Author Topic: How not to make blue du queyras  (Read 3187 times)

Hansadutta

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How not to make blue du queyras
« on: June 23, 2013, 12:41:40 PM »
Finally a complete failure / completely new cheese kind

I wanted to make a blue du queyras. I tried to use the recipe from the 200 easy homemade cheeses. I am not sure if anybody noticed but it has the following hilarious/horrificic description of Rennet "The most commonly used coagulant is rennet, which is composed of enzymes found in the stomach of calves and kids, and is extracted at the time of slaughter."
Mmmmmm. I don't have kids but also would not slaughter one to make cheese.

Anyway....

In the mean time I would like to ask a question. The book also mentions that a starter culture can be kept in the freezer for a maximum period of 3 months. Is this true or can it be stored longer?



 I went to the melk tap and bought 5 litres of raw cows milk. That is probably the only thing that I succesfully managed to do.

I put an ice cube of meso starter in a glass of milk and started to warm up the milk. I added the culture and later the rennet. (hopefully (?) of a dead calf)
When it was time to cut the curds I found that there was not much to cut. It was still milk. I realized that the starter was not very active since I made it only 1.5 hours before starting the cheese making.
I waited and waited but I could not get a clean break. I added some more rennet because I thought that 1 ml was very little.
After waiting half an hour more I decided that I should add some more heat because the pan cooled down.
Then a friend of mine showed up and we had a nice conversation about how we should see each other more often. I gave him some colby that I made recently and at that moment I realized I was making cheese.

Which was about 60 degrees C at that time!!!!!!!!

There was no curd to cut but there was something which was between yoghurt and solid. I put everything in 2 forms and pressed it a little by hand. I added the leftover start culture because it had not been heated and would still add some life.
I treated it more or less like camembert. Leaving it to drain overnight and turning it now and then.

To my surprise it actually looked like a cheese when it came out. I salted them and put them in the wine refrigerator with its buddies.

I am very curious about how it will turn out but I would like to hear some suggestions about when to eat them. I prefer cheeses to be aged a bit but is it possible with these ??????
I am still planning to make them blue but I have no clue.

Hansadutta



tnbquilt

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Re: How not to make blue du queyras
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2013, 01:49:16 PM »
Well, when it's over, don't forget about the other board, referred to as Our Family Album.

http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,10888.0.html

Just in case.

Animal rennet is exactly as described in that book, and the animal is sold for the meat. I use vegetable rennet tablets, it makes me feel better. There is also a microbial rennet that is vegetarian but I haven't read anything good about it, so I stick to the tablets.

Hansadutta

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Re: How not to make blue du queyras
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2013, 12:31:05 PM »
Hi Tammy,

What disturbed me in the sentence in the book was that it also mentions kids as a source of rennet. (after slaughtering of course)  >:D

Anyway the cheese is still turning out to be a cheese. I'll post some pictures in a later stage.

Hans

John@PC

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Re: How not to make blue du queyras
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2013, 12:51:25 PM »
What disturbed me in the sentence in the book was that it also mentions kids as a source of rennet. (after slaughtering of course)  >:D
My kids were often sources of consternation but fortunately for me (and especially them) I wasn't making cheese while they were growing up so I didn't need the rennet ;).

I had a temperate runaway with a Reblochon make (about 60C like yours) and ended up tossing it.  Have paid a lot more attention to temperature control since then and use a digital thermometer with alarm.

jwalker

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Re: How not to make blue du queyras
« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2013, 02:47:04 PM »
I think your cheeses may just turn out fine , they are much along the lines of "Kefir Cheese" , there is a website where a guy makes all kinds of cheese from Kefir , same thing , no separating of curds and whey , just a semi-solid mass that is pressed or hung to drain.

The guys does some fine looking cheese on his site , blues as well , if I can find the link i will post it and you can have a look.

Cheers , Jim.

jwalker

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Re: How not to make blue du queyras
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2013, 02:49:25 PM »

Hansadutta

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Re: How not to make blue du queyras
« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2013, 08:34:08 PM »
Hi John,

I hope your kids turn out better than these cheeses. Otherwise you may still have an option..

Hi Jim,

I am watching these cheeses very carefully. For some reason a white ***** has started to find a home but it doesn't worry me. I'm cool. Seriously I'm not worried at all.
It smells terrific. But then again I also like the smell of my armpits.

Thanks for the link. I did not have time to look at it thoroughly but it sure looks like a great source of knowledge. Since I started this hobby I bought an e reader. And I'm glad I did.

Hansadutta

Hansadutta

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Re: How not to make blue du queyras
« Reply #7 on: July 28, 2013, 12:42:59 PM »
We are almost 1 month later and my first blue has really turned out as a great succes. A fantastic white rind has formed. Exactly as I had planned. See here some pictures (I know you want them) of the latest developments.
Aren't they lovely?







You may wonder why this post was made in the blue section of the forum. Well I was a bit down when I made this cheese.
Hans