo and explaination of them there.  Fulled that table up three times during mango season, but it is almost over now, so no more until next year.

Wow, I would love to be able to grow a mango tree. :( Well, if the weather keeps changing the way it has been eventually I might just be able to do that!

Offline Cartierusm

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Re: Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg
« Reply #9 on: February 12, 2009, 10:59:33 PM »
Silly Girl, mangos don't grow on trees, you get them at the supermarket.

LadyLiberty

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Re: Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg
« Reply #10 on: February 13, 2009, 02:09:18 AM »
Silly Girl, mangos don't grow on trees, you get them at the supermarket.

That's TRUE... around HERE.  But that might change.

I love mangos.  Has anyone ever made a mango cheese?

Cheese Head

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Re: Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg
« Reply #11 on: February 21, 2009, 12:10:37 AM »
LL, I don't think anyone around here has made Mango Cheese but there was a bit of a thread here on it.

Tea

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Re: Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg
« Reply #12 on: March 05, 2009, 08:12:46 PM »
Well update on this cheese.  Pulled it from the oil yesterday, and the results were impressive.  The interior of the cheese is much more smoother than the outside, with only a few open sections.  The cheese its self is semi hard and could be grated well and melted well also.  The flavour still appears to be beautifully mild, but having never tried an Apline before I am not sure whether the flavour should be mild anyway.

Over all I am very pleased with the oil experiement, and it has been very successful in keeping and aging cheese so far.  I will post some photo later.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg
« Reply #13 on: March 30, 2009, 03:28:58 AM »
Gorgous curd Tea! I can't say I've ever had this type of cheese either but It will be on my list to be sure!

I have also never seen the oil bath used before. I don't belive it's in any of my books. What it the purpose of the oil bath and is that Olive Oil?

If anyone comes up with a mango cheese let me know I LOVE mangos! Maybe I'll try a small mango mozzerella eh?

Tea

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Re: Alpine Cheese Recipe - by Reg
« Reply #14 on: March 30, 2009, 08:37:25 PM »
Thanks Deb.

The oil bath is just another way of aging the cheese.  It is extra light olive oil that I used, and the end result is quite different to an air dried cheese.  I have only aged for a few months, but the original poster said that cheeses could be aged this way for upto 3 years.