I have tried to make a soft blue cheese before but did not manage to get proper blue veins inside. I did not do anything seriously different, but this time it worked.
I did not follow a recipe since I was using my trusty kefir culture as usual and my homemade PR culture on dried sourdough bread. To encourage blue vein formation I tried to make the curds small and fairly firm but without any pressing in order to prevent the curds knitting together tightly. I heated the to 37 C, rennet set for 90 minutes, cut to 1 cm and cooked at 37 C again for 30 minutes.
I made my usual 3 litre batch. I do not have a cheese moould with good proportions for this cheese size, so I ladled the curds into two 10 cm moulds and combined them into one after they had drained enough, around 2 hours in. This worked perfectly. Total draining time was 24 hours, then the cheese was dry salted to 2.5% and dried at room temperature until dry to the touch which took around 36 hours before being placed in the cheese fridge
After a week I pierced the cheese and began washing it with a light brine enriched with Lagavulin Scotch whisky because this pairs excellently with blue cheese. After two weeks of washing every other day I stopped and pierced again. The cheese first developped a light PC coating which was then overgrown by more PR. 3 weeks later I wrapped it in cheese paper. I has begun to soften, so I cut it a few days ago.
The strong rind gives it a bit of a funky tang but inside it is very nice. Unfortunately the whisky does not really come though in the taste. The moulds are just too powerful. Maybe I'll try washing for 4 weeks the next time.
