Blue Me Away

[fied]

After a clean break, ladle slices into a colander and for a cheese using c. 3 galls. milk, leave to drain until dripping stops - usually about 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Still in cheesecloth, press over about 7-8 hrs between 2 boards with about a 3lb weight on top. If curd cake is stiff enough, then break it roughly into c. 1" pieces. Mix in salt gently at this stage, then mould and turn as your recipe details. It shouldn't have to be pressed beyond that as the weight of the curds should ensure a knit.

[Aris]

Aris - Sorry, never made a cheddar yet, but I know what you're talking about with the texture of the curds. Seems like that's what I recall seeing in that Stilton video. The curds they were salting were definitely more cooked and curd-like rather than the wet type I dealt with here and I've seen others dealing with.

I can appreciate that the drier curds would create the needed voids for better veining, but that seems to bring up a question when filling the blue cheese molds. There seem to be three ways to fill the mold:

• cut the curds and spoon them in (the way these were done)
• ladle the curds in (per Stilton requirement?)
• cook the curds so that their shell is somewhat harder, then spoon them in

Salting is done when?

If the curds are cooked so that their shell is a little firmer, then it seems like the cheese would have to be pressed at least with a light weight to obtain a better knit.

-Boofer-

With Stilton curds, i think they are not cooked like a Cheddar curd, i think they are not cooked at all. Stilton curds are flaky, crumbly and slightly wet from the videos i've seen.

Heres how i do it:
Cut coagulated milk to 1 inch cubes, let it rest for 20 minutes, gently stir for a couple of minutes, turn on the heat and start cooking curds while stirring gently. I dont know what temp, i check by sight and touch, i just pour a drop of whey on my hand and it should be warm.  When it looks and feels right, i ladle the cooked curds directly to the mold. If you want you can dunk the whole mold into the pot and scoop the curds.

About knitting, If you have seen videos of cheddar making, you can see curds becoming slabs of curds with no problem so no pressing is needed. It will knit better than a Stilton and will take less than a day to fully knit and no need to smooth the surface. . The cheese will have some crevices but not as big as a Stilton.

You can also cook it till it reach scrambled egg consistency. This will knit better and produces an almost smooth rind. From the videos i've seen of Roquefort, Fourme D' Ambert and Bleu D Auvergne production, they have this consintecy or probably softer. Salting is done after draining and reaching the right acidity. You can brine or dry salt, i prefer dry salting, 2 1/2 tsp fine sea salt  per pound of curd. Lessen the salt if you want a sweeter cheese.

[iratherfly]

Using cooked/stirred curd is indeed a great way to give Blue enough air to develop and to get a nice texture for the cheese as well.

Boofer, sounds like you made cooked or washed curd cheese before so you actually know the drill; after you cut the curd let rest for 5 minutes, stir and begin to heat very gently so that in 30 minute you will be at the 98°F-102°F neighborhood. During this time give it a good stir every 5 minutes or so to prevent it from matting together to help it shrink and firm up.  The resulting curd should feel much drier, small and springy. It should easily mat together in your hand if you close it in a fist. If it's not ready yet, give it a few more minutes. Empty it to a cheesecloth-lined colander first to allow it to drain. Fluff the curd to keep it separated. Now load it into a cheesecloth-lined cheese mould (optional: sprinkle some P.Roq on it as you go!). Finish with a light pressing. Flip and redress a couple of times before leaving overnight under its own weight.

You will get cheese that doesn't have any smooth surfaces (looks like a frozen block of curds). Do not worry, during the overnight pressing it will mat together. Aging will turn it into a solid knotted mass (Rind will help a lot).  The cheese will have many mechanical air openings which will help the blue develop. The dry nature of this curd will also slow down or possibly prevent that undesired effect of ammonia. This will be more crumbly like Roquefort, as oppose to creamy like Gorgonzola. By the way, if you have ever seen Roquefort before aging - it looks just like that: right off the press before aging, it looks exactly like that.

One other note: You can also use yeast (KL71 works very good on the paste, not just on the rind) and add MD89 to your ripening culture so help create small eye formation and gas buildup while accelerating the deacification of the paste which will help the blue grow. (also produces nice aroma and flavor)

Hmmm... fresh un-aged Roquefort. Not very smooth:

[Boofer]

Thanks for your tips, guys.

I think my recollection got a little foggy so I went back and checked the first page of this thread (and my notes). I followed linuxboy's recipe and I thought I had some pretty dry curds (scrambled eggy) when they went into the molds. The pH was on target with the recipe. PR was added initially to the milk not to the curds but it started right out pretty quickly.

The part that didn't seem to be on target was the moistness of the final cheese and subsequent lack of spaces inside the paste. You can see from the pics I posted that the exterior of the cheese was rough even though I tried to smooth it. It wouldn't smooth easily because the curds seemed too dry. Strange.

There is one other make point that I seemed to miss: I don't think the temp of the curds ever got up to 100F. If they had, they would probably have been dry enough to form the crevices and spaces necessary for spreading the blue. That may have been the critical factor.

-Boofer-

[linuxboy]

It wouldn't smooth easily because the curds seemed too dry.

Calcium retention too high. Even with dry curds, if they had acidified enough, they would be spreadable. Either rennet lower, or let them acidify longer to break it up.

I don't think the temp of the curds ever got up to 100F.

For blues, you WANT to create a slight moisture gradient in the curds, so that they can create crevices when you loose pack the curds in. And to do that, have to cook.

[Boofer]

It wouldn't smooth easily because the curds seemed too dry.

Calcium retention too high. Even with dry curds, if they had acidified enough, they would be spreadable. Either rennet lower, or let them acidify longer to break it up.

I added my rennet at pH6.48. Your recipe asked for 6.45. I can go lower.

I don't think the temp of the curds ever got up to 100F.

For blues, you WANT to create a slight moisture gradient in the curds, so that they can create crevices when you loose pack the curds in. And to do that, have to cook.

I went back and reread the recipe. Nowhere in there does it say what the cooking temp should be. Oh oh....  It does caution not to overheat initially when it calls for a ripening temp of 86F.

I will redline/update my make instructions to include a cooking temp of 100F for ?? minutes. I'm thinking 30 minutes.

I think, except for that cooking temp & time, the recipe/make went pretty smoothly for my first effort. Adding that detail should tighten it up very well.

-Boofer-

[linuxboy]

Oh right, this is stilton. Confusing my blues. No cook. Then maybe the curds did dry too much. Mine are spreadable after the 4 days in the mold.  Looks like your make was fine if you renneted close to 6.45.

[Boofer]

This had been wrapped in plastic wrap, vacuum-sealed, and kept in the big fridge. I opened it today, cut a wedge, and sampled it with some crisp, sweet apple slices (Jonagold). I also teamed it up with a wedge of my Chaource #1. Both were surprisingly tasty. The blue is over five months old and still very reasonable in taste. Vacuum-sealing is a modern miracle.

To be honest, I didn't eat the rind. I just do not prefer it.

-Boofer-