Author Topic: What kind of cheese do you think this would be?  (Read 2309 times)

mightyjesse

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What kind of cheese do you think this would be?
« on: October 28, 2010, 06:04:35 PM »
I've tried out the following recipe, and the vinegar seems to overpower the rennet, and turns turns the nice curds into shattered ricotta glue... Considering some of the citric acid mozz recipies out there, and the fact that this fellow is from Italy, anyone want to hazard a guess as to whether this guy is talking about a pasta filata or a pressed cheese? The mess I got held onto it's whey like mad and just couldn't be pressed... I want to have another go at it, but I'm trying to decide if I should try pressing again, or perhaps spinning? Mind you, this recipe is the invention of a "surgeon" and not a cheesemaker, and it was published in 1581, but I was wanting other people's thoughts on what kind of cheese this might make?

The following translated recipe comes from: Compendio de i secreti rationali di M. Leonardo Fiorvanti Bolognese, Medico & Cirugico.  (The Compendium of rational secrets of M. Leonardo Fiorvanti of Bologna, Medic and Surgeon). Translated by Mistress Helewyse de Birkestad.

The way of making cheese or real cheese (it may be the difference between formaggio being a molded cheese and Cascio a pressed cheese).  Chapter 51.

The cheese that one makes, one makes in this way, that is: when the milk is coagulated one breaks it and puts it over a fire and it is heated until it makes a mass at the bottom of the pot.  Then one takes it out and shapes the cheese, dependent on ones wishes, and then salt it and put it to dry.  But many times made this way it will spoil.  If one would wish to make a high quality one that never spoils make it in this way.  That is: take the strongest vinegar and common honey, more of the one than the other, and put them to boil together.  When one breaks the milk for each 30 "libre" of milk put in one "scudella" of this mix and don't heat it too much.  Then make the pieces of cheese in whichever shape you like and immediately a it is done salt it thus warm.  This is truly the great secret to make the very best cheese that never spoils because vinegar and honey are incorruptible materials and their virtues preserve the cheese.

Libra – about 12 oz, libre - plural of libra
Scudella – small bowl between 430 -600ml

MrsKK

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Re: What kind of cheese do you think this would be?
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2010, 11:06:26 AM »
The recipe doesn't make any mention of using rennet in the cheese, just vinegar and honey, as far as I can tell.

mightyjesse

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Re: What kind of cheese do you think this would be?
« Reply #2 on: October 29, 2010, 01:26:04 PM »
He starts out by saying "when the milk is coagulated, one breaks it" and I'm thinking that the renneting and  cutting are assumed here. He wants to "skip forward to the good stuff." The paragraph before this is about making rennet, so I know this fellow knows about rennet. He's just not a very good recipe writer. >_<

MrsKK

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Re: What kind of cheese do you think this would be?
« Reply #3 on: October 30, 2010, 01:58:00 PM »
with older recipe books, I've found that they do skip many steps that we see as being important.  I think because they assumed that everyone just knew how to do the basic steps and they just want to highlight their new or different method.

So, I guess I would try to do this like a washed curd cheese...after allowing the curds to heal for 10-15 minutes after cutting, I would remove the whey to the level of the curds, then add the vinegar/honey blend and gently stir it into the cut curds, cooking the curd after the vinegar and honey have been added. 

If you do try this again, please let us know how it works for you.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: What kind of cheese do you think this would be?
« Reply #4 on: October 30, 2010, 03:50:17 PM »
Sounds like a ham brine.  The make sounds like it would be something like a crescenza to me.

iratherfly

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Re: What kind of cheese do you think this would be?
« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2010, 08:54:38 AM »
This is one of the funniest recipes I've ever seen. The assumptions about cheese preservation do fit many of the other practices of "surgeons" of the era and not cheesemakers. It's quite naive. what fun.

Essentially, what he is suggesting is an acid-coagulated fresh cheese. The vinegar is first mixed with honey - probably because the author thinks that these two are such powerful preservatives that the cheese would never spoil and they offset each other's flavor. Of course, today we know that this is nonsense... When honey is dilluted it actually promotes bacteria and not fight it. Vinegar has the tendency to turn everything it touches into acid so this whole thing is kind of a lazy idea to acidify milk quickly and break it, then cook it to help the loose solids from the acidified milk separate from the whey (as there is no rennet) and knot on the bottom of the pot. Then you would drain and mold it, and salt it.  This is a lot like basic lemon cheese, Paneer, Queso Fresco and other such cheese. Traditionally this kind of cheese was always made by poor villagers and housewives. Even my own grandmother used to throw a pill of vitamin C into a jar of milk, cook it, empty the whey and mix the remaining milk solids with salt before molding it and having cheese for dinner. (Vitamin C pills are of course made of Citric Acid).  These kinds of cheese cannot age very well because the curd it too acidic to grow any rind. If aged successfully it would be very dry, chalky and won't melt. Also, having no rennet means poor coagulation and low yield.

Anyway, don't get the impression that all old recipes are written this way. From Camembert to Parmesan to Feta... some recipes are over a thousand years old and are still done the same way (maybe faster or safer but generally the same thing).  Try to find more of these old ones. would be fun to make.