2nd Attempt at Lancashire

[Iezzo]

For my first attempt at Lancashire I had an unfortunate run in with some form of contaminate which resulted in a rather stinky rancid wheel that was only enjoyed by the trash receptacle (and I question even that), although there seemed to be an excellent knit and it generally looked like an acceptable cheese. 

I began again on Oct 8th with some knowledge gathered from this site and many of you splendid individuals.  By implementing the    blue bowl : red bowl technique for keeping utensils clean and improved ingredients, I find myself with, what I feel to be, a solid 2nd Lancashire attempt.  This attempt has surpassed my prior by and order of magnitude in looks alone. http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,8212


Day 1, out of mold
  

Day 16, nice white mold
 

Day 23, lookin' pretty


I actually have two 4" wheels from this batch and I hope to open one for Turkey day although I think  47 days is a little young, but again I have two wheels. 

Some things I would like to improve upon even before tasting it:

1) Proper mold with follower:  I'm currently using a 4" pvc pipe section with a follower made from a plastic cutting board.  As you can see from the images I have some raised lips around the edges of my small wheels due to improper fit of my followers.

2) Trimmed fine cheese cloth:  I'm using fine cheese cloth now but with my molds being so small I have difficulty piling the excess cloth evenly so next time I'm simply going to cut the cloth for the appropriate size to avoid the misshapen top.

3) I may salt the cheese throughout the initial 6-7 day drying.  I liked how it really seemed to pull the moisture out of the surface and gave me a solid natural rind early on even though I only did it 3-4 times.

[JeffHamm]

Very nice looking pair of mini-wheels!  They should turn out nicely I think.  Looking forward to hearing how your 47 day old Lanc tastes.  Don't forget to let the cheese come to room temperature before tasting it.  If it's cold, it reduces the flavour (hence, the marketing of "ice cold" beer in North America, but I'll just move on from that).  I've got a Lanc on the go at the moment, which is comming up on 3 months old, and it's very nice.   Enjoy, and well done.  No more feeding Oscar.

- Jeff

[Iezzo]

  This will be my first aged cheese, I cannot put into words how excited I am.  I will, of course, post my thoughts and description very soon.

[MrsKK]

If you know anyone who can sew, have them make up curd bags for you from fine muslin or sheeting fabric.  Make them taller than your cheese mold by about 3-4 inches and taper the tops out so that the bag can be turned down the outside of the mold.  Then use a piece of the muslin/sheeting in between your curd and the follower.  FarmerJD "pioneered" these curd bags and I've had much smoother cheeses since making mine.

As for the curd that gets squished up between the side of the mold and the follower, just trim it off.  If you make your follower exactly fit the mold, you won't be able to fit it in once you add the cheesecloth.  It's kind of a trade-off, but at least you get to try your cheese when it is just a baby!

Keep up the good work.

[Iezzo]

Problem solving through simple elegance, I love it.  I'll speak to my wife about it, whom, let's face face it, can turn a button (and sew it) faster than I can turn a phrase.  If she comes up with a pattern of some sort I'll scan it and post it.  Thanks MrsKK!

[Iezzo]

Much like your first car, no matter how crappy it is, you're proud of it and turn a blind eye to it's deficiencies, my first Lancashire came out of it's wrapping like a golden angel nugget.  I cut into the rather think rind and noticed a really solid knit.  The meat was dry and crumbly, when pressed between your fingers.  The initial flavor was rather bland though the after flavor was nutty with subtle notes of bitter earth.  Needless to say my family all politely smiled and made yummy noises when they tried it, although it turned out like my grand-moms hand-me-down '88 dodge dynasty (my first crappy car, a laughable jalopy that left me halfway to most destinations).  It didn't melt, which I thought was strange, but it did have one redeeming quality, when it was grated over sauce (red gravy) the flavor did seem to pop (even my wife said that).  I think I may have over pressed it and made it too dry.  Things are starting to calm down for me now and with any luck I'll be able to order some more rennet and starters soon for another attempt.

In other news; my wife signed me up for a 6 month cheese of the month club and my first cheese was a Cheshire with peppercorn.  That was a great flavor and now I have something to platform from flavor-wise.

[JeffHamm]

Congratulations! 

It sounds like this was a much better result.  I would suggest getting a mould large enough to make one cheese, rather than two mini wheels.  As you can see, the rind does take up a bit, and with two cheeses you lose more to the rind.

The dryness was probably due more to things you did to the curds while making the cheese rather than to over pressing.  Moisture content is due to a number of variables, for example, how long you let the curd set up before cutting it - longer leads to moister cheese.  But then, if you cut the curds smaller, they expell more whey (so if you let the curd sit too long you can try to correct the excess moisture by cutting the curd smaller).  Also, how much you stir, and how vigorously you stir, can result int he cheese being drier or moister.  If you scald the curds (raise the temp from 30 to 36 over an hour - that step) and you raise the temp too quickly, or too high, you can affect things too.  And so on.

I would recommend reading up on the floc method for determining when to cut the curds.  This will be one skill that will be very helpful and allow you to start working towards consistency.

Also, a lot of the time, "stirring just means moving" the curds, not a full on stir.  Just shift the curds around a bit to prevent them from matting. 

Finally, I've found lancashire to be a relatively mild cheese, though it will sharpen up if you age it.  If you want a cheese to practice with, try caerphilly.  It's ready to eat in two to three weeks, though it does improve if you leave it a bit longer, like 5 or 6 weeks.

Anyway, well done.  A cheese to you!

- Jeff

[Iezzo]

Thanks Jeff! These wheels were a marked improvement over my last and as you see I still have a long way to go.  Over the holiday I recieved an 8" mould (7and some change inner diameter) which, as you mentioned, will increase the meat (non-rind).  Thus far I've been really careful about not over stirring, to the point of what I felt was under-stirred so I don't think that was my main issue.  There is, however, a very distinct possibility that I cut the curd too soon and maybe a touch small.  I will definitely re-read the procedure for calculating my floc time before my next make.  I have been reluctant to change up cheeses until I get a solid product but I believe you're right on target with Caerphilly.  Cranking out more product faster will allow me to hone in on correcting my deficiencies. 

Lastly, do you think I could have over salted my wheels during the initial 6 day drying?  Could that have produced such a thick rind or is my think rind 100% due to the size of my wheel? (I expected a deep rind already but it was well over half my cheese.)

[JeffHamm]

HI iezzo,

The salt during the make is enough to preseve the cheese.  Rind formation will occur without the added dry salting, which probably did add to your rind thickness.  Air drying a few days, then moving to a higher humidity, cooler cave is more than enough to ensure the cheese will form a rind that protects it from mould.  You may get mould on the outside, which you can wipe down with brine and vinegar, and brush with a nail brush, but with a bit of daily care (you have to flip it anyway), it should just be surface mould. 

It takes a bit of time to build up confidence and just let the cheese be to do it's own thing to a certain extent.  Given that it sounds like your rind was very thick, it could also be that your humidity is a bit low.  Are you aging the cheese in a ripening box, which is just a plastic box with a lid that you can leave ajar?  Ripening boxes are an easy and practical way to increase the humidity around your cheese.  This will keep it from drying out too much.

Anyway, I think you're well on your way.  It's now just a matter of perfecting your skills.  Aging is the trickiest part (another reason why caerphilly is fairly forgiving, the aging period is quite short!), but keep at it.  Well done.

- Jeff