When I was a kid, we would go to the little general store in town and there on the counter, above the meat cooler, was a HUGE wheel of cheese. It was coated in thick red wax and the cheese itself was an other-worldy atomic orange. The butcher would chop off a huge wedge with the wooden guillotine, wrap it in white butcher paper and off we'd go for a sleeve of saltines and "Rat Trap Cheese."
It was sweet and salty and elastic. Like a cross between cheese and polyester. It was divine!
I've found that it wasn't a Texas phenomenon. If you grew up in the 50s and 60s, all through the South and Midwest there are similar stories. Usually called "Rat Trap Cheese," in the South (or just "Rat Cheese") and referred to as "Hoop Cheese" in the Midwest.
It just doesn't exist anymore. I've searched and searched and discovered why. It was ORIGINAL Colby. Not the stuff they make now that is like a young cheddar. Wisconsin changed the laws regarding what constituted Colby in the late 60's and by the 70's "Colby" was mass produced using different methods.
I was on a quest in my cheesemaking kitchen to try to reproduce that nostalgic cheese of my childhood. This is it.
I call it "Rat Trap #5" because it took me 5 attempts to get it right. (So this isn't my 5th cheese of this variety--I've made several--#5 is part of the name.)
Gort thia one slipped by me. How long does this cheese have to age? I caint wait to see what it looks like inside with that bright orange color. Did you use annatto to get the color or something else?
It only ages for 2 weeks, RBF
Yes, I used a ton of annatto.
We've already been eating this one...in fact, I made a cheese sandwich out of it today at lunch.
I'll see if I can catch a photo of a wedge and post it.
This is not a cheese I've heard of. (I mean Rat-Trap not Colby). I doubt that it would have got as far as Australia.
What really impresses me though, is that you have persevered and, apparently, managed to re-create something that is important to you. Also, something which was all but lost.
Heartiest congratulations on your achievement and please have a cheese from me.
Thanks so much Andrew. Very kind. I wish I could send you a wedge to try.
Gort
Would you be willing to share your recipe with us? I would love to see how this was made and better yet taste it.
Chris
Sure thing...
Here are some pics from what's left--we're eating more of it right now. And I've included a picture of where we live--just cuz.
My recipes are all for raw goat milk so remember that if you use any of them--you'll likely need to raise the temps by 3 degrees for cow milk and double the cultures and rennet for pasteurized milk.
"RAT TRAP # 5"
6 gallons milk
3/4 tsp Flora Danica (I add the culture to the milk when it's at about 75 F degrees and then continue to raise temp)
Heat milk to 84 F degrees
No ripening time (beyond what happens between 75 and 84 degrees)
Add rennet (I use 36 drops--I know that's a little weird but in my previous 4 attempts I kept adjusting rennet by drops and I've just never converted the drops to another measurement)
Let set for 4 hours. (Yes 4 hours--the thermal mass of that quantity of milk holds the temp steady. Also I only use time for this no Floculation factors)
Cut curd to 2 inch cubes. Wait 10 minutes
Cut again to 3/4 inch cubes. Wait 5 minutes
Cook to 110 F slowly raising temp over 75 minutes. Stir only enough to keep from consolidating--like once every 5 minutes
Place in cloth line mold
Press at 5# for 20 min
Turn, redress and press 10# for 30 min
Turn, redress and press with 15# for 1 hour
Turn redress and press with 15# for 2 hours
Unmold and brine in saturated brine for 2.75 hours per pound
Air dry for 12 hours and then vac for 2 weeks at 54 degrees.
Ready to eat at 2 weeks. (I've done it as early as 10 days)
The "Atomic Orange" color was classic as were the mechanical holes
If you age it to 3-4 months it changes character completely--it's good but tastes more like a commercial Colby at that point.
So this is really a young, table cheese.
Nice looking cheese Gort and that last pic is a nice slice too! AC4U
Thanks RBF
WOW! That is really OrAnGe. Have you tried to make your own annatto coloring? I'm sure you have access to the seeds readily available.
Quote from: panamamike on June 15, 2018, 02:44:55 PM
WOW! That is really OrAnGe. Have you tried to make your own annatto coloring? I'm sure you have access to the seeds readily available.
Once upon a time.... (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,10102.0.html)
-Boofer-
I really like how your cheese turned out. I think my husband would really like this 'mild like commercial colby' kind of cheese. Though, I might have to call it hoop cheese. Thank you for sharing this!
Boofer and Panamamike--I've thought many times about doing it. Yes I have the seeds--in fact, I have an Achiote tree right by the house. But Achiote powder is readily available as it is a common condiment here, so I could shortcut all that work you did Boofer and just "mix her up."
Thanks Feather--but the intent is that it NOT taste like today's commercial Colby, but rather the ORIGINAL Colby of the 50's and 60's. Only if you let it age a few months does it start to behave more like commercial Colby.
Quote from: GortKlaatu on June 15, 2018, 11:32:30 PM
Thanks Feather--but the intent is that it NOT taste like today's commercial Colby, but rather the ORIGINAL Colby of the 50's and 60's. Only if you let it age a few months does it start to behave more like commercial Colby.
I think he would like that. He grew up in the 50's and 60's in mid-Wisconsin. He worked in a few cheese factories in his youth.
So we were talking about the Achiote tree and its seeds for making annatto.
My Achiote is blooming right now and I've included a picture. I have another picture of what the seed pods look like after the bloom.
The third photo is Achiote liquid (used in cooking here in Costa Rica.). I'm going to try it instead of the expensive annatto I usually buy ($5 for 2 oz) The Achiote liquid is 8 oz for about $1.
My guess is that the liquid is not as concentrated.
QuoteWhat does it taste like?
I chewed on a whole seed, which had a mild flavor that I could best describe as claylike. Others say it's slightly sweet and peppery, musky, or has a flowery scent. In Mexican Everyday, Chicago chef Rick Bayless calls achiote paste (a mixture of annatto seeds and other spices) "a flavor that tastes as though it's been unchanged since pre-Columbian times."
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-the-heck-do-i-do-with-annatto-176177343/#9Djd0VdzGRfjDB8x.99 (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-the-heck-do-i-do-with-annatto-176177343/#9Djd0VdzGRfjDB8x.99)
The annatto coloring liquid comes from the outside of the seeds.
I'm going to make your cheese tomorrow, we can't wait to try it.
This looks amazing! I am going to make this on the weekend. I get 4 gallons of milk a day from my goats and that is milking once a day, so I will save part from Friday night to add with Saturday's milk. Is this a soft bendy cheese? Does it melt? I have found my cheese gets too dry, I think it's because I didn't make adjustments for raw goat milk. I have been slowly making changes and so far I am seeing better results. It will be nice to be able to follow a recipe and not have to re-think it.
I ought to be able to cut it open around the 4th of July.
(http://joysgarlic.com/images/wrattrap.jpg)
Hey feather. That looks great. I sure hope it comes out like you want it. AC4U
Lovinglife--have you made yours?
Thanks for the cheese Gort. And thanks for your recipe.
I used your recipe except I use pasteurized homogenized cow's milk, w/cacl2, scaled it down to 4 gallons to fit in my electric roaster. I've used flora danica previously and I like the buttery smells it creates. I went back to my old orange colby recipe and found 1 teaspoon of annatto was used, so I used that much and was more comfortable with that than drops. It is pretty orange-y. In my cheese recipe log, I noted that I pressed for an extra hour because it still seemed a little wet/jello-y.
I've never seen a recipe that lets the curd sit after the renneting, for 4 hours. Almost universally in the recipes I've adapted, the curd sits about 45 minutes before cutting. So I thought it was pretty different and I wanted to see how it worked out.
I'm look forward to trying it.
Cool. Keep us all posted, please.
We cut the rat trap #5 today, independence day here. It's only 2 weeks old.
The texture is very solid, the slices crumble a little but not overly much. The taste is excellent! Mild colby-ish and delicious. The texture in the mouth is very creamy.
We decided to test it for melting, a slice in a bowl in the microwave. After 30 seconds it was a shiny mass of melted stringy cheese, just like a mozzarella is stringy. This will be a fabulous grilled cheese sandwich cheese.
Gort, thank you for the recipe, it was a great success and I'll be making it again. I never in a million years would think to leave the curd sit 4 hours before cutting it. There must be some magic in that part of the recipe.
Feather
Mine usually isn't crumbly --maybe that's the difference in the pasteurized cow milk.
I'm so glad you made it and that you are happy with it.
Yes, it makes a good grilled cheese, and it grates well for any casserole, nacho, etc.
Lovinglife, have you made it yet?
I think it's so cool that I work it out here in Costa Rica, and now it's showing up around the world.
Quote from: GortKlaatu on July 05, 2018, 02:55:40 AM
Feather
Mine usually isn't crumbly --maybe that's the difference in the pasteurized cow milk.
I'm so glad you made it and that you are happy with it.
Yes, it makes a good grilled cheese, and it grates well for any casserole, nacho, etc.
I think it's so cool that I work it out here in Costa Rica, and now it's showing up around the world.
I think that the cow's milk pasteurized and homogenized does make a difference. I'm plagued by crumbly cheese but I imagine this will get better with the age of the cheese. I get smooth non crumbling cheddars, swiss, mozzarella, provolone but the cheddars and swisses age for months, so there is something happening during the aging process. I've had a smooth non crumbling harvarti, tilsit, raclette, and goudas. My colbys have crumbled but they were young.
Well Gort, you'll be famous some day. :D
Gort, I have GOT to try this!
I've been hoping I could find a cheese that was like a cheddar, but more tasting like a colby, but we called it "Longhorn" here in Georgia. I guess, because it came in a package with a drawing of a longhorn skull on it. I don't think it was the name of the cheese, but rather the name of the company that made it. Everything in the stores today is Kraft or Sargento, and none of the smaller companies seem to exist anymore.
Anyway, I wonder if the Annatto is a requirement for anything other than color? I think I have everything on hand to produce the cheese, except for the Annato, so is it able to be made without it?
One other question about a topic that has prevented me from attempting a couple of varieties... It involves waxing. Is waxing necessary for this cheese, or could I just vacuum-seal it? I don't have the capability of doing wax, but I do have a great vacuum-sealer. It would seem to me that wax is just as impermeable to gas as a vacuum bag, so couldn't it be done?
Thanks for publishing your recipe. I am looking forward to attempting it!
Curdlessness
Thanks for the feedback. You do not have to add the annatto--it is only for color. (But remember the old saying, "You eat first with your eyes" So if it doesn't look like what you expect, it might not taste like you expect. LOL
And yes, you can vac this one....just make sure it has pressed and dried well before you do. I don't like to long age cheeses via vac pac, but for very young cheeses like this I found that I can't tell the difference.
So: Go for it! Keep us posted
Quote from: GortKlaatu on July 28, 2018, 12:08:44 AM
Curdlessness
Thanks for the feedback. You do not have to add the annatto--it is only for color. (But remember the old saying, "You eat first with your eyes" So if it doesn't look like what you expect, it might not taste like you expect. LOL
And yes, you can vac this one....just make sure it has pressed and dried well before you do. I don't like to long age cheeses via vac pac, but for very young cheeses like this I found that I can't tell the difference.
So: Go for it! Keep us posted
I'm thinking that natural beige/cream color that I got when I did the Havarti that failed would be just fine for me.
My concern about "bagging" as you put it, is that the outgassing of the aging process might create problems. If you think it'll be okay, then this one will be my next attempt!
I'm talking with a friend of mine who knows a guy who has cows, and I'm trying to figure out a way to get milk straight from the tap. If I can do that, it might be the perfect thing to make this cheese with.
I wonder, if I'm making it without the annatto, and vacuum-bagging it instead of waxing it, aren't I making another type? I'm not exactly following the full process, but I am doing something different, ergo, it will be a different cheese. I shall name it "Gort Smooth".
Let me get the blues out of my cheese fridge (should be the end of August for the big one), sanitize it, and this one will be my next go! 2-gallon make, of course, since I don't have the facilities to make anything bigger.
Awesome sauce!
Curd
Not putting the color in and vac pac-ing will not make it a new cheese. I routined vac this one, too. But if you want to name it after me, who's gonna argue here? Not me. LOL
And if you do vac it, then you don't have to worry about the blue in your cave.
And yes, the gas exchange--out-gassing as you called it--is affected by vac versus other methods. That's why I don't like to vac young cheeses that will be aged a long time.
I do vac cheeses like this that are not really aged much, like this one or Butterkase for example. Or if after I have aged a cheese for a few months, developed a good natural rind and I want to age it much longer, I will vac then. Of course once a cut a big wheel I then vac the rest for further aging. That's my process, because I absolutely do notice a difference in the same cheese that has been vac-packed vs waxed vs natural rind....I have done blind taste tests on more than one occasion and without fail, everyone every time rates the vac cheese behind the others. There is some disagreement about this from folks who always vac everything--it is easy and it does preserve moisture. So maybe for them, if they don't have the best environment for aging with a natural rind their cheese does come out better that way. It can be a hot topic. LOL
Quote from: GortKlaatu on July 28, 2018, 02:08:28 PM
Curd
Not putting the color in and vac pack-ing will not make it a new cheese. I routinely vac this one, too. But if you want to name it after me, who's gonna argue here? Not me. LOL
And if you do vac it, then you don't have to worry about the blue in your cave.
And yes, the gas exchange--out-gassing as you called it--is affected by vac versus other methods. That's why I don't like to vac young cheeses that will be aged a long time.
I do vac cheeses like this that are not really aged much, like this one or Butterkase for example. Or if after I have aged a cheese for a few months, developed a good natural rind and I want to age it much longer, I will vac then. Of course once a cut a big wheel I then vac the rest for further aging. That's my process, because I absolutely do notice a difference in the same cheese that has been vac-packed vs waxed vs natural rind....I have done blind taste tests on more than one occasion and without fail, everyone every time rates the vac cheese behind the others. There is some disagreement about this from folks who always vac everything--it is easy and it does preserve moisture. So maybe for them, if they don't have the best environment for aging with a natural rind their cheese does come out better that way. It can be a hot topic. LOL
Well, heck, man! I absolutely
must disagree with you on the "new vs. old" thing! ::) To my way of thinking (and I have been cooking for much longer than I have been making cheese, but that's another story...) if you make changes to the way a particular recipe is done, then you are making a new thing. Oh, sure... It might be considered a variation of the original thing, but it most certainly isn't the original thing. It's different by virtue of being made by a different recipe or process or both. So it's a new cheese. :P
For a guy who wasn't going to argue about it, you sure are doing a reasonable facsimile of making an argument ;D ;D ;D You may consider yourself the inspiration for the non-orange version of Rat Trap. To be called henceforth, "Gort Smooth" Whether you like it or not, if I do say so myself... Therefore, you are the one for whom it must be named. Again, :P
See how easy this is? ::) ;)
Geez, I love this board. All you guys (and gals!) are bloody awesome!
I wish I'd found it a couple of years ago when I started down this road! ^-^ ^-^ ^-^
HAHA
This thread is a bit old but the recipe looked interesting so I went ahead and made a small test wheel. I ignored all of my impulses to use a ph meter and floc times etc and just followed the recipe. Knit looked fine and its in the chamber waiting for Christmas. I've never cut open a cheese at only 3 weeks so it's kind of exiting. I'll post my results in a few weeks. :>
Let me know what you think.
This is one of the few cheeses where I don't use my pH meter or Floc factors. I make it when I have a bunch of milk but no time to futz with it it. ;)
Recipe worked out great. Its a lot of fun making a cheese and opening it in 2 weeks. Definitely will make again. Next time I'm going to add more annatto for super orange. :>
That looks great! This is one I need to try. AC4Y.
Quote from: Beans on December 13, 2018, 04:55:01 PM
Recipe worked out great. Its a lot of fun making a cheese and opening it in 2 weeks. Definitely will make again. Next time I'm going to add more annatto for super orange. :>
So glad to hear you liked it. It's an easy one and just a great mild table or sandwich cheese.
AC4U
Now that we're on our holiday break from the college, I may just have to get up off ol' Rusty and make this dang thing...
Nicely done there, Beans. AC4U!
Heya, Gort!
Resurrecting an old thread...
Trying this today. It sounds like one my family would like, and it fits with being a busy mom!
Rachel
I'd love to hear how it turns out. This is such an interesting recipe. One thing that worries me is the 36 drops of rennet for 6 gallons of milk. If that's single strength rennet, then it's only 13 IMCU per liter of milk -- or just over 1/4 of what you would normally use. GortKlaatu used raw goat's milk, which will have a stronger set, so I'd be tempted to use somewhere around double the rennet he used if you aren't using raw milk -- just to be safe. In my experience, that little rennet will likely end up with shattered curds when stirring if you use super market milk.
Mikekchar, I can't say I've followed the recipe yet. I tried once, and got way too much starter and rennet, skipped the color because I had none, and ended up over cooking some curds, and under cooking others. We're eating that rubbery cheese anyway.
The next batch I tweaked and washed with cool water
The trimmings off the pressed cheese were pretty tasty, so I have one 1/4 in the fridge to eat fresh, and 3/4 vax sealed to taste over the next month or so. DH really likes fresh cheese. He didn't think it was bad, but wasn't super impressed with the 15 month old Romano style I had hidden away!
I've been using raw cow's milk... and powdered calf rennet that is 13 years old!
The long curd time fits well with being a home school mom!
Rachel