When you are adding hot water (130-170 *F, depending on the recipe) to wash the curds, you have a target temperature (eg. 102*F).... If you were heating the pot of curds and whey to "cook/scald" them (instead of washing with hot water), you would be doing that at a very slow rate, eg. 2*F / 5 min.... If you were starting at 86*F and going to 102*F, you should be taking 40 min. to get to 102*F.... You do this slow heating to avoid causing a skin to form on the curds, which prevents them from releasing the whey properly....
My question is.... should you be adding the hot water at a similar rate (ie VERY slowly) so that when washing the curds they are only rising in temperature by 2*F each 5 minutes?.... Or, is there a different process happening when adding the hot water that prevents the curds from skinning over and retaining moisture?.... What is the "optimum" time to take when adding the hot water, ie how slow do you go?....
Bob
Caldwell says "hot water wash is slowly and carefully" added back to the vat (page 257).
So not all at once but closer to what you described it likely correct.
Trent
I trickle it in for the first few additions, then add more quickly once there's more free whey. The whey provides a bit of a buffer so the curds won't overheat as easily as when you're heating a pot on the stove (where the curds tend to settle towards the bottom).
"Adding slowly" could mean anything from "don't dump it in all at once", to taking 40 min. or more (like you normally would to heat curds).... I'm probably overthinking it (as usual), if it was really important, surely the recipes would say to raise the temperature X degrees in Y minutes like it does for cooking/scalding the curds.... ::)
I'll start with a cup, then a couple minutes later 2 cups, stirring as the volume (and temperature) increases, and take about 10 min. to get to the target temperature.... I would think that would be slow enough, no?.... Thanks (and Happy New Years) to those who replied.... 8)
Bob
In case it helps, Caldwell always says to add the water slowly "over ten minutes" in her washed curd recipes. In other authors I've read a variation of "add 1/3 of the water, stir 2-5 minutes, add 1/3 of the water, stir 2-5 minutes, add the last third of the water."
Thanks, that helps a lot.... I also ran across a recipe in the Univ. of Guelph eBook for Gouda that says to take 15-20 min. to reach the target temperature.... which is quite slow, about 1 deg./min. or a bit less....
Bob
The attachment is authored by linuxboy...one of our early gurus. Check the "Cooking Curds" section.
-Boofer-
That is a great resource, Boofer, I learn something almost every time I read a "Pav heavy" thread. Sometimes I wish there was a "greatest posts/thread" sticky here with (off the top of my head) eg, this, Yoav's reblechon thread, Sailor's MC thread, Alps washed rind thread, I'm sure there are others I'm missing, including some of yours.