Author Topic: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall  (Read 22024 times)

Offline Boofer

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Re: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall
« Reply #45 on: May 11, 2012, 03:18:55 PM »
Lots of pink showing. Very curious.

I'm still targeting the first or second week of June to cut into this.

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anutcanfly

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Re: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall
« Reply #46 on: May 11, 2012, 03:26:12 PM »
Looking forward to the cutting ceremony.  :)

Offline Boofer

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Re: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall
« Reply #47 on: June 03, 2012, 06:10:24 PM »
Looking forward to the cutting ceremony.  :)
And here it is....  8)

June 6th, D-Day, was my original cutting date, but I decided "why not today?". Just about 3 months total.

The rind is only slightly sticky. It was a good decision to wash/brush away the linens back when I did. The rind does not have that strong linens taste as the Esrom #3 and other cheeses I've made so there is no need to remove the rind. The taste is a little nutty, with overall good clean flavor. Salt level is perfect. There are a few small holes as shown in the pics and the level of herbs is adequate and not overpowering. The herbs meld with the milk flavor. I cut one of the slices into half inch sticks and enjoyed them with apple this morning. The texture is semisoft and slightly flexible.

This cheese is an improvement over #3 and a definite plus in the WIN column. I would easily do this make again with no changes to anything.

Hey, Debi...no bitterness.  ;)

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Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall
« Reply #48 on: June 05, 2012, 02:30:53 AM »
Looks great! Is it somewhat stinky?

Offline Boofer

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Re: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall
« Reply #49 on: June 05, 2012, 05:03:00 AM »
Not too stinky, probably because I removed the linens...the major cause of most of the stinky. Overall, very nice little cheese.

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JeffHamm

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Re: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall
« Reply #50 on: June 05, 2012, 07:25:22 AM »
Another nice looking result Boofer!  Your cheeses are all turning out very professional looking.  Well done.  A cheese to your skills.

- Jeff

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Re: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall
« Reply #51 on: June 05, 2012, 01:33:13 PM »
Thanks, Jeff. You're very generous.

I have some cave shelf space opening up and I'm dying to get some rich, raw, summer milk for something. The only things active in the caves right now are the Reblochons and that other FdA. I'm leaning towards a repeat of my Tomme #4. That was pretty special and it's been almost a year.

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george

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Re: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall
« Reply #52 on: June 07, 2012, 07:51:30 PM »
Oh, Boofer, definitely use some of that spring/summer raw milk for a butterkaese!  You know, the one you said you were going to make ...  >:D

Back to the Esrom, though - will you make it again with the herbes de Provence?  Did it add something that you'd like to repeat in an Esrom?

Offline Boofer

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Re: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall
« Reply #53 on: June 10, 2012, 05:19:21 AM »
You know, george, that I would like to do a Butterkase. That might just be the one to spark my imagination.  :D

I think I've fallen in love with Esrom. Very nice little cheese. This latest rendition taught me a few things that I'll use later in other cheeses. I have removed linens from a Tomme, a Fourme d'Ambert, and this Esrom. The linens did its work on the rind and then I removed it so that the rind would be very nicely edible. I have found that I and other consumers of my cheese do not like the linens and will trim it off.

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JeffHamm

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Re: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall
« Reply #54 on: June 10, 2012, 05:26:09 AM »
Hi Boofer,

I've just cut into my most recent butterkase, and it's turned out quite good.  If you're looking for a make protocol you could go with that one.  It makes for a nice, basic, mild cheese.  If you know anyone who's a bit off put by strong flavoured cheeses, this is a good one for them.  I know you've had the real thing as well, which I have not, so I'm also hoping a comparison report will let me know if it's close! :)

I've made it once adding a wash rind to it and it works well that way too, but of course, that's a very different cheese.
- Jeff

Offline Boofer

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Re: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall
« Reply #55 on: June 27, 2012, 06:02:45 AM »
Oooh, I brought this out today and cut a couple slices to check its status. I happened to have some fresh Wasa crackers available so I melted a bit on several crackers. Yum!

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bbracken677

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Re: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall
« Reply #56 on: October 23, 2012, 12:22:39 AM »
Boofer...question: At the beginning of this thread you remarked about starting using mother cultures...what is the advantage to using a frozen mother culture vs adding culture straight into the milk?

Offline Boofer

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Re: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall
« Reply #57 on: October 23, 2012, 01:02:18 AM »
A mother culture takes a 1/4 tsp or so of dry culture and grows it in warmed milk to a huge bacterial concentration. That populated milk is then frozen as cubes. When it comes time to make cheese, I take a bag of 8 cubes of a particular culture (in my case: Alp D, MA4001, Kazu, TA61, Aroma B) out of my freezer, thaw them in a bowl of lukewarm water (it doesn't take very long), and add them to the milk at ripening temperature (90F?). Result? Instant huge bacterial population, which leads to faster pH delta, quicker cheese process, etc.

If I had added that same 1/4 tsp of culture to the milk at ripening temperature (90F?), I would have to wait for the bacteria to wake up from their dried slumber and propagate to the same point that the cubes had when they were added to the milk.

Sailor made it all very clear to us how easy it is to do this when he posted his pictorial "how-to". It took me a while to see the light.

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bbracken677

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Re: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall
« Reply #58 on: October 23, 2012, 01:20:51 AM »
Thanks! I had not considered doing that since my makes tend to be of the 2 gallon size, and just not that often...at best a cheese a week. I will think about this since it does make a lot of sense and perhaps adopt the methodology...recently I have been kept busy enough that I haven't made cheese in a few weeks...going to get the shakes!  haha  I should be making some cheddar on wednesday...all planned out and am ready cept for the milk.

Offline Boofer

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Re: Esrom (#4) with Herbes de Provence...another brick in the wall
« Reply #59 on: October 23, 2012, 05:49:54 AM »
Good luck on your Cheddar make.

You know, Jeff does relatively small makes and he uses cubes. Check out some of his threads.

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