Author Topic: Lennie's Halloumi Cheese  (Read 6768 times)

Offline Lennie

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Lennie's Halloumi Cheese
« on: January 20, 2010, 04:08:03 AM »
I used a full tablet of vegetable rennet on a gallon of storebought whole milk (with 1/8tsp of CaCl2 sol'n).  I wasn't taking any chances that the milk wouldn't coagulate well!  Hopefully the cheese won't be bitter, I figured since it was boiled in whey that it would be OK.  Anywa, I got a very nice coag in about 40 minutes.  I cut, let the curds heal then warmed to 105F slowly.  I cooked there for 20min with minimal stirring that didn't break up the curd badly.  Then I transferred to cheesecloth in a colander for a short drain before pressing under 20lb of weight in a basic cheese mold.  I flipped the cheese after that and pressed another 20 minutes.  I cut the cheese in half and then quarters and it held togehter very nicely.  Heated the whey to 190F nd added the chunks, all eight pieces were floating within 10min.  I stewed them at 180F for another 15min, they shrank quite a bit which I expected.  I can't imagine that a block of soft cheese slightly under an inch thick would need to be cooked for an hour before it reached temp internally.

After I was done stewing the haloumi, I added some vinegar to make ricotta.  Looks like it worked too.  The haloumi is brining in the fridge now, I plan to pan fry some tomorrow night.





Offline Lennie

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Re: Lennie's Halloumi Cheese
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2010, 01:19:27 PM »
Fried a piece of my Halloumi cheese this morning, it spattered until the excess liquid boiled off.  Then I got a nice brown like others I've seen.  It was a bit too salty, I used a saturated brine overnight.  We'll soak in milk a bit before cooking some for tonight's supper.  And we'll try to find some dried mint to sprinkle over the top.

Also, the post-halloumi ricotta seems to have gone well too, I am filtering out the liquid in buttercloth this morning.
« Last Edit: January 20, 2010, 04:36:04 PM by Lennie »

Tea

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Re: Lennie's Halloumi Cheese
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2010, 08:17:28 PM »
Glad to see that this worked out for you and yes the cheese will spit for a while when put into a hot pan.   The saltiness is my kids main objections, even after soaking in milk before use.  When I next make this cheese I was going to see if I could keep it in a 12-15% brine solution, and see if that addresses the salt issue.

Offline Lennie

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Re: Lennie's Halloumi Cheese
« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2010, 10:35:40 PM »
Maybe slicing it thinner and then soaking would also help.  But certainly a more modest brine would be an answer, mine was a saturated solution of sea salt.

Cooking haloumi for an appetizer before supper tonight.

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Re: Lennie's Halloumi Cheese
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2010, 12:35:31 AM »
Hi Lennie, nice pictures!

I had the same as you, gave off a fair amount of water-whey when I fried mine, eventually boiled off and got a browned fried cheese. I dry salted one side of my slabs, some of which did not melt so I'm going to halve the amount next time.

My texture was a little foamy and bit rubbery and yes squeaked against teeth in mouth :).

Offline Lennie

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Re: Lennie's Halloumi Cheese
« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2010, 01:52:34 AM »
I got home and the pieces of Halloumi that the wife was soaking in milk were still pretty salty so I cut then in half so they wre 1/2" thick and soaked in fresh milk.  This reduced the saltiness enough after 30 minutes, then I fried and topped with some fresh mint the wife found at the market.  Very tasty stuff!  It wasn't really squeaky on the teeth, which I would have liked.  But it was a very pleasant appetizer for our evening meal.  One kid gave it a full thumbs up, the younger girl gave it 3/4 thumbs up.  This is our method for of judging food, and its a good score for those picky crumbsnatchers!.  This will definitely become a regular offering at our house, given the ease of preparation.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Lennie's Halloumi Cheese
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2010, 02:50:13 AM »
Very nice looking hallumi Lennie glad you enjoyed it. Nice thread too!

Offline Lennie

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Re: Lennie's Halloumi Cheese
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2010, 01:05:51 PM »
John took care of me as far as setting up the thread!

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Lennie's Halloumi Cheese
« Reply #8 on: January 22, 2010, 03:51:18 AM »
Yeah John's a good guy I think we'll keep him.  ;)

Offline Lennie

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Re: Lennie's Halloumi Cheese
« Reply #9 on: January 26, 2010, 01:39:31 AM »
I fried up the rest of this cheese Sunday, afte soaking for a day in milk the salt was just about right.  I crushed plenty of mint leaves over the fried cheese and it was fantastic.  This is definitely going to be a regular offering at our house from now on.

iratherfly

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Re: Lennie's Halloumi Cheese
« Reply #10 on: January 26, 2010, 08:20:38 AM »
Nice cheese Lennie!
I love Halloumi and grew up on that stuff, - quite easy when the birthplace of this treat was only 200 miles away. Traditionally it is made of Sheep's milk or a mix of Sheep and Goat's milk so yours may act a bit different.

Halloumi is sold in boxes, soaked in medium strength brine or whey. (you can tell that it's only medium strength because the cheese sinks to the bottom, it's not suppose to float). We occasionally run into cheese that was a bit too salty, in which case we would dilute the brine with 1/3 to 1/5 water and leave it be for a day. It's quite common to overshoot salt from some reason.

Where did you get the recipe? Would love to make one too! These looks yummy! John, yours look amazing too!

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Re: Lennie's Halloumi Cheese
« Reply #11 on: January 26, 2010, 12:37:01 PM »
iratherfly, thanks, and for tips on brine & Halloumi.

I compared eight Halloumi Recipes here, including the ones in this thread.

Offline Lennie

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Re: Lennie's Halloumi Cheese
« Reply #12 on: January 26, 2010, 01:18:55 PM »
I basically took the consensus of John's comparison of recipes, and used that as my recipe.

I may try this with goats milk next time.  But the storebought milk made a quite aceptable product.

iratherfly

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Re: Lennie's Halloumi Cheese
« Reply #13 on: January 26, 2010, 04:36:26 PM »
Thank you guys!
I don't have a source for sheep's milk here but will try it with goats' or mix of goats' and cows'. Will report back when I fry one!