Raclette Videos - French Alps

[max1]

Although I'm sure most of you, being surely every bit as enthusiastic about cheese makiing as I am, have trawled YouTube for such videos, thought I'd put these up anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv79o_Zs3bs&feature=feedlik

Since I speak french, thought I'd translate out some of the more interesting nuggets of information:

• She says that for raclette you should 'décaille' --meaning literally 'decurd'-- for 15 min in order to form curds somewhere between rice and corn kernel size
• Then she says to heat the curd for 30 min to 39°C/102°F.
• After that she says to stir ('le brassage') for another 10-15 min. Funny though, she doesn't say anything about washing the curd.  There is a great shot of what the curd should look like though, after cooking and stirring
• During the affinage, she says that they turn and wash the cheese once a day with brine.  Again she doesn't say anything about b.linens of other rind molds/microorganisms, but in a cave like that one I guess these are transferred by washing from oldest to newest cheese?
• Another few things that she brings up are the importance of good quality milk from grass-fed cows and using raw milk

Here's a second one.  Not much to add here.  He mainly speaks of, once again, the importance of raw milk and grass fed cows.  In fact he says that since they use raw milk, they are not allowed to feed the cows with grain that's been stored in silos.  Does anyone know the reason behind this?  Fermentation of the grain?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g8OYxIwgJw&feature=related

There you go, hope some of you find that interesting.  Nothing very new, but still fun to watch!

[smilingcalico]

Enjoyed the videos, thanks.

[boothrf]

Thanks Max, lovely videos. So much history in European cheese making!

[Boofer]

...they are not allowed to feed the cows with grain that's been stored in silos.  Does anyone know the reason behind this?  Fermentation of the grain?

Not sure, but the attached doc might be one reason: toxins.

Thanks for the videos. Never doubt putting up a video or a pic.

-Boofer-

[linuxboy]

It's about silage. Fermented greens, not necessarily grain. The reason is because it makes for an inferior product, and tends to shift the ambient flora to clostridia and other bacteria that do well with silage. Basically, not feeding silage is one way to help preserve the high quality of the product.

[max1]

Ok, makes sense then, that in order to meet stardards they aren't allowed to feed silage.  Thanks!  But what by-product of the fermentation changes the conditions to favor clostridia?

[Tomer1]

I like their method of heating the whole wheel to melt the cheese and "reseal" it.

[max1]

Yup, I had raclette like that once.  They set the cheese in front of a fire (or in our case a heating appliance) and when the top surface has melted, you scrape the cheese off.  'Racler' in french, thus the name raclette I guess.

[Tomer1]

So is it mainly a melting cheese or is just a table cheese which melts really nicely?

[boothrf]

Raclette is traditonally eaten as a melted cheese. The half wheel has the cut face heated on a special griller, or by the fire, as in the video. The melted cheese is then scraped off onto fresh, crusty bread. It is absolutely magnificent, and when combined with a nice crisp white wine, hard to beat as an afternoon snack!

[zenith1]

To Max's question-not entirely sure about the complex nature of the process but, Clostridium is an obligate anaerobe-meaning that it requires an environment completely lacking oxygen. Thinking about the process of making silage and the out gassing that occurs naturally, perhaps creating the needed conditions for this bug. To the questions of toxins, again Clostridium could be the uninvited guest because of the potent toxins(think botulism) that it produces. Silage and the making there of has been implicated in more than one disease process. Farmers have known this for some time suffering from "farmers lung" and even death from asphyxiation from entering unvented silos.

[zenith1]

You have to love the end of both video clips-everyone sitting around the table eating a simple lunch that includes that great cheese!