Author Topic: The "Young Matador" experiment -a success  (Read 1655 times)

Spellogue

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The "Young Matador" experiment -a success
« on: May 26, 2013, 02:13:43 AM »
Here are notes on a cheese I crafted last fall.  We enjoyed it immensely.  I will try to replicate it again this year in larger batches this season.  I'm not sure exactly how to classify it, but this category seemed the most logical place to post it. Any comments, critiques,  or ideas for further exploration are certainly welcome.  I call it Young Matador:

CA10A. 10/4/12   Young Matador
2 quarts fresh raw goat milk
2 quarts refrigerated raw goat milk (2 days old)
Bring to 85F
Starter cultures - None
Calf rennet 1/32 tsp dried diluted in 4  Tbsp water
50 min coagulation time
Cut into 1/2 in cubes
Heal 5 min.  Gentle stir. Set 5 min. Repeat 4 more times w/ no additional heat.  Curd will resemble blocky cottage cheese.
Drain through cheesecloth lined colander 10 min.   Toss curss with 1 tsp. fine  salt. Tie corners of cheesecloth into bag (rectilinear). Drain under 7 lbs in colander 24 hrs. Flipping after 7 hrs.
Brine in medium whey brine for 6 hrs.  Air dry 5 days.  Wiping with brine once.  Wipe with salted vinegar.  Dry 10 min.  Coat with salted tomato stained tallow.  Refrigerate.
Affinage:  at least 2 months.
2/10/13. Seems to be hitting a stasis.  Had to remove fat and rebard twice over past 2 months to control interloping blue mold.  No more tomato tallow handy.
2-22/13. A nice cheese.supple, not too soft.  Lots of mechanical holes. Buttery, salty, very slight tangy bite.  Whiff of ammonia noticeable, benefits from a short airing once cut. 
3/10/13. Simply delicious.  Wonderfully supple, cute, colorful, yielding crust from the barding.  Taste has softened and become a bit more refined, but still slightly earthy-funky with a hint of a tang.  Make again!

The pictures I took are rudimentary and hardly do the cheese justice, but they some of the few I could find and the cheese has long since been eaten.

linuxboy

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Re: The "Young Matador" experiment -a success
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2013, 06:33:47 AM »
You have made a variant of the tomme style made in the Basque area and going into France in the SW area, with an American style finish for affinage. A sort of hybrid. Lovely cheese from the sound of it :)

Spellogue

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Re: The "Young Matador" experiment -a success
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2013, 03:51:40 PM »
Thanks for the feedback.  I liked the rind control that the tallow coating provided, slowing mold growth and making its removal easier. How might a more traditional Basque cheese like this have been finished?

Btw: the tallow was beef fat removed from the cooled top of a very fatty tomato sauce and then rendered. The rendered tallow was tomato stained and still had flecks of Italian herbs in it.

Spellogue

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Re: The "Young Matador" experiment -a success
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2013, 02:46:37 PM »
Oops!  The pictures above are of my Honey Rubbed Montasio, a firmer cheese molded in a similar way (cheesecloth bag pressed between boards).

Here are photos of the "Young Matador":


Tomer1

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Re: The "Young Matador" experiment -a success
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2013, 08:30:59 PM »
Looks funkey delicious!