My real very first cheese was meant to be a cheddar, but the whole process was also an experiment to see if I would enjoy making cheese and all of the shenanigans, responsibilities, and paraphernalia that tag along with the hobby (or way of life for some). Below you will find my best description of the recipe I followed as well as a description of the mistakes I made. I did not originally consider this to be my first cheese until recently since I wrote it off as a failure, so that is why my previous post referred to my butterkase as the first. However, since cracking it open and giving it a taste it is not a success and will be displayed here.
Ingredients of the original recipe:10 L whole milk P&H
1/8 tsp mesophilic culture
2.5 ml CaCl
2.5 ml Liquid rennet
12 drops annato (which I omitted completely)
MethodPre Step 1: realize you only have a pot that can do a half recipe and divide the recipe by two.
Step 1: heat milk to 88 F and add meso, stir in, ripen 40 minutes.
Step 2: Add Cacl and rennet then stir 1 minute. Allow to set for 40 minutes. I did not like the break so I waited another 10 minutes at which point I realized one of my fatal flaws which was UltraP milk (see mistake section).
Step 3: I cut the curds best I could with a knife at diagonal angles to approximate 1/2 inch diamonds followed by 5 minutes of healing.
Step 4: I then slowly increased the temp to 102 f over 45 minutes while gently stirring.
Step 5: Let the curds settle for 40 minutes, then drained off the whey, cut the resulting curd slab in half then placed it back in the pot to keep it warm while cheddaring.
Step 6: I then turned over each half every 10 minutes, four times, for a total of 40 minutes cheddaring.
Step 7: Drained the whey, milled the slab then placed chunks in to a cheese cloth lined 7 3/4 inch mold.
Step 8: I pressed the cheese on one side for about an hour, then flipped and pressed on the other side using what I guesstimate to be a 25 lb weight. I then pressed overnight with more weight, too much weight (see mistake section).
Step 9: Somewhere during the pressing process or after I remember putting salt on the outside of the cheese.
Step 10: Cheese was air dried for about 3 days and then waxed using very hot cheese wax and subsequently aged at varying temps and humidities for one month.
MistakesI originally decided to try and make cheese as a fun activity to do with my step mom over Thanksgiving break. In all of my excitement and naivety, I made numerous mistakes that have taught me a great deal.
- I underestimated the size of pot required to make the recipe I wanted to make and had to cut it in half as a result.
- I had a lack of understanding of what type of milk to use and mistakenly used ultra pasteurized milk.
- I did not weigh my pressing implements, nor did I respect the premise of not pressing the crap out of my poor cheese (there was very milky drainage)
- I gave myself too short of a window to make the cheese and ended up having to convince my parents to wax it for me after I had traveled home so it had time to air dry
- During the cheddaring process I am pretty sure I missed a key aspect e.g temperature control
- The rennet tablet was not dissolved well enough
- Nothing about the maturation was kept consistent nor was it within the parameters I would have liked.
The cheeseAll said and done I ended up with a skinny disk of very hard and dry cheese. It tastes like mozzarella but with the zinggyness of buttermilk. It actually is quite pleasant. I kept half out to eat and I poor man's vacuum packed the other half to try and see if I can develop some more flavor in it. In the end I consider this to be a major success given the number of mistakes I made while still coming out the other end with something edible
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