I notice the site hasn't got a recipe for Cheshire cheese, so as I made one 5 days ago, I thought I'd put my recipe up here. I'll add photos when I get round to sorting my camera out.
Cheshire Cheese
3 Imp. galls. whole milk, pasteurised; 2 ozs single cream; 4 ozs creme fraiche; a generous 1/2 tsp Calc. Chlor. and the same of animal rennet; 2 1/2 tbs salt. 6" x 5" mould.
1. Put milk, cream and creme fraiche in pot, mix for a minute and raise temp. to 86F/30C. Cover and hold for 30 mins, with the pot covered in towels or a blanket.
2. Add Calc. Chlor., and mix, raise temp. to 86F again, cover, hold and blanket for 10 mins.
3. Add rennet and mix. Raise temp. to 86F again, cover, hold and blanket for 45 mins, or until a clean break is reached.
4. Cut curd into 1/2 inch pieces. Let stand for 5 mins, then take off whey until the curds can be seen just below the level of the whey.
5. Cook curds, raising temp. gradually to 90F/32C over an hour. Stir gently and intermittently for 50 mins. That is, an hour all told; 50 mins of intermittent stirring and 10 mins of pitching/settling.
6. Cover and blanket for 40 mins.
7. Pitch curds and pour off whey, retaining curds in pot.
8. Let curds cake at bottom of pot for 30 mins and press down with hand at 10 min intervals to aid the whey flow. Maintain temp.
9. Tip off rest of whey, keeping curd cake whole, then cut curd into equal fist-sized chunks. Return to pot. Raise temp. to 90F/32C again. Cover and blanket for 3 hours. Check temp. every so often and heat pot if it drops.
10. Tip off any whey in the pot and tear chunks into 1" pieces and salt in the pot.
11. Press into cheesecloth lined mould and add weight at 14lb for 30 mins. Turn cheese, adjust cloth and weight at 28lbs for 30 mins.
12. Turn cheese, adjust cloth and press at between 56 - 60lbs for 16 hours. Take off cloth, turn cheese and put back in press at the same press weights for 3 hours to get rid of cloth marks.
13. Salt cheese all over with 1 tsp salt and dry on cheese mat/rack at room temp., under gauze, for a day. Next day wipe off brine and return to drying at room temp. for 7 to 10 days, depending on when the rind, bottom and top, feels dry to the touch and there's no more seepage of whey. Turn once a day.
14. Then either bandage cheese and age at 60F/16C for 2 months and up to a year, turning cheese daily for three months then twice a week up until time of eating, OR don't bandage, but leave to develop a natural rind with the same aging conditions as a bandaged one.
I prefer a white Cheshire, but some people colour it with annatto. Originally, Cheshires made beyond Cheshire's borders had to be coloured and that was done either with carrot juice or beetroot juice.
