Author Topic: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol  (Read 32406 times)

Brie

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Re: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol
« Reply #75 on: January 29, 2010, 04:40:16 AM »
I use about 1/16th teaspoon of p.candidum and a pinch of geo in 1/4 cup of non-chlorinated water and spray once the cheese is dry, then give another spray 2 days later. I let the cheese sit out for at least an hour (Arizona) and then off to the cave. I am working on a brie experiment, and have found them to be very finiky--patience prevails.

Missy Greene

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Re: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol
« Reply #76 on: January 29, 2010, 12:41:49 PM »
Thanks Brie

Missy Greene

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Re: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol
« Reply #77 on: February 01, 2010, 05:28:33 PM »
Tried my Crottin Yesterday, they were based on Francoise"s recipe. I used my own pasteurized goat milk MA4001 and pinch pen.and pinch geo. and CaCh. Also pre drained them. They look more like Alex's ..never got that orange-ish surface and no wrinkle-y texture.Though  the paste was very smooth and tasted very fresh, although just a tad too salty. I had four and will now try one each week. Will send photo later.
 Missy

iratherfly

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Re: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol
« Reply #78 on: February 02, 2010, 07:41:59 AM »
I think that's because Francois' recipe calls for PLA colture that has a mild strain of B.Linens. It's never really very creamy. It also is suppose to smell like horse dung (hence the name I suppose). I think it's courtesy of that PLA culture too. I may be wrong.
Had to postpone the Crottin plan by one more weekend. Goat's milk prices went through the roof this week at $16/Gallon where I buy it. Missy, wrote you a personal message.

In the meantime, I continue to taste the market varieties to sharpen the palette and figure out what the perfect Crottin shuld be like. My latest discovery is a French AOC cheese called Valençay. It seems like a pyramid shaped Crottin sprinkled lightly with ash without the rind and gamy aroma. Has anyone here made it?

Alex

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Re: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol
« Reply #79 on: February 02, 2010, 07:57:18 AM »
Most of those cheeses are very the same. Their names depend upon the the locations they were made.
Valençay, originaly was made as a perfect pyramid in Valençay. The legend states that when Napoleon came back to France after he was defeated in Egypt, he stopped in Valençay an saw this cheese. As it reminded him of the pyramids, he got angry, took his sward and cut the top of the pyramid.

FRANCOIS

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Re: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol
« Reply #80 on: February 02, 2010, 10:07:39 PM »
Without the PLA you will have a milder, white cheese.  The PLA has a nice mix of funky stuff.  Both PLA and OFR9 will give you an "authntic" funk to you cheese.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol
« Reply #81 on: February 03, 2010, 04:03:28 AM »
Gee an authentic funk and smells like horse dung. I must have really meesed this up mine didn't taste funky or stinky - except the first batch that got the slip skin while I was on vacation. That was down right gross, but the inside was still fairly firm and tasted good.

iratherfly

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Re: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol
« Reply #82 on: February 03, 2010, 09:03:38 AM »
After 6 pages this threads grows funnier.
Francois; Funky is a good way of saying that. They sure are different than other cheeses!
Debi, I suggest you look at your local cheese store for Crottin De Campcol specifically. I think this is the horse-duni-ish of them all. Just open it and smell it. Hilarious.

Missy Greene

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Re: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol
« Reply #83 on: February 03, 2010, 05:01:03 PM »
I actually thought that the crottin referred to the shape... the very first ones I made are still aging and they are really stinky, when tried them last weekend, my cheeseman friend suggested waiting a bit longer and now they are developing that more traditional looking wrinkly  buff-ish colored skin. The first ones i tried of Francoise's recipe,( but with MA)4001 which were brined, are still just covered with a nice white fuzz, they actually tasted  very good  but a tad salty.  I still am confused about the brining vs salting issue, Francoise said that brining provides for a more even mold growth, this is clearly visible on the cheeses i brined,..so why do all the recipes call for salting? Personally, i find it hard to get an even distribution of salt on those soft little guys, and the recipes say to just do the top and bottom..while brining also gets the sides. It also makes the surface a little easier to handle when turning during aging. Comments?? the crottin I tried from the 200 cheese recipe book are still very moist and small.  Just made a new batch a la Francoise which I predrained in a cloth, and then put in four crottin molds, they are still draining and are more to the traditional size.
All this info is so great, i look forward to it every day! Thanks, Missy
 

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol
« Reply #84 on: February 04, 2010, 12:30:03 AM »
Try a salt shaker filled with ground kosher salt that worked for me.

FRANCOIS

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Re: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol
« Reply #85 on: February 04, 2010, 01:40:39 AM »
Brining these is very time dependent.  Last time I made them (a while back now) I think they only were in the brine for 20 minutes.  As an aside, if you leave cheese in a heavy brine, there is apoint where they won't  take up any more salt.  I have noticed that with lower fat cheeses, regardless of time in the brine, salt level doesn't seem to go much over 1.5%.  However with high fats (triple creams) leaving them in brine too long can get salt up very high inthe final cheese. 

I don't have any science for this, just observations of test results and time in brine for certain types of cheeses   

iratherfly

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Re: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol
« Reply #86 on: February 04, 2010, 09:10:05 AM »
So Francois, what you are saying is that the fattier the cheese, the more salt it will absorb?

And your suggestion is to brine for 20 minutes per cheese total in heavy brine? (I assume 18%-23% salt brine?)
I would love to try this with my next batch of mini Camemberts. They are still larger than Crottins so should I brine them slightly longer? I have been trying to even out the PC bloom progress on the sides/bottom/top so this may help. I was afraid that heavy brine may inhibit surface PC/GC growth. Was I wrong?

Alex

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Re: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol
« Reply #87 on: February 04, 2010, 09:23:47 AM »
I never failed with blooming, using the following salting procedure based on a 3 liters batch:

After cutting and stirring the curds, pour about 1/3 of the whey, add 80 gr (not less!) of salt and stir for a couple of minutes until completely dissolved. Discard the remaining whey and transfer to molds.
I know, it's not accordingly to the AOC, but it undoubtedly works each time. The only disadvantage I've found is, the salted whey may not be used to make Ricotta.

Missy Greene

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Re: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol
« Reply #88 on: February 04, 2010, 05:39:00 PM »
Where do you get PLA . Here is a photo of the crottin that was brined..I did 2hrs on each side, now will try just 20 min.
 Missy

FRANCOIS

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Re: DeejayDebi's FIRST Goats Cheese and Soft Cheese Crottin de Chavignol
« Reply #89 on: February 04, 2010, 06:36:52 PM »
OFR and PLA are both Danisco products.  Just ask whoever you get cultures from.  I think they come in both bulk liquid and powder forms.

Yes, I have noticed that fattier cheeses will absorb more salt in heavy brine for the same time left in.  For the little 80-100g cheeses I did 20-30 minutes.  A 125g camembert was 40-60 minutes.  This was based on a 6hrs per kg benchmark.