Mary's Reblochon #3

[george]

LOL - except my Cazu Marzu had larvae from WAY less pretty flies.

And yes, I have high hopes for the new molds - even more than getting the proper thickness, the description said they do have rounded corners, so maybe I can fulfill yet another dream and end up with little cheese bellies to pat.   

[Boofer]

LOL - except my Cazu Marzu had larvae from WAY less pretty flies.

And yes, I have high hopes for the new molds - even more than getting the proper thickness, the description said they do have rounded corners, so maybe I can fulfill yet another dream and end up with little cheese bellies to pat.   

Ah yes, the cheese bellies...a fond memory. 

-Boofer-

[iratherfly]

I don't know.... I like cheese mites as long as you can control them. They are essential in some cheeses like Mimolette, but eh, Reblochon, not so much.

What I don't get is how they got there. Where was the cheese aged? At 7 weeks it should have been refrigerated long ago!

I have to say that the 200 Recipes version of this cheese is actually way off the production mark. If you do the right recipe the right way, aging takes 2 weeks ONLY in a cave and then 3-4 more weeks in the fridge. By the time you are done the orange rind sould look quite white as it is covered with a velvety fuzzy layer of late-blooming GEO. You should almost be unable to see the orange anymore. Also, the wash itself is rather mild; it's a pale orange strain of B.Linen, not like Muenster, Morbier, Limburger or any of these meaty hearty trappist style strong cheeses. Reblochon overall should be a mild.

More importantly, since they are surface ripened, the form factor (size/proportion) must be correct at approx Ø2:1, or in other words diameter twice as large as height, (or better yet: radius = height). The Classic Reblochon de Savoie AOC is Ø135mm x 65mm mould. This assures that when using the classic recipe/affinage, by the 6th week of aging the surface ripening of the paste from the top inward + bottom inward + sidewall inward will meet and the center -fully ripened.

I have been using the recipe from the National Dairy School of France and it's a night and day from this one. Let me know if you want details!

[george]

They were aging in a container on a shelf in the unheated basement by themselves - basement hovers around 58 degrees in wintertime.  The reason they were there for so long was because I was getting a huge yield from this milk, but I only had two hoops to use for them, so they were way too tall.  I probably could have cut into them at 6 weeks, but I wanted to be sure they were ripened all the way through - I'd made that mistake with a prior batch.

When I started the very first batch of Rebs, I debated whether to use your recipe or the 200 Easy (although you've posted slight modifications to 200 Easy also).  I finally decided that since I have a tendency to lose individual recipes and then can't figure out what went right or wrong, I'd go with just the straight 200 Easy.  (I also don't like doing cheeses that I have to fuss over, either - I tend to screw that up as well.  Doing washed rinds at all was a major departure from that philosophy for me.   ) 

So while I know that I don't have, and never will have, a "true" Reblochon, they taste awesome (and yes, very mild).  And this way they also match up with all my other cheese types - I don't do a "true" anything, I ALWAYS muck around with the recipes and do something entirely different.  Like with washed curd cheeses - I don't bother with this "remove such and such an amount of whey and replace with the same amount of water".  Nope, not me.  I remove every time down to the level of the curds, and I end up with the creamiest gouda-types and such ever invented.   

[Boofer]

I have been using the recipe from the National Dairy School of France and it's a night and day from this one. Let me know if you want details!

Yes please, Yoav.

I have a recipe I used (probably 200 Easy Cheeses), but I just received the attached one. Does the one you have been using differ?

-Boofer-

[iratherfly]

This is a lot closes to what I am using (Frankly, I got my hands on an entire professional Reblochon de Savoie AOC handbook).  The main differences are:
1. Starter culture is a thermophilic Danisco MY800 - made specifically for Reblochon and has a very unique acidification schedule
2. Rind culture is purely PLA
3. Very long initial ripening (I will have to look up the pH value, I think from 6.8 to 6.5 or so, could take 3 hours or more with this culture)
4. very short flocculation
5. Assuming you are using proper Reblochon size, cheese should be pressed at 1.5 Kg (no more than 2Kg) and flipped at 30, 90 and 180 minutes. Press until reaching pH 5.7, but no less than 90 minutes. Transfer to cold room immediately to cool brine or dry salt in cold room to slow down acid production
6. No coloring in morge. Wash every 2nd day, then sparse it out over the 2nd week.

The combination of the lighter pressing and higher pre-salting pH should make it more supple

Notice that your recipe (as well as mine) call for 2 weeks aging. That's the right affinage. The 200 Easy Recipes book gives you a hard, acidic, overly-stinky and orange Reblochon which is just totally wrong.  I also don't believe in making them in a Camembert mould unless you have enough experience to anticipate that the final shape would indeed be Ø2:1.

I will have to look up the make sheets and make a recipe out of them here.

[Boofer]

Thanks, Yoav. I have become a big fan of PLA. It has done some really nice things for some of my cheeses.

-Boofer-

[iratherfly]

Alternative to PLA for this cheese would be a mix of LAF3 or DH, GEO CB or Geo 25, and a light but aromatic B.Linen like MGE or LR.

I am reading the make and troubleshooting guide here. It's huge. Has all kinds of comments about affinage and how to fine tune it to make it more or less supple, stinky, stable etc. Such interesting cheese.  You know me, I invent new cheeses and don't try making what a million others make well, but on the way there you have to go through the basics and this is the granddaddy of all washed rind trappist style cheeses. If you know Reblochon, Tallegio and St. Necraire - I think you can do anything in this genre. 

[Boofer]

this is the granddaddy of all washed rind trappist style cheeses. If you know Reblochon, Tallegio and St. Necraire - I think you can do anything in this genre.

Boy, that certainly sounds like a challenge to me. I was pleased with my pillow-like Reblochon (#1), disappointed with my two Tallegio attempts, and haven't tried St. Nectaire. I have the Reblochon moulds but haven't made a second effort yet. I am anxious though to repeat my earlier success in the correct moulds.

-Boofer-