Author Topic: turning a mistake into an experiment  (Read 6548 times)

bbracken677

  • Guest
Re: turning a mistake into an experiment
« Reply #15 on: October 02, 2012, 04:27:44 PM »
Alt could be interesting. Just adjust to taste. I know bpa works well with this style.  You will need a champagne stopper cap though as one 330 ml bottle should be enough to last you the entire wash period.

More fun tho would be to open a beer a day, use a little for the wash and drink the rest!    :)

horrocks007

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Re: turning a mistake into an experiment
« Reply #16 on: October 05, 2012, 12:56:11 PM »
I just screwed up a farmhouse cheddar. I accidentally used a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon for the salt. Not sure what to do, should I brine it, or just heavily salt the exterior?

Not planning on aging this for very long.

bbracken677

  • Guest
Re: turning a mistake into an experiment
« Reply #17 on: October 05, 2012, 03:16:27 PM »
Just brine it as you would a normal un-cheddared cheese...or you can dry salt it. Take a couple of tablespoons of salt and, over 2 or 3 days, salt daily, spread it on the cheese. Probably won't get the same results as a normally salted cheddar though.

iratherfly

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Re: turning a mistake into an experiment
« Reply #18 on: October 07, 2012, 03:01:29 AM »
I would brine is because that would be easiest to get right. A teaspoon is a 1/3 of a tablespoon so you are missing 2/3 of your salt. If you brine it 2/3 of the brining time than you will put the missing 2/3 salt in the cheese.

Prepare fully saturated brine (24%-26.5% salt, until salt is left on the bottom and the water can't absorb it anymore).  Use it when it's cool (65°F or so). For each 1 lb of cheese leave it for 2 hours (instead of 3). At full brine saturation the cheese should float halfway at the surface so the top of the cheese may be out of the brine. Turn the cheese upside-down halfway through the brining period so both sides get equal brining.  Don't forget to add calcium to your brine otherwise calcium will run out of the cheese. Let it dry on a rack in a cool place (50°F-60°F) for 2-3 days, turning it once or twice a day. When the outside is dry to the touch you can cave, wax, or vacuum it. It is important to get that outside on the dry side so you assure that the cheese has developed a basic rind.

In my opinion, cheddar after the curd has been pressed, milled, salted and re-milled is just too dense and dry for effective dry-salting.

In any event, a tablespoon is a strange measurement. Always weigh the cheese and calculate the salt based on the cheese weight.

beechercreature

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Re: turning a mistake into an experiment
« Reply #19 on: October 20, 2012, 03:27:45 PM »
Well, i had a nice rind developed on this one. I had to fight off the blues recently so i cracked the lid to reduce the moisture in the mini cave. It was going well until i forgot to check on it for a few days.

Huge cracks urrywhere and the rind dried out way too much. i vac sealed it right away and that seemed to 'close' the cracks up a little.  :-[

i did eat a chunk that fell off. it was creamy and smooth. a touch bitter, but i didn't mind that. i think i'll try to forget about this one for a while and see what happens with it.

it was a fun experiment either way, and i learned a bit about rind washing. so, well worth the hassle, even if it turns out crappy.

Cheese update: I'm really glad I tried this experiment. The vac sealing sealed up all the cracks, except for the chunk that had fallen off, and even drew enough moisture from the paste to soften the dried rind back to what it was before it dried out.

After all that aging, the bitterness is gone and the cheese is tasty! The washing really added some great flavor. Overall, for a cheese that narrowly escaped the garbage can twice, I'd say this was a huge success.

iratherfly

  • Guest
Re: turning a mistake into an experiment
« Reply #20 on: October 23, 2012, 10:35:26 PM »
Awesome!