Author Topic: Port Salut / Saint Paulin Cheese Making Recipes: Two Recipes Compared  (Read 13912 times)

riha

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I have never made Port Salut, but I enjoy it very much and would like to give it a try. These two are the only recipes I have found. Both are available online and they are also discussed in this thread: http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1778.0.html

The first recipe is from the book Cheese and Fermented Milk Foods by Frank Kosikowski. I don't have the book, I found the recipe from a forum member Oude Kaas' blog. http://heinennellie.blogspot.com/2009/02/st-paulin.html

The second recipe is from Danlac Canada website. http://www.danlac.com/news/port-salut-cheese-making

Both recipes are rather similar. Any additions corrections, suggestions etc. very welcome :)

#0 RAW MATERIAL:
Kosikowski:
  • High quality whole milk
Danlac:
  • Raw milk, Standardization to 2.9 – 3.5 % fat depending on the protein content

#1 PASTEURIZATION:
Kosikowski:
  • 72°C (161.6°F) for 16 seconds, cool to 32°C (90°F)
Danlac:
  • 72-75°C (162-167°F) for 16-30 seconds, cool to 35-37°C (95-99°F)

#2 RIPENING:
Kosikowski:
  • 0.5 percent active lactic starter
  • annatto cheese color 33 ml per 1,000 kg milk  or
  • β-carotene 33 to 55 milliliters per 1,000 kilograms
  • No milk ripening is required.
Danlac:
  • 1 x Choozit TA 60 LYO 200 DCU per 4000 l. vat milk
  • 1 x Choozit Alp LYO 100 DCU per 2000 l vat milk
  • 33 – 55 ml beta carotene per 1000 l
  • Ripening time 30 – 40 min

#3 RENNETING
Kosikowski:
  • Single-strength (1:15,000) rennet extract, 220 milliliters per 1,000 kilograms of milk
  • Curd usually forms in 25 minutes
Danlac:
  • 2 – 3 gr. pure calf rennet powder (Renco)
  • Coagulation setting time: 11 – 20 min, Coagulation time : 30 – 40 min.

#4 CURD CUTTING
Kosikowski:
  • Cut the curd with 0.97-centimeter (3/8 inch) wire knives.
  • Stirring 10 min.
Danlac:
  • Cutting curd grain diameter: green pea to hazelnut size.
  • Stirring 20 min.

#5 HEATING THE CURDS
Kosikowski:
  • Heat to 34°C (94°F) over 15 minutes.
Danlac:
  • No separate curd heating. (already at 35-37°C)

#6 WASHING THE CURDS
Kosikowski:
  • Push curds to the end of the vat
  • Drain the whey so that 2.5cm remains above curds
  • Stir curds 5 minutes
  • Drain remaining whey & replace with 12% brine solution at 16°C (60°F)
  • Wash & stir curd for 20 minutes
Danlac:
  • draw of whey, approx. 30%
  • addition of water: 10–15%, approx. 60ºC
  • Scalding to 37–39ºC, within 11–20 min

#7 PRESSING
Kosikowski:
  • Sluice curds into 20cmx5cm (8inx2in) round moulds on draining mats
  • Let the curds mat for 24 hours at room temp (24°C/75°F) or
  • Place in vertical press under 34kPa (5PSI)
  • Remove from hoops
Danlac:
  • FOrming under whey
  • Depending on eqipment e.g. 15 min 0.3-0.6bar (4.35-8.7PSI)

#8 SALTING

Kosikowski:
  • 23% brine at 10°C (50°F) for 8 hours (2.3kg/5 pounds of cheese)
  • sprinkle dry salt on surface
Danlac:
  • 16-18% brine at 16-18ºC for 24-54 hours


#9 DRYING
Kosikowski:
  • No drying at this point
Danlac:
  • Dry off on shelves, 90–95 %, 15–16 ºC, 20 hours

#10 INOCULATING WITH BR. LINENS
Kosikowski:
  • Light washing in warm salt brine containing Br. Linens
  • Turn the cheese over daily on clean wooden shelves for 14 days at 16°C (60°F) / 95 %
  • On the 3rd, 7th, and 10th days, rub down the cheese surface by hand or with a revolving large brush
  • On the 12th  to 14th days, rub off any surface growth by buffing the cheese against a revolving burlap covered wheel which whirls under a stream of flowing water.
Danlac:
  • 1 x Choozit linens W LYO Doses 1
    + 500 g. salt for 10 l. boiled water.
  • Dipping or spraying red smear solution (liquid culture in 5 volumes of 3 % NaCl solution), during initial ripening smearing must be repeated 1st, 3rd, 7th and 10th day
  • Ripening during period of smearing. 15–16ºC, 90–95%
  • Brushing brush off any surface growth under a stream of floating water on 12th – 15th day

#11 AGING
Kosikowski:
  • Dry at 16°C (60°F), 70% for one day
  • Dip the cheese wheels in hot paraffin wax, 118°C (245°F) for 5 seconds, dry, then cover with an orange or yellow, low temperature, pliable wax or plastic. Dry the wax and wrap the cheese in a clear outer wrapper impregnated with a mold inhibitor
  • Alternatively, do not use any wax, but dry, and spray annatto color mixture on the dry rind
  • Store at 4 ºC for 2 weeks
Danlac:
  • Drying at 15-16°C, 70% for one day
  • Packaging on 16th day
  • Special foil for eye formation
  • Or coating with paraffin-wax
  • Alternatively spray annatto color mixture on dry rind
  • Curing at 5 º C ( 41 F) for 2 – 3 weeks

riha

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Re: Port Salut / Saint Paulin Cheese Making Recipes: Two Recipes Compared
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2009, 11:25:07 PM »
Comments & Questions:

#0 RAW MATERIAL
I was thinking of using raw milk, which is 4+%.

#1 PASTEURIZATION
Both recipes call for pasteurization, I assume this is because of the short aging time.

#2 RIPENING
What does Kosikowski mean with  “active lactic starter”? Does it just mean starter culture? There's quite a large difference in pre-ripening time.

Danisco cultures:
Choozit TA 60 = Streptococcus thermophilus.
Choozit Alp = Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus helveticus, Lactobacillus lactis.

I was thinking of using MA4000 (Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis biovar diacetylactis, Streptococcus thermophilus) since that's what I have :)

 Also, just out of curiosity, does anybody use beta carotene? I have annatto and I'll go with that if I decide to color this one.

#6 WASHING THE CURDS
Kosikowski's recipe calls for rather cold water. Any idea why is that? Danlac's recipe increases the temperature at this stage, which would sound more logical to me.

#7 PRESSING
This is the most confusing part. I have actually no idea what to do. Kosikowski's recipe gives the alternative of draining for 24h or pressing 5PSI for unspecified amount of time. Danlac calls for “pressing under whey” but no pressing after that. Any advice here would be greatly appreceated.

#8 SALTING
Danlac is probably making pretty big cheeses. I was thinking 4 hours in saturated brine for my 1 kilo cheese.

#9 DRYING
Any idea why let the cheese sit for an extra 20 hours instead of just inoculating immediately?

#10 BR. LINENS
Now this is the interesting part since I have never done anything with Br. Linens. Oddly the Danisco recipe seems to first make 5% brine and then talks of 3% NaCl solution. The process seems straightforward enough. Spray every other day for 10 days, then wash the extra growth out.

In the previous B Linens questions thread Francois suggested 1/16 tsp B Linens to 1-2 quarts water. Also that instead of spraying one should wash with a rag. Therefore this is what I'm planning to do.

Edit: typos...

Bella

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Re: Port Salut / Saint Paulin Cheese Making Recipes: Two Recipes Compared
« Reply #2 on: September 15, 2009, 07:39:45 AM »
Hi riha

I will chime in on this thread with my two bobs’.  I am still pretty new to cheesemaking, but with two cows, I get a lot of milk so am ‘forced’ to make a cheese almost every day. That gives me quite a lot of practice and am able to try out a lot of different cheeses, one of which is port salut. The recipe used is a bit of a mystery – I can’t remember where I found it, but it was pretty similar to yours.

To date, I have tried it three times. The first was a total disaster – it went to the back of the fridge and was completely forgotten so that it will probably be used as a grating cheese. For the second one, I followed the procedures pretty much, but the final product was disappointing. The taste was not all that pleasant – edible but only just. It also had lots of holes, and I put that down to my lack of attention to turning the mould in the early hours after filling.

I cut the third one just today and it is really good. For this one, I tried to turn it more frequently, but there are still a few holes so perhaps I will be a bit more attentive next time. (I had visitors on those two days, so there were a lot of distractions). The one thing I can report that I didn’t do according to the recipe was to add B linens to the brine (I used 3%). After doing a number of washed rind cheeses and using 3% brine, I have almost always had a nice coating of B.linens and so have never used it. (The other washed rind cheeses here that I have done are taleggio, tendaio, st. paulin, st. nectaire and to a lesser extent, reblochon – they all came up without adding it to the brine, and the cheeses have been none the worse for it – at least that’s my story!).

riha

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Re: Port Salut / Saint Paulin Cheese Making Recipes: Two Recipes Compared
« Reply #3 on: September 15, 2009, 09:21:01 AM »
Hi Bella! Those are mighty fine looking cheeses you got there. I'll be glad if my third try comes out as good!

Could you tell me a bit more about the pressing process you use. The recipes are very vague about it. Do you press under whey and/or with press or just gravity drain?

I was sort of hoping that if I can produce nice smear-ripened cheeses, I could also get a "pipeline" going so that they would inoculate each other. B Linens are expensive buggers. Nice to hear it works out for you.

Bella

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Re: Port Salut / Saint Paulin Cheese Making Recipes: Two Recipes Compared
« Reply #4 on: September 15, 2009, 10:20:47 AM »
Hi Riha
I was really slack and didn't record what I did here after putting the curd into the mould (visitors kinda take one's attention). I think I pressed with about 12 kg, but wouldn't put my house on it! When I am making a cheese, I do up to the hooping stage in a room at the back of my garage, but then bring it down to the house for pressing, brining and drying. Because I leave my record book in the garage, what happens in the house tends not to be recorded.

It would probably help to press under whey, at least for a short while, and it's something I didn't even think about to be honest. I do that for hard cheeses, but will probably give that a try next time I do a port salut.

In my humble opinion, what is important is pressing it in a way that gets rid of the whey and you could probably come up with a reasonable result whichever way you shoot for. The cheese is described as semi-hard, so the pressing doesn't need to be as much as for, say, parmesan, but still enough that it's along the way - my recipe calls for up to 20kg, but I don't have that much in my weights, so I would have used less than that - either 12 or 16kg I suspect. Gravity pressing wouldn't enable removal of sufficient whey and the outcome would be a cheese that is too soft.

All the best with it - just have fun and experiment, 'cos whatever the result, you will probably still have an edible cheese, and if it doesn't taste like port salut, give it another name of your own!!
B


Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Port Salut / Saint Paulin Cheese Making Recipes: Two Recipes Compared
« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2009, 12:35:54 AM »
WOW! Bella those cheese could even turn the head of a hard cheese lover like me. That looks fantastic!

Zoey

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Re: Port Salut / Saint Paulin Cheese Making Recipes: Two Recipes Compared
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2009, 12:44:55 PM »

Bella, your cheeses look fantastic! How long did you age them?

Bella

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Re: Port Salut / Saint Paulin Cheese Making Recipes: Two Recipes Compared
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2009, 11:22:13 PM »
Hi Zoey
Approximately 6-7 weeks. They were in a plastic box in a wine fridge for the specified time.

The cheese in the top picture had a slightly 'off' flavour, but the second one is delicious. When I made the first, I had storage problems - too many cheeses for too little space, and I think it might have spent a few days too many out of the fridge. But the second one was in there as per recipe, and on the strength of its success, there will be another to take its place very soon.
B

Zoey

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Re: Port Salut / Saint Paulin Cheese Making Recipes: Two Recipes Compared
« Reply #8 on: October 09, 2009, 09:44:18 AM »

Riha, did you ever try this? Since you haven't reported back...

riha

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Re: Port Salut / Saint Paulin Cheese Making Recipes: Two Recipes Compared
« Reply #9 on: October 09, 2009, 10:35:21 AM »
Yes I did and failed miserably. I underestimated the time it takes to pasteurize 10 liters of milk with my stove (that'd be 1 hour 45 minutes) and my schedule went pretty much south from there. Had to run to shops while trying to make cheese is not a good idea. I made two wheels, one pressed and the other drained without weight. I tried to press this without cheesecloth and it resulted in cheese escaping from underneath the mold. I ended up with lots of waste and a very soft cheese.

The main problem was still that my red mold didn't catch. I made a solution of 3% brine and br. linens and wiped the cheeses with it, but to no effect. After two weeks there was no sign of red mold (well, there was some very very small specs) and they were beginning to stink (the bad way).

I'm guessing my solution had too little br. linens in it. It stinks like I think red mold is supposed to smell, but cheeses just didn't take it.

I will try again. Next time I will have the whole day for cheesemaking. I will also try to inoculate the milk with br. linens instead of wiping. Still don't know if I'm going to drain or press. Don't know when I'm going to do this, since today is cheddar day and some more mozzarella would be in order and I have some extra cream for cream cheese and John's lactic cheeses are absolutely inspiring and I'm also getting excited about stiltons even if I'm not really into blue cheeses. So many cheeses...

Zoey

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Re: Port Salut / Saint Paulin Cheese Making Recipes: Two Recipes Compared
« Reply #10 on: October 09, 2009, 12:30:37 PM »

Sorry to hear about the failure riha.

I'm planning on making Port Salut without the b.linens myself, so I'm especially puzzled about your cheese not developing the red smear, even with it inocculated. This makes me wonder whether to even try without.

Any ideas what might have been affecting poor smear development?

riha

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Re: Port Salut / Saint Paulin Cheese Making Recipes: Two Recipes Compared
« Reply #11 on: October 09, 2009, 01:50:22 PM »
As I mentioned, I suspect my brine just didn't have enough of br linens. Also my temp was very low, since my basement apparently dropped from 9C to 5.5C when the fall came. But when I realized this I took it out from there and had it in a plastic container beside my balcony door with higher temperature. Might have been too late by then, since the other molds were already taking foothold.

I can't imagine red mold developing on it's own at least in my circumstances. The basic spoils-all-your-food-mold strikes everything first. I have never seen red mold developing spontaneously so I doubt it'd work. I am still hoping that if I'd get things growing, I could inoculate future cheeses by wiping the mold from previous cheeses.