Hacking Vacherin Mont D'Or?

[Alpkäserei]

What it does not contain is information about temperature to add rennet and how long to set the curd

But do not make the mistake of thinking the two Vacherin cheeses are related. They are not. They are totally different. So you can't carry things from Vacherin Friboureois to Mont-d'Or because they are not alike.

I'd guess the rennet situation is a lot like similar Fench-style cheeses but I don't know about soft cheeses.

But one thing I do see that you did wrong was aged it too long. 25 days is the maximum!
So from this I gather that it should be coagulated a very long time, so that it starts off very soft.

[Alpkäserei]

So it is a close relative to Camembert, Tomme, and Reblochon and also Münster.

So for a future recipe, we can try and take a cheese like mentioned here, and adapt it to suit. So with that guess, I think a coagulation time of somewhere around an hour is what we are looking for.

So off the top of my head, here is what I gather is done for Swiss Mont-d'Or
The milk is pasteurized and then cooled.
You culture it and let that sit and work for a while
add rennet and coagulate somewhere around an hour, or floc 5 to 6 or so
cut to cherry sized curds and gently warm it up as high as 38 C (we started probably at 30 C)
scoop the curd into the form and very lightly press
Brine 2 to 4 hours
wrap in bark
stick it in the cave and turn it every day, washing the new top each time.
after 17 to 25 days, take the bark off, and stick it in a new container.
eat it.

[Al Lewis]

These are only two weeks old.  The friboureois recipe I hacked called for aging 3-4 months.  Hoping I can ripen these way faster than that.  I'll give them two more weeks and see if they soften up for me.  Also, all of the videos I've watched they box the cheese with the bark still on.  With regards to your make notes I did allow the rennet to coagulate for one hour then cut the curds and heat them to 38° C over a 35 minute period.  After a light press, 20 lbs for 30 minutes, I wrapped them in their bark and brined them for 12 hours in a 18% brine.  Then dried at room temperature for 24 hours and into the cave.  Here's how they looked this morning both before and after washing.  The PC growth constantly comes back.  As of this morning they show no signs of softening.

[Danbo]

I hope that you won't have to wait that long... They still look great! :-)

[Al Lewis]

Okay I had a Stilton blue on the bottom shelf, wrapped in butter muslin, and these two shelves up so I made a batch of three cambozolas yesterday to put on the shelf between them.  They can benefit from the PC and the PR! LOL   Life is good!!  Cleaning up this morning and threw my back totally out so I'm sitting typing this waiting for the meds to work.  Not the best of mornings.

[Alpkäserei]

Vacherin Friboureois is an alpine style cheese, classified as a
'Halbhart' cheese in Switzerland, or semi-hard. It's aged about 7 times longer than Mont-D'Or

Mont-D'Or is a 'Weichkäse' or soft cheese. It's not really even similar to Friboureois in how it is made.

So basically hacking a Freiberg recipe for Mont d'Or is the wrong way around. Instead we should work from a recipe that's actually a related cheese.

So heating over a period of 30 minutes is going to dry your curd out, and give you a half hard cheese instead of a soft cheese. Remember that after the curd is cut, the moisture is being expelled constantly until it is hooped and pressed.
So for Mont d'Or, we actually want to get the curd out pretty soon after it is cut, I would guess.
But a disclaimer, this is all based not on a knowledge of soft cheeses, but on a knowledge of how moisture in the curd works with rennet.

You probably also want to shoot for the lower end of the temperature range, really.

I would guess the purpose of heating here is to help the curd knit. Where as in an alpine we heat so the cheese will last longer.

[Al Lewis]

Yes, I think the next batch will be done totally different and lean more towards a brie recipe with a light pressing.  I investigated everything I could find on the subject prior to doing the make, which isn't very much.  It's okay though as I have plenty of bark left so I may age this one out and do another when I have room in the cave and can move.   Mistakes are just life's learning process.  I'm learning a lot these days!! LOL

[Alpkäserei]

There is more information to be found, if you know German and know your way around the Swiss cheese world. So since I do, I thought I would try and help.

So you are on the right path now I Think, if you base a recipe on a Brie, Camembert, or Reblochon

[Al Lewis]

Thank you very much.  As always your help is very much appreciated.  I can translate the written things I find from any language but the videos, and that's pretty much all there is for this cheese, are a mystery to me.  I try to emulate what I see but, as they say, the devil is in the details.I'm sure whatever I made will be edible though and the next batch will be closer to what I am looking for.  AC4U for your help and Thanks again!!

[amiriliano]

Thanks for that input Alpkasieri. I had a feeling vacherin is more of a cam-like product. But kudos to Al for this amazing effort!

[Danbo]

It's going to be good cheese anyway - maybe a new invention... ;-)

[Al Lewis]

I'm sure the next will be closer to what I am trying to achieve. We'll get there.

[Danbo]

Well... My Big Blue could also have been a little more as planned: https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,13812.msg106418.html#msg106418


:-) Danbo

[Al Lewis]

I stuck to my plan.  Problem was it was the wrong plan.  LOL

[Danbo]