Manufactured Cultures - Which Ones To Stock For Average Cheese Maker?

[ArnaudForestier]

Someone here, maybe Linux, said in another thread, "Take a cheese and research it. Learn all can about it, then make it."

Yes, it was Pav, I remember the comment, too; a thread, something along "what cheese to make?"  I thought it was great advice. 

[steampwr8]

To express these feelings and philosophies is exactly why I started this thread. To paraphrase Linux without putting his entire post here, most of us travel the entire gamut of his thinking. I believe his ultimate statement at the beginning is indeed the destination of ones creative ability. Once we learn baby steps and enlightenment hits us and we say, "I can do this. Now what are the possibilities." Be ready to create.

We start at "Can I do this" as a basic hobby. Then with our first successful project the engineering juices kicks in a we go about the task of solving how to set up a small but viable cheese factory that suits our level of talents and engineering prowess. We all through this process then adapt to make some cheeses that serve to be useful for every day and preserve for the future. We also find that we can economically make some varietals that cost us $10's per pound for much less and allow us to enjoy to the fullest that piece of art that is food.

Then a little entrepreneurship kicks in and says could I possibly make a little money on this. This process allows us to tweak and refine our "factory" to adapt and serve these purposes.

The Zen statement that opened his post was most profound in that it should be all of our goals to fall in love with what we do, move to put ourselves into the task with passion, and then use it to create that it might be shared with others it the hopes that they see the possibilities too.

What I have learned from being in the engineering field and technically trained, is that cooking and therefore cheesemaking is very much an engineering field. Then you move beyond that. You get to the place where you watched Grandma and Mom or someone really create in the kitchen. You truly get a feel, or what I call the use of the FORCE, you understand pinch, scosh (sic), dap. 1 1/2 teaspoons go out the window and you know exactly what to add when and how much.

To quote, "The creation of cheese from milk, by extension, must ideally reflect the purest that the creator may express at the time of creating the cheese."

This is why I guess I like to have on hand what it takes to create. If you get an urge to cook Moroccan, better have a little preserved lemon and ghee and graham marsala on hand.

Should I stock therefore B. Linens......? And then....?

[steampwr8]

Hope I didn't kill another thread...seems I do that sometimes.

[linuxboy]

What I have learned from being in the engineering field and technically trained, is that cooking and therefore cheesemaking is very much an engineering field. Then you move beyond that. You get to the place where you watched Grandma and Mom or someone really create in the kitchen. You truly get a feel, or what I call the use of the FORCE, you understand pinch, scosh (sic), dap. 1 1/2 teaspoons go out the window and you know exactly what to add when and how much.

If you truly want to arrive at this level of mastery, then you must work on a single cheese at a time, or maybe a family of cheese. Perhaps not exclusively, but the sensory queues and muscle and sensory memory work best when they have repeatability and reinforcement/feedback loops. Just how our brains work. It's no good to try and master cheddar and brie at the same time, for example. You could get away with doing Derby, Cheddar, Gloucester, etc.. because they're all variations on a theme.

I'll give you an example. A long time ago, I set about the task of learning to create the experience of extreme satisfaction of the simplest food possible for the largest number of people. I'm talking about stocks, of course. So I devoured the cookbooks, and read the industrial literature, and learned product formulation, and then got a roasted chicken carcass and made it. Wasn't bad, tasted like a stock, but I didn't make me close my eyes, nor did it silence the clamor of the world. So I read more, learned more, understood the principles of heat, water, and time, and their interactions with proteins, understood the properties of collagen, understood the other dynamics at play. And I tried again and again. And now I can create a stock with very few ingredients whose mouthfeel, aroma, flavor, and experience really cause a cessation of other sense because of the sensory assault of umami. Or I can take the tongue on a journey from the earth and grass through the field, up the mountain, and into the heat of the sun.  It is a similar way with cheese. There are right answers, but they come through patience and perseverance.

This is why I guess I like to have on hand what it takes to create. If you get an urge to cook Moroccan, better have a little preserved lemon and ghee and graham marsala on hand.

Makes sense. Then I suggest you do this:

- Understand the role of temperature and process variations on the paste of the cheese (no culture differences required)
- In the same group of cheeses, understand the role of culture variations (try the common ones.... spend $50 on several sachets of various blends and see what they all do)
- By this time, you should have figured out the basics of consistency, like same curd size, nuances of your setup, etc.
- Then, move on to another family and build on those skills.
- After getting the hang of a few different families, move on and keep working through. It will all click together and make sense. Or you can stop once you have figured out how to make the cheeses you want.

[dthelmers]

When I was 18 and learning to be a tinsmith, my teacher, Ernie, would look at my work and exclaim,"I said square! Bend them square! You're killing me!" and then a moment later would say, "It's alright, David. The first thousand are the hardest."
I keep that phrase in mind in everything that I do, and have often repeated it to those I was teaching various crafts. I try to make this one the best that I can, and better than the last. Constant repetition of a process trains you, until you find the work is working you.
Dave in CT

[steampwr8]

My college Physics teacher set forth this very principal. He said,"You don't learn to do something until you've done it 50 times."

This is true.

[Corina]

Wow, I am new here but I love the perspective you presented, Linuxboy.Even if philosophical in a way, your postings here made me feel detached and relaxed about cheese making.As a beginner I was a little tense and lost, but now I have a  different perspective.
It is good to have someone write it so well and the story about stock is inspiring, it makes one want to achieve more.

[Boofer]

Ah, linuxboy, I sat back and savored your prose like a fine wine with d'affinois and some crusty bread. I eat it up. 

I had bought milk and some non-UHT/non-UP cream from Trader Joe's today so that I might try my hand at a Reblochon tomorrow morning. Reading your words put me back on track. Tomorrow I venture into Tomme Country again. With two in affinage presently, I still have some "work" to do in that style. The first was dunked in Merlot. The second developed a lovely b. linens rind. What to do with the rind of the third?

I have somewhat of a comfort level with Tomme at this point, but I would have been venturing into unknown wilderness with my first Reblochon. So comfort it is. What a great way to begin a Saturday morning! But...sleep first!

-Boofer-

[Sailor Con Queso]

Since we're waxing philosophically...

I introduced 10 different cheeses at our local Farmer's Market today. Lots of great feedback. Towards the end of the day, two women walk up to the table and start sampling. As I start talking to them, I noticed that the first woman had a heavy British accent. She worked her way down the table and came to the last cheese - a 6 month old Caerphilly. Her eyes got big and she said "Oh my". Then she tasted a sample and started crying. Her friend asked her what was wrong, and the woman smiled and said, "It reminds me of home".

Wow did that make my day. Sales are great, but a reaction like that is priceless.

[ArnaudForestier]

That's beautiful, congratulations, Sailor.

BTW, I asked Pav about his post, re: making one cheese, and he was kind enough to direct me to it.  I'm taking the liberty of reprinting it - hope that's OK, friend, thought it to be fantastic advice:

Also do this: pick one cheese, just one cheese, not even a family, and learn everything you can about it. Learn the history, the people who made it, the milk, why they made it, how they aged it, and then go on to the microbiological and other aspects. As you go through these exercises, especially the chem/bio side, ask yourself:

- If I added more/less of rennet or culture, what would happen? How does it affect cheese flavor
- If I waited longer/shorter at this step, what would happen? How does it affect cheese flavor?
- If I Increased/decreased temp at this step, what would happen? How does it affect cheese flavor?

If you can do this for one cheese, just one cheese, you'll find it will take you only a few days before you can answer those questions for another cheese.

[linuxboy]

Blessed are the cheesemakers

'tis we, who craft, purvey and peddle rot
of thrice-transformed green fields and sunny skies
Transmogrify the crude and milky lot
From babe's sole heaven to a clever guise
We toil by night, by day, and in between
Maddened by vision that the unseen sees
To scrub the pots, foregoing sleep to clean
To feed the creatures and to turn the cheese
Ours is the blessing; we lay claim to it
As boldly as the lamb seeks new-found sight
So none may suffer, we ourselves acquit
Of worldly wisdom, of the brawn and might
And in humility expose for all to taste
What God's hand wrought, and what our meekness braced

[ArnaudForestier]

Thank you, Pav.

Is this yours?

[mhill]

I would add the obvious--the longer a particular cheese (or family) needs to age, the longer it takes to get a handle on how the variables affect the end result. The other aspect beyond particular culture and make procedures is the simplicity or complexity of affinage and the affect of different affinage on identical cultures/identical cheeses.  In that way lactic cheeses or pasta filata might be the easiest and the granas some of the hardest to get a handle on. Meaning, I could make 50 mozzarellas in 50 days and use the experience of each make for the next.and probably be be pretty good at it. To make 50 Parmesans and use the learning from one make on the next would take years (math expert calculation??).

[linuxboy]

Is this yours?

Indeed.

the longer it takes to get a handle on how the variables affect the end result.

This is often the case in smaller scale settings, but there are many shortcuts to seeing how small changes affect final flavor without having to wait so long and/or without multiple iterations. Typically used in academia and large institutions. There are various prototyping tools, such as using a machine to create very small cheeses, and many of them, in order to explore the effects of changes on cheese. It doesn't help too much with the sensory aspects in terms of teaching oneself the differences in the curd and make, but it can help to create a very solid process for repeatably making cheese.

[ArnaudForestier]

Is this yours?

Indeed.

Un poème très beau, mon ami.

the longer it takes to get a handle on how the variables affect the end result.

This is often the case in smaller scale settings, but there are many shortcuts to seeing how small changes affect final flavor without having to wait so long and/or without multiple iterations. Typically used in academia and large institutions. There are various prototyping tools, such as using a machine to create very small cheeses, and many of them, in order to explore the affect of changes on cheese. It doesn't help too much with the sensory aspects in terms of teaching oneself the differences in the curd and make, but it can help to create a very solid process for repeatably making cheese.

Of interest to me as well.  I understand the pilot-plant nature of a machine like you're discussing, but it seems to me the sensory feedback loop is critical to this notion you posited so well, of working one cheese or family of cheeses to learn effects of make changes. 

If that is the case, the question is still raised for me, how is the situation accommodated when one is dealing with long-aged cheeses, with part of their very profile being their large size?  (e.g., there will be different affinage and final characteristics for a 2kg, home-style "beaufort," and a true 45kg wheel).  Presuming a pilot-plant idea, in other words, what sorts of things can actually be learned by manipulating variables on smaller, presumably shorter-aged cheeses, if one is wanting to hone in on, say, a classic Gruyère or Gruyère family (ahem...beaufort, Comté)?

Thanks, Pav.

Edited to add: (I should say, I know the obvious answer would be to just make a ton of cheeses at roughly the same time with different process variables, then age them as normal, and try them.  Was simply curious if there really is a way to understand dynamics by doing these large, long-aged cheeses in a kind of nano-version, via the pilot plant machine process you raise, above).