Draining Stilton

[Neil H]

I think the next Blue i would like to try is a Stilton.

I have a couple of questions maybe someone can help....

after heating the milk and adding the culture and PR followed by the rennet the curd is left to form, then the curd is cut and left for  and hour of so right?  Other blue recipe's call for the curds to be reheated at this point, this does not seem to be correct for Stilton ? correct?

After this the whey is poured off and then most recipe's call for the curd to drain for 12 to 24 hrs...... my question is how is this achieved ? do you guys put the curds in cheese cloth and elevate?.... with the other blues I have made this seems to create a pretty dry curd ?

I have course salt, is this ok for salting a Stilton or is a finely ground salt better ??

Thanks in advance

[Sailor Con Queso]

Stilton curd is not cut. Add rennet, let sit for 90 to 120 minutes (I go 120 to retain more moisture), then use a sanitized measuring cup to ladle off "slices" into a cloth lined colander. BEWARE - there will be 2 or 3 times as much curd mass as other cheeses, so be sure that you are prepared for the volume. I use a curtain sheer and a plastic laundry basket full of holes (especially on the bottom). You want the curd to drain overnight, but not drain too dry. I like my curds to still be very wet the next morning. If the curds are too dry, the mold will not get off to a good start.

There are several ways to do this, but here's one technique. Just sanitize your sink and strainer, line with cheesecloth (or a drapery sheer) and ladle the curds in. While it drips overnight, most of the whey will drain down the sink, but it will also be sitting in a pool of whey. That's a good thing because again, you want a really wet curd. A little bit dripping wet is better than dry. Part of the process is to allow the cheese to develop proper acidity overnight. The next morning you are going to break the curd mass into large chunks and blend with the salt. I use course Kosher salt (no iodine). Then scoop it into your mold without pressing. I take the curds on top and crumble them up very fine and smooth them by hand. I do NOT smooth my Stiltons after they come out of the mold, so this step gives it a much smoother finish anyway.

Then the cheese (still in the mold) needs to drain for 2-3 days. The first day I flip every couple of hours, then twice a day after that. Day 1 & 2 are at room temp (not over 72F) then into the cave. I keep the cheese in the mold for a week before removing. After that keep the humidity high, but not wet, and it's all up to Mother Nature and her rogue bio-gang.

[Aris]

Tuxford and Tebutt and Cropwell Bishop cut their Stilton curd. While Stichelton dairy, maker of Stichelton (raw Stilton) dont cut theirs, they hand ladle the curds to a draining table. Me i cut the curds, let it rest for 30 minutes then hand ladle the curds to a fine colander. After 4 hours its fully drained and ready to be milled and salted.

[Boofer]

And there's linuxboy's version.

I just used it for my first Stiltonesque and it seems fine.

You're using coarse Kosher salt? I would think that wouldn't perform as well, but I bow to your NYC prowess. 

-Boofer-

[Sailor Con Queso]

By cutting the curds, you lose butterfat and flavor. It's not just about draining. It needs to sit for longer than 4 hours to develop proper acidity prior to salting. That's an important part of creating the right environment for the blue mold.

After the designation rules changed, English Stilton makers started using pasteurized milk and changed their make techniques. As a united group, they chose to do this for some bizarre reason. The English government didn't mandate these changes, the cheesemakers did, probably for convenience. Stichelton is the only UK producer using traditional techniques and raw milk. If you taste their cheese (or mine ) you will see why. Do you want a spectacular tasting cheese, or something you can finish up in an 8 hour factory shift?

[Sailor Con Queso]

Boof - especially in such a wet environment, the coarse salt is just going to melt and spread throughout the cheese anyway. Fine will work, but coarse Kosher is what I have available locally.

[linuxboy]

IMHO, Stichelton is a far superior cheese. It's nuanced, the flavor layering is better on the tongue, the aroma formation is more satisfying, and just overall, a more refined cheese. It's like the difference between going to a nice French restaurant and ordering tripe, where the dish uses good ingredients, and the recipe is adequate, but they need to cook it up fast and so turn up the heat and serve it vs going to another restaurant that will slowly cook that tripe over a day, and layer the flavors, starting with a solid base, and adding aromatics to create gradients of aroma and flavor that blend together as everything breaks up with the gentle heat. One dish is excellent, the other dish sublime.

Then again, there's someone like Colton Basset who produces a really excellent stilton by adapting traditional approaches and modernizing them.

I do my stiltons about the same as Sailor, but I really like a very long ferment in the mold. I tend to leave it for 4-5 days before it goes in the cave. And I tend to ferment a little cooler, at 66-68F. Generally, I ladle to preserve the fat and moisture. I think my recipe that I posted left it up to each person whether to cut or ladle. And IMHO, acidity really is key to this cheese. One time, I messed up my pH targets and only got to a terminal of 5.0 at 1 day in the mold. Blue mold development was nowhere near where I wanted it during maturation.

[Aris]

[author=Sailor Con Queso]

"By cutting the curds, you lose butterfat and flavor."

I guess makers of Roquefort, Danish Blue, Gorgonzola, Bleu D' Auvergne, Fourme D' Ambert and many more, dont know what their doing because they cut and stir their curds.

It's not just about draining. It needs to sit for longer than 4 hours to develop proper acidity prior to salting. That's an important part of creating the right environment for the blue mold.

I made a Stilton style blue cheese before and i only left it at room temp for only 2 hours and it was as veiny as Queso Cabrales. Besides it pretty hot here in the Philippines, 29-33 c morning to noon. At 4 hours, the whey from the curds is sour as yogurt, i think that is acidic enough for the blue mold. I go by taste since i dont have a ph meter.

[linuxboy]

I guess makers of Roquefort, Danish Blue, Gorgonzola, Bleu D' Auvergne, Fourme D' Ambert and many more, dont know what their doing because they cut and stir their curds.

Woah, mate, no need to be so extreme, I don't think anyone here is saying there is a right and a wrong or questioning the skill of other makers. The decisions are all individual preferences. There's no right or wrong here, but more about aligning choices with the desired outcome. A cut curd tends to lose more liquid. But not necessarily, because it depends on set time. And someone might want to have a faster make time, and do an 8-hour shift start to finish. It still makes a good cheese, just different. We all have different palates. Just because there's less butterfat and less flavor, it doesn't make it right or wrong... just a different choice for a specific desired outcome based on economic realities. It would be boring if we all did it the same way.

Sailor's comment for >4 hours was at the temperature range he posted (72F or so). I feel like he emphasizes acidity, and not just the time. If your temp is significantly higher, then it will acidify faster. That's what's so great about cheesemaking, have to make adjustments to fit what best works for you

[Sailor Con Queso]

I guess makers of Roquefort, Danish Blue, Gorgonzola, Bleu D' Auvergne, Fourme D' Ambert and many more, dont know what their doing because they cut and stir their curds.

Those are all cut curd blues. We were discussing Stilton specifically. My comments about time and temperature were primarily for the benefit of Neil, who asked for our help.

LB is absolutely right. The beauty of cheesemaking is the infinite variations and ways to meet the goals of your intended end product. I make Stilton types and other blues for a living and this is simply the way that I do them.

[Tomer1]

I would suggest cutting the curds at some point because the volume is just overwhelming, if your making anything over 2 gallons you will need a huge collander and draining bag or alternativly using a bucket.

Also the key thing here is to achive a certain moisture content along with acidity so I feel that by having more control over moisture level by cutting the curds your less likely to miss your marks because do remember that espacially in warm climate you can easly over acidify.

[Neil H]

Thank you all so much for the valuable replies !

Next weekend will be STILTON weekend in JHB

[Neil H]

ok so i tried a stilton this weekend

i set the curds and then ladelled the curd into a drain without cutting the curd....

i tied the cheese cloth and placed it into a bucket overnight to drain ....  the next morning I hope the acidity was correct as i dont have anything to test it with yet ..... it was very very sloppy and i put the cloth into an elevated position for about an hour, and a lot of whey came out ...  I added the salt and then put it into the mould .... since then i have been flipping the mould every hour or so for 12 hours ...... it has lost about 250ml of whey (starting with 5L or a little more than a gallon starting amount of milk).......

so once again, thank you for you\r help, i will post pics when i can

regards from
RSA

[Neil H]

Well at 02 days i am relatively dissapointed ... the cheese is the consistency of a thick cottage cheese and i cannot see how it will possibly hold up even after a week in the mould..... i dont think i drained it enough .....

through failure there is learning and through learning there will one day be success ....... 

Stilton, i am not finished with you !!!

[Sailor Con Queso]

This is not a failure. Just keep flipping and draining. I leave my Stilton in the hoops for a week. It will come together.