Truffle Gouda!

[scasnerkay]

I was given 27 grams of shaved frozen black truffle! After simmering, I added the water remaining to the milk, before renneting. Then stirred in the truffle at the end of the make before hooping. KAZU starter for me as usual, and a 3 gallon make.
Now for the pain of waiting 2 months!!

[MacGruff]

Looks very yummy!

General question - when is there  too much truffle in the cheese? I am not looking for the obviously silly "there is never enough truffle!" kind of response. I am honestly trying to figure out how much do you put in to give it that good flavor, while balancing it so it's not too much?

[scasnerkay]

I asked several sources that very question. I never got an answer. Since the truffle was free, and the milk was free for my labor, I figured why not put it all in! Besides, it was frozen in one lump.
I will report in about two months.

[Lancer99]

If there's too much truffle flavor, you could cut thin slices and use it as the bread on a cheese sandwich

Karlin's book has a shiitake camembert, 1/2 oz dried mushrooms for 1 gallon, but the mushrooms are infused in milk, then "Discard the mushrooms."

Nooooo!

-L

[MacGruff]

I'll wait for Susan's report as I'm curious.

Also, 27 grams is a bit more than an ounce, so using it with 3 gallons of milk is a little less than what you stated, Lancer, so it's probably ok.

By the way, discarding truffles??? No way!!!!   

[DrChile]

very nice!

[Rach_]

Hi Susan, 

Thank you for finding me!!  I've been sort of reading endlessly (or trying to) in an attempt to make a truffle cheese of some kind.  I've really only made a handful of cheeses at this point.  I have some truffles on the way via amazon (they are not dried or frozen) and some truffle salt. 

So it looks as though you simply added the truffles and the liquid leftover from defrosting into your cheese and then brined with regular salt?  How did it turn out, if you don't mind me asking?   It certainly looks heavenly! 

My initial plan was to find a cheese where I could mill truffle salt and bits of truffle in, but it looks as though Gouda uses a brine, I'm not sure if you can change salting methods for a cheese or if that would have a negative affect?  Also, I'm a little worried that maybe I should be concerned about bacteria in my truffles.  I'm wondering I should perhaps dehydrate and then boil to rehydrate, but then I'd lose flavor.  I feel like such a novice, but I don't seem to be finding answers in books, either. 

I would appreciate any advice that you might have. 

Sincerely, 
Rachel

[scasnerkay]

I feel nervous about adding raw vegetable, seed, or mushrooms to my cheeses, and I don't have any experience doing that.
The truffle I was gifted and been run through a mandolin and then frozen.
I did simmer it about 10 mins to defrost and to theoretically kill off any bad bacteria. It was in a covered pan and a minimum of water to try to not loose flavor.

This was a very good cheese!!! I would have like a stronger truffle flavor. Since you have truffle salt, you could dry salt after rather than brine the cheese.
Another alternative I thought of afterward was that I might have maintained the rind using truffle oil.

[scasnerkay]

I realized that I had not posted the make sheet, so here it is!

[Rach_]

Thanks!  This is awesome!! 

I've got some jarred truffles and truffle salt.  I think I am going to do just that: boil the truffles a bit...I've seen some videos online for a jalapeno cheddar cheese where they boil the jalapeno with a minimal amount of water, then pour the water into the milk so that the milk gets infused with the flavor.  I think the extra liquid just ends up being drained out in the end.  The pressing weights and times remain the same for regular cheddar by the same person. 

SO, I think I can mill in the salt and the truffle bits at the end.  The general consensus is 2% by weight truffle salt for those who use it from what I understand. 

LASTLY, I LOVE the idea of rubbing it in the oil at the end - though I think I might try it without for a first go at it, just in case 3 layers of truffles is a bit much.   I have also seen a video somewhere of a man who coats his Gouda in bacon fat and then vac seals it to age.  That is completely on my list of things to do

I'm going to give this a go this weekend.  I'll keep you posted and thank you for all of your help!!

[Rach_]

Alright, so I still am not 100 percent sure how to add the number of cheeses to my profile or the information, but I did attempt a truffle Gouda and it turned out quite lovely.  I executed it as described in my prior post and it is currently drying.  Thank you for your help! 

[mikekchar]

The "Cheeses" is actually just a count of the number of "thumbs up" votes you've gotten.  So I gave you a "cheese" for your pic :-)  Normally we say "A cheese for you!" which we usually contract to "AC4U!"

[Rach_]

Oh!  Thank you    I'm slowly learning. 

[scasnerkay]

Looks great, and "another cheese for you!"