This is one of Karlin's cheeses I skipped over but now having the proper forms decided to give it a go. I did go off the reservation a bit during draining and pressing which is the reason for renaming (knowing no one would ever give a cheese such a cheesy name
).
Ingredients:
- 2 gal. cream line milk from Hickory Hill Farms, SC
- M11 (1/4 tsp)
- p. roqforti (1/8 tsp))
- Calcium Chloride (1/2 tsp)
- Single strength rennet (1/4 tsp)
- Med. Heavy brine
Make:
Warmed milk to 88F
Added cultures; let rehydrate 5 min.
Stir in with wisk
Let still 45 min. to ripen
Add NaCl diluted in 1/4 cup cool non-chlorinated water and stir
Add single strength rennet diluted in 1/4 cup cool non-chlorinated water and stir
Waited for clean break (40 min.)
Cut curds into 1/2" cubes
Rest 5 min.
Heated 4 qts. water to 140F (recipe calls for two but I've been caught short before
)
Removed about 4 cups of whey
Added hot water while stirring until temperature was 92F
Drained whey to level of curds
Added hot water while stirring until temperature was 98F
Stirred for 20 min. @ 98F
Let curds settle (about 10 min) and drained whey
Transferred curds to cloth lined collander; let drain 5 min.
Removed curds in cloth and set on flat surface over draining mat
*Pressed curd into 1" thick slab
*Let drain until pH reached 6.0, flipping every 15 min.
*Cut curd slab into 1" cubes; toss with 1 tsp. salt and pack 1L Kadova form
*Pressed 10lbs for 15 min., 20 lbs for 20 min, 40 lbs for 1hr.
Once rind was smooth removed weight and let rest in form overnight
Brined with med. heavy brine @ 55F for 4 hr.
My plans are to age at 55F, 85% RH for 3 to 6 months, coating with coconut oil after 2 weeks.
*Indicated where I deviated from the original recipe. This cheese isn't skewered so I let the whey drain a bit longer in the slab form, cut the cubes and added just a bit of salt hoping that internal crevices would be maintained for blue growth.