Author Topic: Monterey Jack Recipe  (Read 10696 times)

Cheese Head

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Monterey Jack Recipe
« on: June 01, 2008, 10:38:28 AM »
Information on Monterey Jack Cheese is available here.

Monterey Jack Cheese Making Recipe
« Last Edit: January 11, 2009, 02:21:21 PM by Webmaster »

Tea

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Re: Monterey Jack Recipe
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2008, 09:28:51 PM »
Going to try this one today.  Hope it works.

Tea

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Re: Monterey Jack Recipe
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2008, 01:10:16 AM »
Ok the cheese is in the molds.  These are the changes that I made to the original.
6ltr of milk
100ml of Type B starter culture
1 cup pure cream.
1.5 ml liquid rennet
Herbs were garlic, rosmary, basil, (all fresh) and about 3/4 tsp of herb and garlic salt.
I also used camebert baskets without cheesecloth as my pressing molds, so hopefully that will work, as my only pressing mold was way to big for this quantity of cheese.
Will post pics later.

Cheese Head

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Re: Monterey Jack Recipe
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2008, 02:52:59 AM »
Good for you, I tried it and so far two thumbs up, OK at least it looks good ;D, records posted in this thread.

Tea

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Re: Monterey Jack Recipe
« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2008, 07:34:21 AM »
Ok here goes.  I noticed that your cheese looks a lot more softer and moist than mine does, but maybe it just the photo's.

Here is my try;  these are of the first stirring, and when finally heated and in strainer draining before hooping.

Tea

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Re: Monterey Jack Recipe
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2008, 07:38:52 AM »
I realised that because I was using less milk for this cheese, that it was going to be too small yield for my pressing hoop, so I decided to try pressing in some other cheese baskets that I had.  Managed to find a tin with just the right size lid, so they became the press lids.  I didn't use cheesecloth though, so it will be interesting to see whether the cheese remains moister than it would normally.

Tea

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Re: Monterey Jack Recipe
« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2008, 07:40:58 AM »
So after 15 minutes of pressing I turned out the cheese to flip it over and start pressing with heavier weights.  Surprisingly they didn't fall apart.

DaggerDoggie

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Re: Monterey Jack Recipe
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2008, 08:05:42 PM »
Tea, you are making some nice cheeses.  Did you use raw milk for this as well?

Tea

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Re: Monterey Jack Recipe
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2008, 09:31:25 PM »
Hi Dagger, yes I use the whole milk that I showed in another post. I haven't been making cheese much because I wasn't happy with the "supermarket" processed milk that I was buying.  Had to throw out two batches as there was so little curd formation.  Only found this milk at a corner store about 1 month ago, and I have to admit, that you men here, have given me the courage to have another go and experiment.  So thankyou everyone.

Ok back to cheese.  At the 10 1/2 hour pressing stage, I took the cheese out as it was late and I wanted to get to bed.  Gave it the brine wash and this is it this morning.  Has sagged a bit but is still holding it's own. 

What does everyone think.  Is it still too moist, or should it be alright?

« Last Edit: July 01, 2008, 09:33:24 PM by Tea »

DaggerDoggie

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Re: Monterey Jack Recipe
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2008, 09:50:15 PM »
It looks good to me.  It should age nicely.

Cheese Head

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Re: Monterey Jack Recipe
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2008, 11:33:06 PM »
Tea

Love the texture on the sides 8), congrats on find non-pasteurized milk, obviously makes way better curds. You are correct, mine is moister, as shown by the barreling around sides. Most of my cheeses so far are quite dry so this OK with me, plus montery jack can be a moister cheese, OK not as moist as mine. Did you also use jalapeno chili's, hard to tell colour from pictures, also, the pressed cheese colour in your pictures I think are more accurate, the one of the curds is very yellow probably because of indoor lighting. Or is your cheese quite naturally yellow? Mine is always white.

FYI there are some other female cheesemakers here, they just don't post as much. I also think yours will be fine. Congrats on restarting your cheesemaking, sounds like you have the bug back again ;D.

Question for DaggerDoggie, is un-pasterurized milk allowed/available in US or do I need to find a farmer?
« Last Edit: July 01, 2008, 11:36:44 PM by Cheese Head »

DaggerDoggie

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Re: Monterey Jack Recipe
« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2008, 01:37:44 AM »
I believe all milk in the US must be pasteurized.  I don't even think it is legal for farmers to sell you unpasteurized milk for direct consumption.  It is legal to be sold in cheeses that are aged 60 days or more so then I assume it would be legal to sell it to you for making an aged cheese.

There is a whole discussion on this on the FDA website. FDA: Got Milk? Make Sure It's Pasteurized   In my humble opinion, a bit of hyperbole, I grew up on the stuff and in the good 'ole USA we require everything to be perfectly safe.

That's why I need to find a farmer through a friend who will trust me.

Cheese Head

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Re: Monterey Jack Recipe
« Reply #12 on: July 02, 2008, 02:33:19 AM »
I don't know enough about it but 200-300 people getting sick per year in 2002 out of whole US doesn't seem like much, I had a look on google and found this, last few slides are on legal issues.

This Texas Dairy says it's only legal to buy direct from the farm.

Also found something about someone saying it's possible at a Whole Foods Market store if you have one near you.

Cheese Head

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Re: Monterey Jack Recipe
« Reply #13 on: July 02, 2008, 02:44:53 AM »
Here's an undated article on www.Chow.com, I remember milk with cream on top when I was a kid but that has to do with homogenization not pasteurization.

Also that www.realmilk.com website has info on where to get non-pasteurized milk here in US and other countries. Looks like bunch of places here in Houston, and link to yahoo chat group on Houston non-pasterurized milk, this is getting interesting!

Tea, you shouldn't have shown us how nice your Ozzie curds are from non-pasteurized milk!

Tea

  • Guest
Re: Monterey Jack Recipe
« Reply #14 on: July 02, 2008, 07:45:22 AM »
Quote
Love the texture on the sides
   Hehe me too, I was thinking that it wouldn't look out of place in a bikers den.  8)

Quote
Tea, you shouldn't have shown us how nice your Ozzie curds are from non-pasteurized milk!
   Who me???  Never   ;)