Author Topic: Chaource Cheese Making Recipe  (Read 7825 times)

cheeseslovesu

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Chaource Cheese Making Recipe
« on: March 26, 2012, 11:06:05 AM »
Hi everyone,

This Chaource recipe has a great story. I was reading up on the recipe in many of my cheesemaking bibles and was a little unsure about starting off when I saw Will Studd's episode on Cheese Slices on a small cheese factory in America making a similar cheese. I emailed the factory and I was thrilled when they emailed me straight back with some hints. What wonderful people.

After a few failed attempts, not really failed but I was a bit disappointed in the final product I finally tweaked the recipe, made it simpler and it proved to be a real favourite with many of my customers.

The great thing about this recipe is you can mature it for your own taste... longer for a more pungent flavour, shorter for a sweeter milder flavour. I would suggest you get fresh cows milk for this but I will try it in a few weeks with shop bought milk to see how it turns out.

OK enough chat, here is the recipe:

* bring 10 litres pasteurised milk to no hotter than 30C.
* add 50ml liquid mesophilic starter culture, made the day before. Stir 1 minute
* add a smidgen of geotrichum powder, a very technical term but you only need a tiny amount. Stir one minute
* add 1ml rennet to 50ml cooled boiled unclorinated water. Stir 2 minutes
* let sit undisturbed for 20 hours until the pH has dropped to <4.5. The whey should have separated and cracks formed in the curd.
* gently scoop layers into a hoop, a cup sized hoop or smaller is about the right size, the final sized cheese should weight about 150 - 200gm. The curd will drop over the next few hours so top right up over an hour and then leave to drain.
* Leave to drain for 24 hours at room temp (do not flip) and then sprinkle a good pinch of salt, about a teaspoon, on the top. Let sit for 10 mins then flip onto a rack, take the hoop off and sprinkle with salt again.
* mature at approx 12C for 7 - 10 days, twist a 1/4 turn every few days so the bottom doesn't stick. Do not flip.
* wrap the cheese and if you want more flavour then leave in maturation room for a few more days until the sides start to get squidgy (more technical terminology) or wrap and refrigerate for a milder taste.

We started this recipe and added white mould but I didn't like the final product so left it out. Adding only the geotrichum makes it less complex but gives it a unique aftertaste with no hint of ammonia.

When I used to deliver this cheese I would drive along thinking I had left the rubbish in the car or a farmers sock. This is my teenage daughters favourite cheese.

Let me know what you think.

Shazah

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Re: Chaource Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2012, 09:39:36 AM »
Hi
Thanks for sharing this recipe and the story that goes with it.
I am a big Will Studd fan and have about 4 of his DVD's so I'm about to go check if I have this one. 
I am very keen to give this recipe a try but I'll have to make sure I have a few days up my sleeve to give it the dedication it deserves.
Am I right in guessing the finished size should be similar to a small Camembert?
I will post pics when I get a chance to make.

Cheers
Sharon

cheeseslovesu

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Re: Chaource Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2012, 03:25:24 AM »
Hello Sharon,

glad your going to give this cheese a whirl.

I used to make these in a small round hoop so they sit about 3 inches high and about 3 inches wide. The bigger the hoop the longer it takes to mature.

Some customers would prefer the Chaource younger without the strong flavour. Others loved it all gooey and smelly and aged.

I want to see photos!
I have just just made Rickki's 30 minute mozzarella and it worked! happy now.


Offline Tiarella

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Re: Chaource Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #3 on: October 29, 2012, 03:48:01 AM »
I've just tried my first Chaource batch and while they look great and taste pretty good I don't really know if they taste the way they are supposed to.  This batch is just 2 weeks old and there is a slight moldy taste along the rind that I am not totally into.  Can anyone describe how they are supposed to taste?

Shazah

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Re: Chaource Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2012, 06:45:39 AM »
Hi Tiarella

I wasn't all that sure that I liked the flavour of my first attempt at Chaource but I'm pleased to say it improved with a little age. 

In the first two weeks it compared to a feta in taste and texture.  After about four weeks the paste became very buttery and then resembled a mature Camembert.  The flavour mellowed out but it was still a nice cheese to spread on a cracker.

I'm pleased I gave this one a try but think I'll stick to Camemberts in the future.

I hope you and your cheeses are safe from the storm.

Cheers
Sharon

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Re: Chaource Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2012, 04:39:40 PM »
Thanks for replying, Sharon.  A friend brought me a Chaource she'd made and it had a bit of Camembert sharpness so reading above on this thread I thought tasting it earlier might help get a milder flavor.  Mine certainly didn't have the sharp Cam flavor but it still wasn't quite what I wanted......

You say you're tasted like feta at first and do you mean it had that nice sharp bite?  Mine is starting out mild and fairly soft after 12-14 days.  I might have to look for a real Chaource to taste so I know what I'm aiming for.  I'd love buttery and soft.  Maybe I'll make a batch of Brie just to get something soft and tasty and easy going.  I have to go back and forth between hard and soft cheeses because the soft ones take up more room with the multiple cheeses versus a single hard pressed cheese.


Hey, you have  LOT more experience than me so I'll ask a question.  Do you think it's possible to have natural rind cheeses and no mold rinds in the same cave?  Otherwise, how do cheese makers do it?  Different caves for different types of cheese? 

Off to eat some cheese and sourdough bread for lunch.

Shazah

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Re: Chaource Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #6 on: October 30, 2012, 05:08:36 AM »
Hi Tiarella, your cheese looks lovely. A little taller than mine turned out.  I can see the beginnings of the gooey paste starting just under the skin.  Give it another week or so and you'll have a more mature paste in the centre.

As for experience, I think you may be getting me confused with Cheeseslovesu.  I'm still very much a learner, taking in every bit of information I can glean from the forum here.

With regard to mixed cheeses in your cave, I have had no problems with having my 7 month old Parmesan sitting in with my Reblochon, Caerphilly and Cambozola at various times over the last few months.  I am careful to keep the blues in their own containers but so far no cross contamination.

I was lucky enough to learn Brie and Camembert in my first cheese making class so I'll probably continue with them since they're not so time consuming.

cheeseslovesu

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Re: Chaource Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #7 on: October 30, 2012, 06:31:34 AM »
Hello there fellow cheese heads. Sorry for the delay in seeing these posts but I have been busy teaching cheesemaking.

Tiarella, your chaource looks a perfect size and it is a little young. Shazah is correct in telling you to let it ripen another week. It is all up to personal preference. I had a customer that hated it too ripe and I would tell him whether he should buy it or not depending on the batch. Some loved it stinky and goey and almost grey in the rind. I am a middle ripened girl. Try making it with goats milk - YUMMO

Most small commercial cheese makers don't make a large variety of different rind cheeses unless they have separate maturation rooms. The blue is most dominant and will infect everything. White mould also attacks everything too. If you are a home cheesemaker like I am now then we have access to great red Décor containers with an inbuilt rack  that are great for ripening. I have them stacked in my wine fridge which is set on 13C. I need to buy a huge one because there is never enough room.

Hope this helps

cheeseslovesu

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Re: Chaource Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #8 on: October 30, 2012, 06:42:34 AM »
Oh I forgot to mention I met up with Will Studd in Brisbane earlier this month at the Brisbane Cheese Awards Peoples Day and he watched my 30 min Mozzarella demonstration, he said he hadn't seen it being made before.

He has just brought out a new DVD so keep an eye out for it. He is such a nice man and people were in awe of him.

I don't do yoga - I  make cheese

facebook me http://www.facebook.com/CheeseMakingClasses

Shazah

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Re: Chaource Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #9 on: October 30, 2012, 07:00:56 AM »
Lucky you meeting Will Studd.  He comes across as a nice guy on his DVD's and his sense of humour shows through in some of the out takes at the end.

I'm already following you on Facebook and enjoy the pics of your classes.  They look a lot of fun as always seems to be the case when new cheese makers get together.  Once bitten by the bug we can't get enough of all things cheese  :P

While looking at Wills first DVD last weekend, I became quite enthusiastic about a segment filmed in Bra, Italy at the Slow Food Cheese Festival.  I got even more enthusiastic when I realised it will be on again in September next year so I've made it my mission to find out as much as I can about it, it could be a great cheese adventure.

cheeseslovesu

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Re: Chaource Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #10 on: October 30, 2012, 08:39:52 AM »
My cheesemaking teacher wants to go to Bra next year too. We thought we could go together, I even looked up accommodation for Bra about 4 months ago.
I would like to go to a cheesemaking class in Europe somewhere. Not sure whats available. There is one in France spoken in English but I haven't looked at their email to see what dates are available. I need to get this year out of the way first - it has been a doozy.

The cheese bug is so addictive.  Thanks for the facebook feedback, I probably need a web site too. Maybe it will be a 2013 wish list.

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Re: Chaource Cheese Making Recipe
« Reply #11 on: October 30, 2012, 04:23:26 PM »
Hi Tiarella, your cheese looks lovely. A little taller than mine turned out.  I can see the beginnings of the gooey paste starting just under the skin.  Give it another week or so and you'll have a more mature paste in the centre.



With regard to mixed cheeses in your cave, I have had no problems with having my 7 month old Parmesan sitting in with my Reblochon, Caerphilly and Cambozola at various times over the last few months.  I am careful to keep the blues in their own containers

Thanks, Shaz.  I think the issue for me is that it has a bit of an "off" smell and I don't know if that means it's gone bad somehow or what.  I did eat some and didn't get sick and while my stomach was a bit wonky the next morning that is just as likely from having eaten red sauce with LOTS of green pepper that we're trying to use up.  I just wish I could put a scratch and sniff patch on this post and you all could smell it and tell me what you think.
I will give it more time.  I had so much curd that I made some larger ones also because I ran out of small molds.  Those still feel too wet...gave them some "out of the box" time to try to help them dry further. 

So a question for both of you; with your mini-caves do you leave the lids ajar for air when a cheese is still drying a bit?  I just don't see how we can avoid contamination between cheeses although luckily neither Joseph (my partner) or I are so into blues that I need to make them so we avoid that issue.  I really want to create some magical natural rinds here but still want my Brie and Chaource also to co-exist.  I hope to make a small cheese cave under my basement stairs to give me more room than this little wine fridge I have. 

Oh, and all my cheeses are made with goat milk from my small herd of Nigerian Dwarf goats.