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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => RENNET COAGULATED - Pasta Filata (Pulled Curd) => Topic started by: Tea on January 03, 2009, 09:24:28 PM
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Thought I would record my finding here, so I am hoping that this is going to work out. Unfortunately I don't think that I nailed the provolone properly as I lost a lot of buttermilk to the water. However it stretched, and moulded and is now drying, although with the humidity as high as it is, that is becoming a drawn out task.
Divided the provolone into two, one being 1lb 5oz, and the other 1lb 8oz. I decided to weigh these this time as I am interested to see if any weigh is lost in the aging process.
Both cheeses I am going to give the herb and garlic bath, then I am going to age one in a cave and one in the oil, and see what the final difference is.
Here are the cheeses drying.
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Ok, so these were made Friday lunch time, it is now Sunday morning, and they have each lost 4oz in weight. So I decided that as the weather is really hot and humid that I would start the marinating process to day. Just used basil, garlic and rosemary, and for the bath light olive oil. Will used a different oil for the final aging. It is now in my esky surrounded by ice packs, so fingers crossed.
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They do look good, congrats, that's an expensive amount of olive oil, hope it will go to good use after marinating!
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Well to me it's not, as I am used to using olive oil in 6lb increments, so 1 1/2 - 2cups seems fairly cheap.
Flipping cheese once a day. At the moment everything looks good.
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OK sorry, looked like a lot more than 1.5 cups to me :).
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Wow, lost 4 oz. already. Looks good.
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Yeah I have to say that surprised me too. Especially as I didn't think that I was getting a good drying on the cheese with it being so humid. Anyway if I can keep my 2 year old out of the cave, (found him pushing the esky around the house yesterday) this is looking to be an interested experiement.
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One thing I have noticed is how the rind has toughened up. Quite firm already, which I didn't expect considering it is sitting in oil.
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How long are you going to age these, when's the taste test?
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Oh Carter don't temp me. I am hoping to age these to the two month mark, but they smell so good, it is going to be hard.
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Tea....
You might want to give these a try sooner than two months (just in case Carter's temptation wasn't enough). :-)
I had a problem with blue mold getting on one of my provolones so I went ahead and cut it open at the one month mark. The texture was fantastic and the taste was typical of those that I had aged to three months.
I've since decided that I will never let another provolone go beyond the one month mark. I like a more moist provolone and smooth texture which is something I was never able to achieve by aging it for longer periods.
I actually like the younger version of the cheese far better than the aged version.
Of course your tastes might be entirely different, but I thought I would mention it.
Dave
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Thanks Dave for the temptation, just what I need. I will agree though that at one month my last provolone was just excellent, and so much more flavour than the store bought stuff.
As I have two I may try one at the 1 month mark and the other at the 2 month mark, and see what I think the difference is.
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I decided that seeing the provolone's were not very thick that 10 days was enough time in the marinade. I put one in an oil bath and left one to age normally. I also have the alpine that I made in the marinade.
Sliced off a small piece from the provolone that is aging out of the oil, and while the flavours are great, the cheese is very dry and crumbly, and it has an after bite that is similar to a mature cheddar. I am unsure whether the dryness is part of the oil aging, or because I didn't quite nail the provolone? Will be interesting to see how the alpine turns out.
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Ok thought I would update on this thread. I haven't tried the cheese in the oil bath yet, I want to leave that for another few weeks at least yet. The one that I just oiled it quite dry, but I think that is the cheese fault not the oil fault. The flavours from the herbs and garlic have come through well, with the bite of the cheese.
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The cheese looks beautiful, Tea....
It also looks like it would work well for grating.
If it was mine I'm pretty sure that it would end up grated onto a meatball sub with some parmesan and then toasted until melted.
Thanks for the pics..I think I just gained 5 lbs. considering how you should eat it. :-)
Dave
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Well I think I gained the 5lb for you just going to the fridge and cutting off pieces to eat. :D
Despite the fact that it is very young, it has quite an aged bite to it. Quite a surprise.
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Dave I tried melting the first provolone but it wouldn't melt too well. Too dry, which I think is because I lost the butter fat in the making of it. Still it tasted great in the toasted sandwich.
Ok here is the oil bathed provolone. As you can see I have already tried a piece, and the difference between this one and the marinated only cheese, is quite surprising. The rind while formed is not brittle, and the cheese is a lot more moist. The flavour is quite similar, with the other cheese probably being just a tad sharper than this one.
Anyway this has been interesting, and I am going to try this again, next time I make a successful batch of provolone.
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Tea, have you tried this one yet? LOL just kidding.
But did you try melting this one?
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No not yet, and as lunch is well and truely over I am going to resist the temptation of making a toasted sandwich until tomorrow.
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Hello Tea,
Those look really great. However from what you are saying, that they are dry and crumbly it would not be the oils causing this but more the fact that you may have missed the recipe. Provolone is very similar to Caciaocavllo And I have messed up quite of gallons of milk trying. I got a similar result a couple of weeks ago when I was trying to make the Caciocavallo on my own. Lost alot of the the milk fat during the stretching and now the cheese is very dry and crumbly. Has some taste to it but will be used as grated cheese.
Likespace, As for Mold on the cheese you should have left it there and waited a couple of months, you would have been pleasantly surprised at the result. You just remove it from the rind and you will have a nice tasting cheese.
Cacio
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Hi Cacio and I am coming to realise that it is the making of the cheese that has let this down. The one that was left in the oil is much softer than the one that air aged, so that it why it will be interesting to see what the results would have been if I had made the cheese right in the first place.
MAny thanks again for this method, I am learning alot.
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Let me know if I'm stating the obvious, but the one in oil would definately have less moisture loss thereby less crumbly.
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Yes from what I gather, what ever moisture is in the cheese is retained by the oil. Using the herbed oil in the beginning as a marinade infuses flavours etc first.
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Tea,
Thanks for the followup. I have to say that your cheese looks fantastic (not only this one but every example I've seen you post). You have become quite a good cheesemaker from what I've seen.
I have a provolone aging right now but it's hanging and air drying.
As stated previously I will probably let this hang for a month and then cut into it.
I really like the texture of a softer cheese and the taste seems really good to me, even at such a young age.
On my next one, I'm going to try the oil aging. I really like the looks of your cheese and this method will let me age the cheese longer while still keeping it nice and moist.
Thanks again for the post. Very informative and very interesting.
Dave
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Well thanks Dave, I'm glad that someone other than me, learnt something. Would love to see some pics of the provolones hanging.
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They do look good Tea. Dave where's your avatar?
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Carter....
I've spent a lot of time on a lot of boards over the years and never once have I added an avatar. Not sure why, just never really considered it.
Well since you asked, I decided to go ahead and add one to my profile.
It's one of many Salvador Dali paintings that I love.
I'm not really sure what this one is called but in my opinion it is beautiful.
The guy was a nut case but his paintings are nothing short of genius.
Dave
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It's called breakfast.