Author Topic: popular for a reason Caerphilly  (Read 4725 times)

Hansadutta

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popular for a reason Caerphilly
« on: June 29, 2013, 08:12:00 PM »
Wow, what a cheese. This is the third cheese that I made and I made it more or less because the recipe said it would be finished in only a few weeks.
My expectations were not really high because I am used to the phrase: When something sounds too good to be true it isn't. But life has it's good sides. Sometimes you can be positively surprised. And that is putting it very mildly. It is a miracle! After only 6 weeks it tasted like heaven. A firm tasty rind with a slightly soft tasty inside. It was a thing of beauty. I am now 44 years old and I am blaming my parents for not giving me the knowledge to make these wonderfull things. I can forgive them only because I know that they had to raise 2 awfull children....
(Some names have been changed to protect the innocent.)
And again this was a great learning experience. This was the first cheese that starting to live it's own life in the sense that it grew all kinds of nasty things on it. This goes against anything a Dutch person can handle. NO CONTROL! You understand that we even have to control the sea to survive. And that is no easy thing to live with! It is almost as difficult as getting money back from your insurance company.

So I brushed and vinegared (and kept the sea out at the same time) and tried to keep the little monsters out. Nightmares kept me awake. What if they would be able to travell to my regular fridge? The horror! I even started watching episodes of Doomsday preppers. Just in case..
After a while I realized that I was much bigger and stronger. Not to mention my superior intellect. (Did I spell that right?) I relaxed and just brushed the cheese once in a while to see that underneath the grim exterior there still remained a perfect surface.
Anyway. The moment of truth. Some pictures.





Great hobby.
Hansadutta

tnbquilt

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Re: popular for a reason Caerphilly
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2013, 09:35:47 PM »
Well now I need to make one. I've never had Caerphilly but read a lot about it. It is on my list of cheeses to make, but I keep bumping it down the list. I will have to get this one in line again now.

JeffHamm

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Re: popular for a reason Caerphilly
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2013, 05:02:14 AM »
A cheese to you for such a success!  I know what you mean, it seems unreal that you can get a decent cheese in just a couple weeks but caerphilly is very good as a young cheese.  I usually cut into mine at 3 or 4 weeks, and I'm pleased with the result every time (except once, which I over acidified it and it ended up without much flavour).  Anyway, I find caerphilly a great cheese to have for eating while aging out other makes.  It is patience on a plate.  :)

- Jeff

Shazah

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Re: popular for a reason Caerphilly
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2013, 06:24:25 AM »
I agree totally with you Jeff.

I've made three Caerphilly now, my first using your recipe (before your latest modifications I think. Have you opted to leave out the Flora Danica?) and two from 200 Easy Homemade Cheese.  I did the latest two together to try out my new press.  I was happy with the result of all three cheeses but prefer the texture when I used your recipe.

I wondered if the difference may be from:
No milling of the curd in the 200 recipe or,
Pressing the two cheeses at the same time.  I used a medium pressure, which I increased overnight.

The taste of all three cheeses is lovely but the latter two were definitely wetter than my first make.
I can't find a pic of the first cut from the 200 recipe but the paste was firm but had more holes than the pic attached, which is from your recipe. (Which I'll be using for my future Caerphilly makes)
« Last Edit: June 30, 2013, 06:43:08 AM by Shazah »

Offline Tiarella

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Re: popular for a reason Caerphilly
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2013, 10:58:54 AM »
Hansadutta, I very much enjoy the humor in your writing!!!   ;D. So now I want you to write more, okay?  Seriously, or I should say, not so seriously, I get many good chuckles when reading your posts and I enjoy that very much!  Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!   ^-^.

About the cheese.....it is a favorite cheese of mine also.  It's one I decorate with leaves sometimes.  If you want to keep the molds off without any work or gray-inducing anxiety you coat it with coconut oil.  Warm the oil just enough so that you spread it on all surfaces of the cheese, put the cheese in it's aging place to cool and check it later to add more coconut oil where it is too thin a layer.  (you can notice this because when you touch that area you feel rind instead of coconut oil). If the humidity of your fridge is as low as mine yoou may have to add more coconut oil a few times but it will keep your rind pristine even if there are opportunistic little buggers on cheeses all around it. 

BUT, you could also let the rind go wild.  You DO want to do your part to avoid more extinction on this planet, right?  Think of all those bacteria that need some good habitat for a stable life, eh?  You'll be pleased to know that it's easy to do your part.  Let the molds come and dry brush the cheese every few days.  I do it out over the edge of our deck railing or over a sink.  One cheese had a blue mold or yeast that smelled like fruit after brushing.  It smelled so good that I almost became an addicted cheese sniffer and while it's healthier than sniffing glue it is still ruinous for a reputation to be seen walking around sniffing cheese all the time.  Luckily we live in the middle of a forest and no one saw me.  But really, dry brushing works well and then you'll have a cheese like a work of art.

OR, Caerphilly cheese is a good one to do with a layer of oil and smoked paprika.  I liked putting a layer of plain coconut oil over my latest one and it kept all molds off.  I make a vey thick paste of the paprika and oil and pretend I am icing a cake.   ;)

Caerphilly can also be nice aged out longer so there are so many ways to do this cheese that even if you only made this type no one would know you are a one trick wonder.  You can see the chive Caerphilly I made recently and look around for the leaf-adorned Caerphilly threads also. 

Thank you for the chuckles!  ;D

Spellogue

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Re: popular for a reason Caerphilly
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2013, 04:16:56 PM »
I waxed my first Caerphilly when it was only a few weeks old.  The rind was nice and clean and I had other cheeses to consume first, so I aged it that way.  It was quite good, but I will eat the next one I make much younger.  I especially like the look of yours here.  I'll plan to use a similar approach.  A cheese to you.

JeffHamm

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Re: popular for a reason Caerphilly
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2013, 06:39:31 PM »
Hi Shazah,

I think I have 3 caerphilly makes now (well, I've only made the 200 Easy one once, but I count that).  There's one which involves cheddaring, which is Tim Smith's recipe.  I found that on the "Greening of Gavin" website.  The third one is my most recent, and I've only made it twice now.  The first one was over acidified (but I used a lot more starter than I usually do).  The second one, which I'm currently eating, has turned out fantastic.  This is the one I've adapted from an old 1907 newspaper article.  In all of them, I still use either Flora Danica or Buttermilk (buttermilk has similar cultures to FD, though different strains and probably different ratios, but it works well).  I think you could use any culture that is suitable for cheddar and be ok, though you will get some differences in the flavour profiles.  Not huge, unless you're a real connoisseur and have a very trained palette.   

- Jeff

Shazah

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Re: popular for a reason Caerphilly
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2013, 08:06:34 PM »
Hansadutta

My apologies, I should have started my post with a big congratulations for your cheeses.  They look great and are very deserving of a cheese to you.  You'll find them to be a fantastic 'house' cheese.
I also enjoy your humour and writings, and like Tiarella, look forward to reading more about your cheese making adventures.

Thanks Jeff.
I'm going to stick with your first recipe as we enjoyed that cheese, a lot  :P

Hansadutta

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Re: popular for a reason Caerphilly
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2013, 12:53:01 PM »
Many thanks for all the cheeses and comments. So far I have not made so many cheeses which are already ready to eat. I made a Gouda and camembert which turned out nice but this caerphilly is by far my favourite so far.

I actually have added some stories in the recent past but you just have not read them yet. It feels a bit weird to promote them this way but  http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,11563.0.html and http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,11548.0.html

Hansadutta

jwalker

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Re: popular for a reason Caerphilly
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2013, 02:36:54 PM »
Six weeks old eh?

I can't wait as I have one going myself at about a week old right now.

Congrats and a cheese , yours looks great with that nice clean rind.

The one I just made is a recipe from "Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking" , it says not to wash the rind , but to let any molds grow on it , just pat them down occasionally , but I guess every cheeesemaker has their own process.

I hope mine comes out as good as yours.

Offline Tiarella

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Re: popular for a reason Caerphilly
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2013, 02:52:35 PM »
Many thanks for all the cheeses and comments. So far I have not made so many cheeses which are already ready to eat. I made a Gouda and camembert which turned out nice but this caerphilly is by far my favourite so far.

I actually have added some stories in the recent past but you just have not read them yet. It feels a bit weird to promote them this way but  http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,11563.0.html and http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,11548.0.html

Hansadutta


Oh, I've read all those......but I'm still wanting more.   ;D

Hansadutta

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Re: popular for a reason Caerphilly
« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2013, 08:41:39 PM »
Ìt's not easy writing when you have een vinger in de dijk. You know?
Hans

Offline Tiarella

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Re: popular for a reason Caerphilly
« Reply #12 on: July 02, 2013, 09:02:43 PM »
Ìt's not easy writing when you have een vinger in de dijk. You know?
Hans

WHAT????  You type with TWO hands?  Wow!!!  I can only use one hand so I can milk a goat with the other hand.   :-\  Otherwise my other hand is wasted and bored.   :-[   

When I first read your comment I thought you were spelling "vinegar" rather than "finger" and I worried that you had vinegar in an unfortunate personal place and that was keeping you from posting more.   :o

Offline H-K-J

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Re: popular for a reason Caerphilly
« Reply #13 on: July 03, 2013, 12:45:47 AM »
Wish I could get another make in. Running low at the moment :-[
Getting WAY behind on my Caerpilly's :(
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Offline Boofer

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Re: popular for a reason Caerphilly
« Reply #14 on: July 03, 2013, 01:50:35 PM »
Ìt's not easy writing when you have een vinger in de dijk. You know?
Hans
And the hans-down winner is...Hans! You're killing me, Hans. One zinger (not vinger) after another! Tongue-in-cheek, dead-pan, reading between the lines...I think you've covered all the bases. Excellent! 8)  And your cheese looks great too! Who knew a Dutchman could make cheese?! Right, Herman?  ;)

When I first read your comment I thought you were spelling "vinegar" rather than "finger" and I worried that you had vinegar in an unfortunate personal place and that was keeping you from posting more.   :o
Oooh, Kathrin, we're being a little naughty? ::)

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