25 Jul 2014
(Rennet Curd bloomy Rind in the style of …. Nah its my adaptation – I name you Malembert)
This was such a success I’m doing it again to 8 litres and 600ml of 40% fat cream.
This is my own cheese, it may have a slight resemblance to a triple cream mould ripened cheese by another name but as I have changed significant parts of the recipe then I feel that the birth of ‘Malembert’ is appropriate.
8 litres of Milk and 600ml of pure cream and 1/4 tsp Calcium Chloride to make a stabilized curd. This makes the final product a little more firm at the 6 week mark but is able to be stored out to 8-9 weeks without too much ammonisation.
There is no way I can get milk of the cream content of a nice raw Jersey milk so I must add Calcium Chloride to be able to capture more fat in the curd matrix. This will also affect the draining time and therefore will have an all-night drain as well as a prolonged ‘flipping’ program.
Although I am following the method I used the last time I am incorporating some of the pH markers, for example pH at salting I’m trying for a pH of 4.8-5.0 this with I am reducing slightly the acid in the cheese which will slows the movements of compounds though the cheese and slowing the softening process.
Interesting thing I learnt this week was that I can control the level of acid by the control of heat and of course culture. In the book by Gianaclis’s Caldwell, the method for this cheese is warm to 34 DegC add culture and ripen for 35-45 minutes for a .05 pH drop but alas my pH strips are not that good.
So the following is an adaption attempting pH measurements, but should that prove futile I will revert to my tried and true method.
It is after all my cheese.
I will also now have to watch the Flocculation time as summer milk (April when I last made this) behaves slightly differently to Winter(as it is now in Oz). I know also that although I am using store bought milk – from Maleny – they don’t standardise their ‘pasteurised only’ milk. So, there are slight differences, not that you can taste the difference, it lengthens the curd set just a little.
8 litres of 3.6 Milk
600 ml Pure Cream
1/4 tsp Calcium Chloride - CaCl2
Flora Danica – A good full dose(pinch measure) of GLA FL.D (Greenliving Australia - Flora Danica)
1/32 tsp of PC and half a 1/64 tsp of the G.C
3.5 mls of 200 IMCU (International Milk Coagulation Units) Liquid rennet.
Heat the milk over 50 minutes to 32 Deg C.
11:00 Initial ripening stage pre-activate the Flora Danica 10 minutes before hand and add to the rest at 32oC.
11:00 Add the P.C and a small mini smidge of G.C at the same time as the culture. Add the P.C and G.C and stir together. Keep the temperature at 32oC.
Ripening for 90 minutes.
@90 minutes add CaCl2 and mix gently.
No brine or Salt additions apart from the direct salting of the outside.
Ok… this is where this turns left when the recipe turns right. As I had several places to be today I needed to adjust times and amounts. Normally I would add the rennet below
Add 3.5 mls Rennet. Flocculation time:- 9:00 * 6 = 54 minutes, cut curds.
Well, that all went out the window this afternoon. Using the guideline in Gianaclis’s book I made the following adjustments.
Alter the Rennet by half to 1.6mls and double the curd set time and let the temp drop to 30DegC. this actually proved provident and well as things go it was nearly 3 hours before I could cut the curd. Came back from the days appointment and the temp was still 30DegC there was a wonderful set to the curd and when I cut it, it was still delicate.
16:30 I Cut curds to ½ inch and maintaining 30DegC . And stirred for about 5 minutes then let settle for 15 minutes. Although previously 6 moulds are used for 8 litres, the addition of cream, the prolonged curd set, provided enough curds for 7 with some left over - not enough for another
Set up the moulds and the cheese mats and boards getting ready to fill and eventually flip.
So, drain the whey to the level of the curds. And, using a ladle, scoop the curds, one ladle at a time, into the moulds.
the normal flip once every hour for 6 hours is not going to work here so I am just going to let them sit a little longer so that there is room in the top to actually flip the moulds. I will let sit overnight and check the pH in the morning. I am hoping to achieve a drop in pH to 5.0
Once I get there use ½ tbls cheese salt to rub over the outside.
Place in the ripening containers and follow my usual ripening schedule.
Because of the weird timings for the curd cut I will expect that there is a lot more whey – therefore lactose in the curds. This will have two effects the acidification will reach a too low point before I salt the cheese and second an accelerated ripening so I’ll have to what for skin slip and over ammonisation.
So it is now 1 hour after hooping and the whey off the cheese is still about 6.2 to 6.5 as the strips are not that accurate to see point changes.
I'll keep you posted on their progress. It's cheese - not rocket science - isn't it ?