2nd Lancashire

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

Well, I picked up some cultured buttermilk the other day and sat it in the hot water cupboard for about 6 hours to thicken it.  After that, I made ice cubes of this culture.  So, I decided to try Lancashire again because I know MrsKK uses buttermilk for her starter and makes this one quite often.  I've made it once before, using Flora Danica as the starter, and thought this would make for a good comparison.  Overall, the make seemed to go really well.  I kept to temperatures quite well, although there is no slow raise of temperature for this make which makes it easy.  Just keep things at 31.1 C the whole time.  Hey, I can do that (for the most part). 

Anyway, I also decided to make ricotta from the whey, and that worked really well.  I ended up with about 240 g of ricotta.  I'll weigh the cheese tomorrow when it comes out of the press. 

Here are my make notes.  I've made a couple of adjustments, mostly just in time to heal and such since I'm using P/H milk.  I got a good curd.  I cut back on the rennet by a fraction (about 0.05 of a ml; I usually use 0.6 ml and this time went for 0.55 ish) and the floc time increased from my usual 11-12 minutes to about 15 minutes.  And I know when I tried around 0.5 ml before I had a floc of around 20 minutes, so that's about right. 

I'll probably age this one at least 2 months, but maybe more.  Will see how things go.

- Jeff



Lancashire (Sunday, Sept 11, 2011; overcast, 18.6 C, low pressure)
10 L home brand standard
2 ice cubes ripened Tararau Buttermilk (mesophilic)
1/2 tsp calcium chloride
0.55 ml rennet IMCU 750
2 tbsp cooking salt

1) Warm to 31.1 0C, stirring gently. Turn off heat. (started warming around 7:25 am; 4 litres boiling, 1 litre tap in lrg pot)
2) Add culture, (time: 7:37  temp: 31.0 – 31.1 oC)
3)  ripen for 45 minutes, at 31.1 0C. (start time: 7:42   end time: 8:27   end Temp: ??.? oC).
3) Add ½ tsp CaCl in egg cup of water (time 8:26 temp 31.1 oC).
4) Add rennet.  Time: 8:29:17 Temp 31.1 oC
         Floc time 15 min 13 sec.  Use 3.5x multiplier = 53 minutes  15.5 SEC.  Time to cut is :  9:22:33  )
5)  Cut curd into 1 CM pieces (good curd)
6) Let curds stand for 10 minutes to firm up. (START TIME : 9:30; temp 30.6 oC : I've increased heal time from 5 to 10)
7) Stir curds for 10 minutes until they release more whey, become firmer and float freely in the whey. (9:40 - 9:50)
8) Let settle about 10 minutes.(10:00  Temp  30.5 oC) increased to 10 minutes fr 5
9) Drain off whey through cloth-lined colander.
10) Move the cloth full of curds to pot and press down with your hand to knit them together. Twist the cheesecloth around the curd to expel some more whey and to help them knit.
11) Put the lid back on the pot and put pot in warm water to keep the curds warm. Let stand for 15 minutes. (10:15-10:30)
12 ) Turn the cake of curd over and hold for 15 more minutes. Start time ( 10:30-10:45)
13) Cut cake of curd in half and pile one piece on top of the other in the pot. Cover and hold for another 15 minutes. The two halves will knit together into one piece. (start time: 10:45-11:10) (dealing with ricotta)
14)  Mill into large lumps (size of large walnut) and add salt
15) Fill prepare d mold with curds press at 10 kg (PSI 0.71) for 1 hour. (start 11:17 – 12:17)
16) Remove from press, flip and re-dress the wheel of cheese.  (12:17 ; and again at 4:00 pm ish)
17) Press overnight at 25.2 kg (PSI 1.81). (removed 5:00 am; 1362 g out of press)

18) Air dry 3-5 days until dry to touch. Ripen 12-15 0C at 85 - 90% humidity for 4 to 8 weeks, depending upon your taste.

Made ricotta with the whey.  Raise whey to 93.3 C, add ¼ cup cider vinegar.  Ladle the thick "mat" of solids into doubled over cheese cloth and drain.  Got about 240 g.

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

Ok, so I removed it from the press at 5:00 am, which is around 18 hours in the press at about 1.8 PSI (25.2 kg on a 6 1/4 " mold).  The knit is very good.  The cheese weighed in at 1362g, which is on the lighter side, but not out of the norm for my makes.  However, the cheese volume is 1132 cubic centimeters, so the cheese density is around 1.2 g/ccm (that's cubic centimeters, not an old bike).  That, I think tells me that I've expelled a greater percentage of whey; or my eariler estimations that resulted in 1g/ccm were way off.  With water being 1g/ccm, I suspect that's the case.

Still, I'm very pleased with how everything went.  This being my first use of buttermilk as my starter I'm really looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.  My notes from the first Lancashire tell me this has a very mild flavour, and that it must be warmed up to room temperature to get the flavour to come through.  We'll see if that's the case again. 

- Jeff

P.S. I did the "sniff" test, and it has a much more buttermilky smell to it (not surprisingly) than the other cheeses I've made with Flora Danica, which have a much more buttery smell to them.  So, there's a difference right from the start that way.  Will see if that's maintained.

[MrsKK]

That's kind of funny, Jeff - I think buttermilk smells very buttery.

Your cheese is lookin' good!

[JeffHamm]

LOL!  I suppose buttermilk would be buttery!  I guess I just mean a different sort of buttery.  I think the buttermilk has more tang or something to it, while the flora danica has a more velvety butterness.  I would say the buttermilk is sharper, while the flora danica is rounder, but that sounds too synaesthetic.

- Jeff

P.S. And then again, it may be smelling what you expect to smell (Grate Expectations ... sorry)!  I just did a search to find out what cultures are used to make buttermilk, and the same set of bacteria were listed as are in Flora Danica.  Hmmm, maybe they are in different proportions? 

P.P.S.  Talking with Linuxboy and, although the bacteria are from the same kind, the strains will be different, and the proportions different, etc, so buttermilk and FD are not really the same.  And, from what he said, buttermilk needs to acidify faster than FD's rate, and that probably explains why I get a more sharp smell; it's probably more acidic.

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

This one is now four weeks, so thought it was a good time to show it's progress.  It's now around 1184g and it has developed a good covering of white mold.  There are a few black spots, but not many, and I've generally found that these are surface blemishes that do not penetrate and do not appear to affect flavour.  The white covering has a very different feel to it than what has developed before.  It's much drier feeling, more sandpaper like, which is curious.  The box is moist enough, as I'm keeping the caerphilly in the same box and it's not dried out but nice and moist.  Also, it has not developed this white mold.  The Lancashire is the first cheese I've made with buttermilk as the starter, but that could be a coincidence.  Anyway, this one is developing quite nicely.  I'm going to age it until the end of Novemeber I think, so that will be around the 2 month mark, which should be good.  It's possible we'll take it out to 3 months.  Will see.

- Jeff

Doh!  End of Nov will be 3 months.   Might take it to 4.  Sigh.

[MrsKK]

That is looking really good, Jeff.  Remember, though, that Lanc should be eaten young.  I usually cut into mine at 2 - 2 1/2 months, then vacuum seal and refrigerate the rest to lengthen the time frame.

[fied]

Nice looking cheese, Jeff. Lancs., Ches. and Caerphilly can all develop a 'sandpapery' feel and a slight white mould as they develop; nothing to worry about there. I usually eat Lancs. at about 12 weeks when it's quite sharp, though it can be eaten younger.

[anutcanfly]

I like the level of detail you use to when you post a cheese a cheese your working on.  That makes it usable to someone unfamiliar with the style or who might not have the recipe.  I'll try to emulate it in the future!

[JeffHamm]

Thanks everyone.

MrsKK,  I was thinking 4 months will be too long.  My parents are comming to visit at the end of Nov, so I was thinking we'll get into it then.  Mind you, I've got so many cheeses and I keep thinking we'll get into all of them. It was because of that I was thinking it might not get touched until Christmas time.

Thanks fied.  I've had this white mold develope on caerphillys and others before, just this one has a drier feel to it.  I'll probably try your Cheshire make soon too.

Thanks anutcanfly!  The details are the make notes I create on the day.  Basically, I convert the recipies I have into these steps and store them in a word document like that.  I remove the numbers (like temperatures, times, etc) and replace them with just ??:??, and ??.? 0C, etc. so that on the day I'm making a cheese I copy the "blank form" into another file which contains my actual makes.  Then, I just fill in the numbers.  If I make an adjustment, or have observations I want to record, they go into the make notes as I'm doing it.  Then, if I decide I like the way things worked, I copy that days make back into my recipe book in its updated version.  In other words, my recipe book contains  the notes set up to say what I'm supposed to do (instructions) and then I record what actually happened.  If what actually happened turns out really well, I update the recipe for later makes.  On the board, I also like to update each cheese every so often to show how it progresses and to get feedback to make sure it's on the right track.  I find when others do this it really helps me when I make the same cheese.  I can compare how my aging is going by seeing how it went with others.  Tasting notes are always something I look for, to get people's impressions.  That way I can try and see if what I'm tasting compares with what they had; do I think their notes fit my cheese, etc.

- Jeff

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

Well, this one is now 66 days old and weighs in at 1084g.  A friend from Scotland was visiting so I put together a small collection of cheeses (some bought blue, butterkase, and this Lancashire).  This one has turned out very well.  The internal knit is superb, with almost no mechanical openings at all, and the ones that are there are pin hole sized.  The taste is a good mild cheddar, definately not bland.  The paste is solid and smooth.  It's not overly moist, but it's not dry and crumbly either.  It's definately not the moist like the butterkase.  Anyway, this is all a very good result for me.  This is the first cheese I made using the buttermilk starter and it's turned out very good.  So, cheers MrsKK and Sailor for putting me onto this recipe.  I will definately be making it agian.

- Jeff

[Boofer]

Boy, Jeff, you're one busy little cheese maker! 

Your work has been such a blur that I've lost count and gotten really dizzy.

• How many different styles of cheeses have you been working on?
• What would you count as your best success(es)...failures?
• Most troublefree make?
• Most difficult make?
• And how many "caves" are you currently operating?

And that completes this portion of the test...pencils down!   

-Boofer-

[JeffHamm]

Boy, Jeff, you're one busy little cheese maker! 

Your work has been such a blur that I've lost count and gotten really dizzy.

• How many different styles of cheeses have you been working on?
• What would you count as your best success(es)...failures?
• Most troublefree make?
• Most difficult make?
• And how many "caves" are you currently operating?

And that completes this portion of the test...pencils down!   

-Boofer-

Hi Boofer,

Hmmm, looking at my notes, since last year I've made the following:
1) Butterkase (twice)
2) Caerphilly (4 times, 2 different recipes)
3) Camembert (three times, once in a class, twice "solo")
4) Cheshire (once)
5) Cottage Cheese (once)
6) Dunlop (twice)
7) Gouda (twice)
Semi Lactics (twice; one PC mold and one blue)
9) Lancashire (twice)
10) Manchengo (once)
11) Montasio (three times)
eep!
12) Mozzerella (three times, once in class)
13) Queso Fresco (once)
14) Romano (once)
15) Wenslydale (twice)

And a couple riccotta's thrown in for good measure!

My biggest failures have been the Mozzerella's.  I've tried 30 min moz, and a culture version, and just never really got it to work.  The one we made in the cheese class I took used raw milk, and it was great. 

My biggest success ... not sure.  That's a hard one.  I've had a number that I have been really pleased with, many for different reasons.  I quite like the caerphillies that I've made, and the butterkase's are turning out nice too.  Some I've not tasted yet (the romano is still aging until next March, the first of the Montasio's won't be ready until Christmas, I have a gouda that I will cut into with my parents that will be 11 months when we try it in a couple weeks, it could be good or foul, as it was the first pressed cheese I ever made).  This lancashire turned out well too, so I'm pleased with that.  If I had to pick one though, I think I would pick the second butterkase, simply because that turned out as I expected and it's a recipe I put together myself (by combining other makes, I admit, but still I'm new at this and that feels like I've done it!   ) 

The most trouble free makes are, by far, the montasio's.  They have always just gone very smoothly for me.  Now, having said that, I've not yet tasted one so perhaps I'm speaking out of turn.

The most complicated makes seem to be the butterkase.  It's a simple washed curd cheese that uses both a meso and thermo starter. But the temperatures get a bit on the hot side for meso and a bit on the cool side for the thermo.  The resulting curd seems to end up holding a lot of moisture, and with a fairly light press schedule, it can result in a fairly wet cheese that (as did the 3rd one) attracts wild b.linens.  That's ok, because the cheese is really tasty anyway and making it a washed curd/rind cheese would be fine too.  But it's not supposed to develope this, so if it does it means it's not gone to plan.  I've made it three times and it's turned out different each make.  Fortunately, all have been nicely edible though!

I'm just running the one cave at the moment.  It's pretty full actually!

Ok, sir, may I go now?

- Jeff

[MrsKK]

You've made more varieties of cheese than I have and I have my own cow! 

I love your descriptions of your makes and how you follow up on them as well.  Good work, Jeff.

[ellenspn]

Jeff I hope to achieve your level of variety someday.  Meanwhile I work to perfect feta!

[Boofer]

Ok, sir, may I go now?

You may, but for your diligence, perseverance, and willingness to share your experiences...a cheese is awarded to you this day.

Thanks for taking the time to fill in the blanks, Jeff. I found it very inspiring. 

-Boofer-