Author Topic: Oil aged provolone.  (Read 8256 times)

Tea

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Oil aged provolone.
« on: January 03, 2009, 09:24:28 PM »
Thought I would record my finding here, so I am hoping that this is going to work out.  Unfortunately I don't think that I nailed the provolone properly as I lost a lot of buttermilk to the water.  However it stretched, and moulded and is now drying, although with the humidity as high as it is, that is becoming a drawn out task.
Divided the provolone into two, one being 1lb 5oz, and the other 1lb 8oz.  I decided to weigh these this time as I am interested to see if any weigh is lost in the aging process.
Both cheeses I am going to give the herb and garlic bath, then I am going to age one in a cave and one in the oil, and see what the final difference is.
Here are the cheeses drying.


Tea

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Re: Oil aged provolone.
« Reply #1 on: January 03, 2009, 11:41:41 PM »
Ok, so these were made Friday lunch time, it is now Sunday morning, and they have each lost 4oz in weight.  So I decided that as the weather is really hot and humid that I would start the marinating process to day.  Just used basil, garlic and rosemary, and for the bath light olive oil.  Will used a different oil for the final aging.  It is now in my esky surrounded by ice packs, so fingers crossed.



Cheese Head

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Re: Oil aged provolone.
« Reply #2 on: January 04, 2009, 01:14:42 AM »
They do look good, congrats, that's an expensive amount of olive oil, hope it will go to good use after marinating!

Tea

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Re: Oil aged provolone.
« Reply #3 on: January 04, 2009, 07:55:05 PM »
Well to me it's not, as I am used to using olive oil in 6lb increments, so 1 1/2 - 2cups seems fairly cheap.
Flipping cheese once a day.  At the moment everything looks good.

Cheese Head

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Re: Oil aged provolone.
« Reply #4 on: January 04, 2009, 07:59:02 PM »
OK sorry, looked like a lot more than 1.5 cups to me :).

Offline Cartierusm

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Re: Oil aged provolone.
« Reply #5 on: January 04, 2009, 08:08:46 PM »
Wow, lost 4 oz. already. Looks good.

Tea

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Re: Oil aged provolone.
« Reply #6 on: January 04, 2009, 08:12:57 PM »
Yeah I have to say that surprised me too.  Especially as I didn't think that I was getting a good drying on the cheese with it being so humid.  Anyway if I can keep my 2 year old out of the cave, (found him pushing the esky around the house yesterday) this is looking to be an interested experiement.

Tea

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Re: Oil aged provolone.
« Reply #7 on: January 05, 2009, 08:00:40 PM »
One thing I have noticed is how the rind has toughened up.  Quite firm already, which I didn't expect considering it is sitting in oil.

Offline Cartierusm

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Re: Oil aged provolone.
« Reply #8 on: January 09, 2009, 09:24:23 AM »
How long are you going to age these, when's the taste test?

Tea

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Re: Oil aged provolone.
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2009, 08:31:13 PM »
Oh Carter don't temp me.  I am hoping to age these to the two month mark, but they smell so good, it is going to be hard.

Likesspace

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Re: Oil aged provolone.
« Reply #10 on: January 11, 2009, 03:36:16 AM »
Tea....
You might want to give these a try sooner than two months (just in case Carter's temptation wasn't enough).  :-)
I had a problem with blue mold getting on one of my provolones so I went ahead and cut it open at the one month mark. The texture was fantastic and the taste was typical of those that I had aged to three months.
I've since decided that I will never let another provolone go beyond the one month mark. I like a more moist provolone and smooth texture which is something I was never able to achieve by aging it for longer periods.
I actually like the younger version of the cheese far better than the aged version.
Of course your tastes might be entirely different, but I thought I would mention it.

Dave

Tea

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Re: Oil aged provolone.
« Reply #11 on: January 11, 2009, 08:10:14 PM »
Thanks Dave for the temptation, just what I need.  I will agree though that at one month my last provolone was just excellent, and so much more flavour than the store bought stuff. 
As I have two I may try one at the 1 month mark and the other at the 2 month mark, and see what I think the difference is.

Tea

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Re: Oil aged provolone.
« Reply #12 on: January 13, 2009, 08:05:16 PM »
I decided that seeing the provolone's were not very thick that 10 days was enough time in the marinade.  I put one in an oil bath and left one to age normally.  I also have the alpine that I made in the marinade.

Sliced off a small piece from the provolone that is aging out of the oil, and while the flavours are great, the cheese is very dry and crumbly, and it has an after bite that is similar to a mature cheddar.  I am unsure whether the dryness is part of the oil aging, or because I didn't quite nail the provolone?  Will be interesting to see how the alpine turns out.

Tea

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Re: Oil aged provolone.
« Reply #13 on: January 25, 2009, 05:15:27 AM »
Ok thought I would update on this thread.  I haven't tried the cheese in the oil bath yet, I want to leave that for another few weeks at least yet.  The one that I just oiled it quite dry, but I think that is the cheese fault not the oil fault.  The flavours from the herbs and garlic have come through well, with the bite of the cheese.


Likesspace

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Re: Oil aged provolone.
« Reply #14 on: January 29, 2009, 12:49:16 AM »
The cheese looks beautiful, Tea....
It also looks like it would work well for grating.
If it was mine I'm pretty sure that it would end up grated onto a meatball sub with some parmesan and then toasted until melted.
Thanks for the pics..I think I just gained 5 lbs. considering how you should eat it. :-)

Dave