Author Topic: Romano2  (Read 3465 times)

Offline Andrew Marshallsay

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Romano2
« on: September 11, 2015, 12:01:37 AM »
Romano number 1 worked out quite well. It was very tasty but hard as the hobs of hell so I decided to use adifferent recipe for number 2. The recipe I used was from Caldwell's Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking but with modifications to the salting process. It went as follows:
•   10 L milk (Fleurieu  8L full cream, P=3.3%, F=3.8%; 2Llow fat, P=3.8%, F=0.2%; P:F=1.15:1)
•   ½ tsp (3 tads) Italian & Swiss thermophilic culture.
•   1/14 tsp (pinch) lipase dissolved in 30ml water
•   3ml CaCl2 in 60 ml water
•   2.5 ml 140 ICMU animal rennet in 50 ml water
Heated the milk to 39C and added diluted CaCl2
Sprinkled on thermophilic culture. Left 3 min then stirred gently 4 min.
Stirred in lipase solution. Left 5 mm.
Added rennet and stirred 1 min.
Rested. Floc time = 14 min. Coagulation time = 28 min. (goal = 15-20 min. Floc. Multiplier 2-2.5x P.D.)
Cut the curds to approx. 1cm.
Stirred gently for approx. 10 min. Rested for approx. 5 min then cut to 3mm with a whisk.
Heated to 46C in 15 minutes.
Stirred for 20 min until curds passed the readiness test.
Allowed to settle for 5 min.
Removed whey to level of curds and hand-pressed curds under whey for 5 min.
Transferred curds to a cloth lined mould. Drained without pressure for 15 min.
Unmoulded, covered and pierced to assist drainage. Allowed to drain 15 min more.
Returned to mould and pressed keeping warm (~30C):
•   0.14 PSI for ½ hr.
•   0.22 PSI for 1 hr.
•   0.37 PSI for 1½ hrs.
•   0.5 PSI for 2 hrs.
•   0.37 PSI for 1 hr without cloth.
Rested overnight without weight.
Brined in a saturated brine for 9 hrs.
Air dried at room temp for 3 days and yesterday I moved it to the cheese fridge at 13C.

I will do an oiled rind on this as I did for the first.
- Andrew

jmason

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Re: Romano2
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2015, 12:11:44 PM »
Nice prawn, a cheese for your efforts.

A pecorino is a definite in my to do list.  Not sure it will be a romano or one of the shorter aged pecorino's.  After my experience with the caciotta and the young flavors, that I can only describe as pecorino that needs lots more time, I started to consider this as a future make.  It seems like such a natural cheese to make as many of the italian cheeses seem to be (except for that g'damned mozzerella that keeps humiliating me).

Offline Andrew Marshallsay

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Re: Romano2
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2015, 12:25:30 PM »
Thanks for the cheese, jmason.
 It is a fairly straightforward cheese.
At risk of being pedantic I will point out that the term pecorino really only applies to sheep's milk cheese. With cow's milk it is a Vacchino Romano. On the other hand I suppose that if it's your cheese you can call it whatever you like. Whatever, good luck with it.
- Andrew

jmason

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Re: Romano2
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2015, 01:16:03 PM »
Sheep's milk is the ultimate goal once I can get my flock.  In the meantime I am learning with store bought cows milk.  It is a pretty reliable source material for me so that I can explore the processes without the milk dramatically affecting outcomes, of course I lose much of the character that I will ultimately  be striving for in my cheeses, but it is something I can live with for now.  I use the term for simplicity, and in this case really to designate the cheese I intend to make as not nesessarily a romano.  But thanks for the clarification, I still have a ton to learn.

Mermaid

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Re: Romano2
« Reply #4 on: November 03, 2015, 08:28:14 PM »
Beautiful cheese! I tried making Romano the other day and got a bad knit. I was thinking of using this recipe too and thought her salting schedule was too fussy. Ill try it and use a simple brining schedule like you did. Thanks for the inspiration.


Offline Andrew Marshallsay

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Re: Romano2
« Reply #5 on: November 04, 2015, 07:27:48 AM »
Ill try it and use a simple brining schedule like you did.
I'll be interested to hear how you go. This one's looking good. It's currently undergoing a weekly oiling.
I'm considering waxing it later to stop it drying out too much. It's hard to keep the humidity up over summer in this part of the world.
- Andrew

AnnDee

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Re: Romano2
« Reply #6 on: March 12, 2016, 03:01:01 AM »
Sorry to bring up this old topic but do you think you can use C201 for the thermo culture on this make?
It has lactose, streptococcus thermophilus, lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Lactis, lactobacillus helveticus, sucrose in it. If yes, how much culture do you need for 20 liters of milk? I have C201 packets from New England Cheesemaking shop.
I am planning to make romano/pecorino today or tomorrow.

Offline Andrew Marshallsay

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Re: Romano2
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2016, 11:39:28 AM »
Hi Ann
A quick dive into https://www.cheesemaking.com/shop/thermophilic-ds-culture-5-pack.html shows that the manufacturers of this culture recommend it for hard Italian cheeses. Comparing the contents with Caldwell's Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking would seem to confirm that this is appropriate.
As far as amount goes, I tend to work to the manufacturers recommendations which, in this case, is one packet per 2 gallons of milk. Now I think that for those of us who use metric, 2 gallons is about 8 litres and 4 gallons is about 16 litres.
Can you stretch that to 20 litres? I don't know but my guess would be probably. If you did, you could consider extending the ripening time a bit. Alternatively, you might want to reduce the size of your make. Either way, good luck with it.
(Incidentally, and this might be getting a little pedantic, but the Italian word pecorino is used for cheeses made from sheep's milk. The corresponding term for Romano made from cow's milk is vacchino.)
- Andrew

AnnDee

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Re: Romano2
« Reply #8 on: March 12, 2016, 11:53:50 AM »
Thanks for explaining that for me, Andrew.
I am reducing my make into 14 liters only because sadly that is the max capacity of my pot.
I think 1 packet of the culture should be sufficient, I agree. This time I am making it with cow's milk only, (somebody was kind enough to give me free milk) and now I know that makes it a vacchino (not pecorino).

After this, I still have 16 more liters to deal with... but that's for tomorrow.

Offline Andrew Marshallsay

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Re: Romano2
« Reply #9 on: March 13, 2016, 12:07:58 AM »
Looking at the manufacturers recommended dosage, 2 packets may be nearer to the mark for 14 litres.
- Andrew

AnnDee

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Re: Romano2
« Reply #10 on: March 13, 2016, 01:42:55 AM »
Oh well, that ship has sailed. The cheese is in the brine now.
I will double the culture for my parm. Thanks Andrew!