Author Topic: Opened my first Lancashire  (Read 2349 times)

Offline awakephd

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: North Carolina
  • Posts: 2,351
  • Cheeses: 240
  • compounding the benefits of a free press
Opened my first Lancashire
« on: June 06, 2014, 12:53:45 AM »
Only six weeks old -- I had intended to wait until 8 weeks, but will be visiting with family tomorrow and wanted to take some. I made this following the 200 Easy Cheeses recipe as modified by MrsKK (i.e., not waiting before pressing), but since I didn't have FD or similar, I used 1/8 tsp MA011, 1/32 tsp TA61, and 1/32 tsp MD88 as cultures.

Nice creamy texture, good flavor that tends towards a mild-to-medium cheddar. The rind is thicker than I expected, but not too hard to eat. All in all, I'm very pleased with the results, and happy to have something of this nature that can be eaten after only 6 weeks. I put half back in the cave to wait another couple of weeks to see how it develops.
-- Andy

JeffHamm

  • Guest
Re: Opened my first Lancashire
« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2014, 12:59:09 AM »
Very nice looking cheese!  A cheese to you.  Lancashire is a nice one, and there are a few protocols around the boards; all seem to be quite good so go with the one you are comfortable with. 

- Jeff

Offline Boofer

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Lakewood, Washington
  • Posts: 5,015
  • Cheeses: 344
  • Contemplating cheese
Re: Opened my first Lancashire
« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2014, 02:58:56 AM »
Sweet-looking little cheese. Nice job. :P

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

Rizzo

  • Guest
Re: Opened my first Lancashire
« Reply #3 on: June 09, 2014, 04:05:14 AM »
A very nice looking cheese.  A cheese to you Sir.
Interestingly, I also opened my Lancashire this weekend at 9 weeks old, made to exactly the  same recipe as yours, but with 704 starter and Renco rennet. 
It has a very nice, moist texture, and a mild and pleasant taste (guys at work reckon its VERY nice), however I personally do not think the taste is to die for! A real Lancashire Crumble has a real tang to it. This does not, its more like a cheddar.
I am still waiting for one of my cheeses to have that WOW factor..i.e.'thats so good I must make another immediately'.  Maybe I'm expecting too much too soon.  I seem to use the same amounts of rennet and starter in every cheese too. Gets good results, but no 'kick' to the cheese. Photo attached.

JeffHamm

  • Guest
Re: Opened my first Lancashire
« Reply #4 on: June 09, 2014, 07:35:17 AM »
That's a good looking result Rizzo.  If you want that real tang, I think you need to follow a more traditional procedure.  Lancashire was traditionally made with 3 sets of curds (make curds 3 days in a row, so 1/3 are from 2 days ago, 1/3 from the day before, and 1/3 on the day of the make.  Then, they get mixed and pressed together.  I think, though, you could probably make curds one day, then the next day make some more and combine them.  You probably would want to pour the warm whey from day 2 over the first lot of curds to get them back up to temperature so they will knit well.  I've not tried this myself but I recall someone a few years ago was playing around with a 2 or 3 day make.  Just can't recall how it went for them, but some searching on the board may turn it up.

- Jeff

Rizzo

  • Guest
Re: Opened my first Lancashire
« Reply #5 on: June 09, 2014, 11:01:39 PM »
Thanks Jeff. Yes, the cheese is quite pleasant. So its a win.  The make you mention that is spread over 3 days etc seems to be the way to go, I'll have to wait for a long weekend to try that one. 
There are several videos online where people have visited Mrs Kirkhams, (in Lancashire of course), I continue to play these to see what I can pick up. Its a small family run commercial operation.  He does mention a yoghurt starter in these videos.

I think I may try a Wensleydale next, however, something with a sharp edge to it.  ;D

Rizzo

  • Guest
Re: Opened my first Lancashire
« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2014, 07:34:56 AM »
Link to a youtube video here, which shows quite clearly that 3 days worth of curds are used. Mrs Kirkhams Lancashire cheese is reputed to be 'THE' Lancashire cheese, using raw milk pumped directly from their milking shed straight into the dairy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL77cIsw4yI

Offline awakephd

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: North Carolina
  • Posts: 2,351
  • Cheeses: 240
  • compounding the benefits of a free press
Re: Opened my first Lancashire
« Reply #7 on: June 10, 2014, 03:43:13 PM »
One of these days I want to try a 2-day make for Lancashire -- I don't have a mold big enough at the moment to handle 3 days worth of curds. I will look forward to the video.

Meanwhile, Rizzo, I'll see that you have a nice natural rind, but it doesn't look like yours dried out as much as mine did. I quite like the chewy outer rind, but it was a big larger than I was expecting.

I am in the midst of making my second Lancashire, this time with 3 gallons of milk. Basically the same recipe again, but tweaked the cultures a bit to add more MD089 for a bit more buttery taste and open texture -- we'll see how that goes.
-- Andy

Rizzo

  • Guest
Re: Opened my first Lancashire
« Reply #8 on: June 10, 2014, 07:50:29 PM »
Hi, thanks for the rind comment. My rind is more by good luck than management I think !  My cave is a an oldish fridge with wire racks, and a temperature controller keeping it at 13 degrees C.  Humidity seems to fluctuate between 84% and 92%, although I'm never confident I'm getting a true reading. My cheeses are not kept in boxes, I find they  get too wet that way, I keep them on chopsticks in the open fridge (cave). I see that you have a nice clean rind, I'm not sure how you achieve this.  All my cheeses look like this one in the photo, covered in black spots. I wouldn't want to eat this rind!  :)
 

Offline awakephd

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: North Carolina
  • Posts: 2,351
  • Cheeses: 240
  • compounding the benefits of a free press
Re: Opened my first Lancashire
« Reply #9 on: June 10, 2014, 10:57:24 PM »
I did get a couple of spots of mold starting on this one during the first three weeks of aging, but they did not look like geo or blue, so I used a mixture of vinegar and salt to wipe them away. After that, the rind must have been dry enough to discourage further visitors. :)

I wonder if my "cave" -- a wine fridge -- is staying too dry. I guess I need to invest in a humidity meter.
-- Andy