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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => FRESH DIRECT ACID COAGULATED - Primarily Non-Lactic & Non-Rennet => Topic started by: Cheese Head on August 30, 2009, 07:47:03 PM
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First time making Finnish Cheese Munajuusto (Egg Cheese), based on forum member Riha's Munajuusto recipe (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1958.0.html).
RECORDS
- Aug 30, 2009:
- 2:50PM: Poured 3 US quarts of store bought pasteurized homogenized whole cow's milk from store into stockpot on large gas burner ring on stove, started heating, stirring occasionally to reduce hot spot on bottom. Meanwhile separated 3 fresh eggs and whisked together whites with 1 US quart of store bought low fat pasteurized homogenized cow's buttermilk.
- 3:10PM: Milk just started to boil (when it does boil, boils very quickly), turned off heat, poured in buttermilk with egg whites into milk while stirring. Covered, set aside for curds and whey to separate, put timer in pocket and went and washed car.
- 3:35PM: Drained off whey, through metal colander (lost too much curds) and mixed 3 egg yolks and 1 teaspoon salt into curds.
- 3:40PM: Placed curds in 3 small Ricotta draining baskets to same height on draining board beside sink to drain.
- 3:53PM: Turned cheeses.
- 4:17PM: Turned cheeses.
- 4:55PM: Turned cheeses.
- 7:00PM: Turned cheeses.
- 9:35PM: Removed cheeses from baskets, placed on mat on plate in fridge with bowl over top to reduce drying.
- Aug 31, 2009:
- 6:12PM: Placed cheeses in oven on grill setting and cooked until brown & just barely black.
- 6:25PM: Cooked other side until brown & just barely black then removed from oven.
- 6:45PM: Cooled, and served for dinner. Light, little fluffy, nice mild taste.
NOTES
- Draining curds through small hole size metal colander was not good, lost too many small curds through holes and down drain.
- Very bright orange yolks!
- After stirring in yolks and salt, curds were consistency of lightly scrambled eggs.
- Next time, to develop more flavor, i) don't heat milk so hot before adding buttermilk as thermophilic bacteria in buttermilk cannot survive above 140F/60C and ii) let cheeses sit outside fridge overnight.
- Next time use oil in pan before placing in oven.
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Pictures #1 . . .
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Pictures #2 . . .
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Pictures #3 to go here . . .
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Pictures #4 . . .
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Just ate one for dinner, tasted great, gives new meaning to the term Cheese Burger!
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Looks rather yummy John. So tell us .... is it cheese or is it an omelette with cheese?
My turn to buy bagels at work in a few weeks this may be better than cream cheese maybe with sausage or ham?
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I'd say more omelete than cheese, that's why when & if I do it again, to encourage the cheese flavour I won't heat milk as hot as kills thermophilic culture in buttermilk and I'd probably leave it at room temp over night.
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Hmmmm what if you were to add the eggs after cutting the curds? Probably a different animal then huh?
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??? No curd cutting in this recipe.
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Oh yeah ...
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Hmm. Interesting actually... I make Finnish buttermilk cheese which is practically the same as this, but without the eggs. Now that you mention the omelet -thing, I find that my buttermilk cheese actually also tastes like omelet, even it doesn't have the eggs. Adding one or two eggs actually doesn't do much of a difference except makes the whey separate more efficciently. I don't try to optimize that though, since these batches are so small that I easily think of ways to use the (richer) whey.
I guess it has quite a lot to do with the texture of the curds, which resembles scrambled eggs. John, do you agree?
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Nice going, John! Very good looking cheeses.
I don't bother turning my cheeses during the draining, but I do pat the surface even, to make it smooth as possible. I like the way smooth cheese grills better than the way uneven surface does.
For less eggy flavor you might want to try the version that doesn't separate yolks and whites. Just mix the eggs (and salt) to the buttermilk and proceed normally. This way there's also no fuss with draining the curds before egg addition, you can just pour everything to the mould.
I have never thought about mesophilic culture dying in such a heat. Good thought. I must also try this low-temp method.
When frying the cheeses, I use tin foil. Cheeses don't stick to it. Very handy stuff. I tried using the sieve (there's a pic in my post) I use when frying leipäjuusto, but that didn't work since egg cheeses got stuck to it.
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Thanks riha, also thanks for the polite correction, you are right, buttermilk has basically mesophilic not thermophilic as I mistyped in my post above.
This means that the bacteria is really dead and thus no need to sit at room temperature overnight as nothing good will happen, just give a chance for bad airborne bacteria to take hold. To keep the meso bacteria in buttemilk alive, you'd have to come way way down in temp to 105F/41C or lower to keep it alive and get a more cheesy taste.
The barely boiling step is really to pasteurize (or re-pasteurize if store bought) the milk. Normally after pasteurization, you drop temp quickly, maybe you could do that and then add the buttermilk . . .
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I've understood that the temperature is because Finns traditionally don't make ricotta, and therefore we want to use the ricotta curds already in the first cheese. This is economic, since traditionally it was important to use as lot of your food as possible, not discarding anything. This is how I'd interpret it. Doesn't the egg mixture actually help coagulate the ricotta-type proteins (those that coagulate in higher temps) so that they form bigger curds? That's how I've thought of it at least.
The overnight draining lets the curds mat together and form a more solid mass. I don't know if it does something else, but the difference in texture is incredible. First it is crumbly / breakable and the next day it is soft, a little rubbery (in a good way).
My own recipe is pretty much the same with non-separated egg yolks and whites or completely without eggs. The eggs don't do much of a difference in my opinion - probably help in coagulation and of course increase end product mass. My old traditional cookbook from 1928 says you should use eggs when they are cheap and refrain from using them when they are expensive. That's how it worked back then. ;D
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Oh and by the way, I love your idea about the cheese sandwitch. It looks and sounds delicious. :)
Maybe I'll make a few round ones like yours just to be able to try that.
Besides, I love the cheese-bread ratio!
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John, didn't even notice you had typed thermophilic :)
When making cheeses that use buttermilk or yogurt as coagulant, the recipe has always said to boil it or to keep it almost boiling. Is the mesophilic temperature too low for curd forming without rennet? You can mix milk and yogurt when they're both cold, without coagulation.
Damn, there's so much to try. I am currently trying to get my curds to knit together better, since I'd like mine a bit less crumbly. At least experimenting is fun and tasty.
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Starter cultures are cultures that are added to the milk at the start of the cheese making process, they have several jobs but the most important one for non-renneted cheeses is to produce acid which when high enough level (or pH is low enough) will curdle the milk, helping to release the whey and thereby concentrate the remaining milk components.
Starter cultures are normally broken into two camps, meso (low temp) and thermo (high temp). But here in this cheese, as milk is at boiling temp, neither will survive and thus buttermilk adds flavour, no culture. Why the milk coagulates and breaks out whey so rapidly must be a function of something else, obviously combination of heat and buttermilk do it, I just don't know what the mechanism is . . .
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I am assuming that buttermilk coagulates the milk simply since it's sour, just like when adding vinegar. In this recipe the amount of buttermilk is hugely larger than the amount of starter culture would be. Using one quarter buttermilk produces end result that has low enough pH for milk to coagulate. I was just wondering will it do that at lower temps as well, or does it need to be almost boiling.
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I found another Munajuusto recipe that s very similar but has some interesting options I thought you might like to try.
Basic Munajuusto - Finland - (Egg Cheese or Buttermilk Cheese) Beatrice Ojakangas
http://www.beatrice-ojakangas.com/2008/08/two-finnish-cheeses_05.htm (http://www.beatrice-ojakangas.com/2008/08/two-finnish-cheeses_05.htm)
This is a quick and easy way to make cheese. It does not require rennet. Use a Finnish handmade wooden cheese mold. Its carved design makes a beautiful, decorative cheese when unmolded. You will need cheesecloth to line the mold and a weight for the top. It needs to drain several hours or overnight.
3 quarts whole milk
1 tablespoon salt
1 quart buttermilk
3 eggs
1. Pour milk into a large kettle and heat slowly to a boil. Stir in sald. Keep stirring continuously to keep the milk from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
2. Mix the buttermilk, eggs and stir into the hot milk. Bring mixture back to a boil to separate the cheese curds. Remove from heat, cover, and let cool to room temperature.
3. Line a sieve with damp cheesecloth and transfer the cheese curds into it using a slotted spoon. Turn into a bowl and mix in the salt.
4. Line a wooden mold, or a colander with cheesecloth. Turn cheese mixture into the mold. Fold cheesecloth over the top and place a weight on top (about 1-2 pounds of butter will work). Chill as it drains, several hours or overnight.
5. Invert onto a serving dish and serve surrounded with berries, if desired.
Or, Place on clean straw and bake in a 500 degree oven until golden brown crust develops.
Garlic and Herb Munajuusto: Add 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, 5 minced cloves garlic, pinch of tarragon, pinch of oregano and pinch of thyme to the milk. (step 1)
Add the juice of 2 lemons (abut 1/3 cup) to the buttermilk mixture (step 2) and proceed as directed above.