Hi -
I've been searching in this forum and elsewhere online for a recipe to make a Garrotxa style cheese. I may soon have access to some fresh goat's milk, so I'd love to try making it. I've read that it sort of disappeared for a while, but that Catalonian cheesemakers revived the traditional methods. It's available in better cheese markets in my area of SE Michigan, but I'd sure like to try making it myself! Does anyone have a recipe for it?
Thanks,
Karen
According to Steve Jenkins, this is quite a terrfic cheese with hint of thyme and rosemary--I would love to try and it! As soon as I can find it, I will try to work out a replica. Thanks for introducing us to a new endeavor!
Deconstructing cheese! Sounds like a challenge, Brie! I'll keep searching for a recipe, too. I keep brief notes on some of my favorite cheeses. Here's what I wrote after first tasting Garrotxa: "What a velvety, buttery aroma!! Smells luscious and toasted! Not hard to imagine that this is my favorite so far! Tastes creamy/milky and only slightly of goat milk. It has a smooth mouth feel and a powerful and long, tangy finish. Wow!!"
This is just a tomme derivative. It's not technically difficult -- see my tomme thread for the base (meso culture, high pH drain, low temp cook). What is difficult is replicating the nuances. To do that, you need to use ultra fresh milk from goats grazing herbaceous/weedy pasture, and then inoculate the cheese rind with that greyish rind that Garrotxa has, then washing with a simple 3% inoculated brine, and brushing after that. This will give you a buttery, mildly nutty cheese with a good amount of acidity to balance out the flavors, and a light hint of the citrusy goat tang.
The milk is key with this cheese, as is the forage the goats eat, as is the aging environment. In Catalonia, that mold/rind occurs naturally; you'd have difficulty replicating it unless you set up a microclimate and let that mold become the predominant species.
Thanks for the tips, linuxboy! I also found a mention on another site about the extent to which the specific mold in Catalonia defines the character of this cheese. This study ( http://upcommons.upc.edu/pfc/bitstream/2099.1/3973/1/54705-1.pdf (http://upcommons.upc.edu/pfc/bitstream/2099.1/3973/1/54705-1.pdf) ), although in Catalan, seems to compare the results obtained from four different culture/mold blends ... the basic recipe they referred to is on page 25. To get started, I found your tomme recipe and will give it a try. Thanks again!
Here are the make details from that great paper you found, first the industrial recipe as it is written, then adjusted for US makes and rennet strengths
Pasteurize milk to to 167F
Cool milk down to 86F
Add animal rennet (presumably veal at 1:10,000 strength) at the rate of 14.6 ml per 100 lbs milk (or 1 ml per 3 L milk)
Add 36% CaCl2 solution at the rate of 1 ml per 4 L, or (10 ml per 100 lbs milk)
Add bulk starter than contains a diacetylactic variant at a 2% inoculation rate
Let this coagulate for about 1.5 hours
Cut curd to the size of beans (likely around 1/2")
Remove 20% of the whey and wash the curd with same amount of hot water
Heat to 93-94F and stir gently
drain, hoop/mold, and press for 4-6 hours
brine
let rind dry for 1-2 days
age at 45-50 degrees and 85-90% RH min 30 days
Here's the recipe converted to US measurements, adapted for home manufacturing ease. Please note the key differences in this cheese and a classic basque tomme is that is it not heated to as high of a temp (starts at 86, goes to maybe 94), and it is coagulated for much longer, resulting in a more moist curd, and is pressed after, because the curds are larger and more moist, so it needs more weight.
Use a minimum of 2 gallons, preferably 3 for a 5-6" tomme mold, use more milk if larger mold. My recipe adjustment is for a 2 gal batch.
Ingredients:
2 gal raw goat's milk, target 4-5% fat and 4-5% protein. PF ratio should be .95-1
1/4 tsp MM4001 or FD DVI starter.
.5-.6 ml double strength rennet
CaCl2, if using, at no more than .01%. For 2 gal, about 1.5 ml
Process:
- Warm 2 gallons milk (17.2 pounds) to 86 degrees F
- add 1/4 tsp MA4001 or FD, or similar. Should have diacetylactis, Leuconostoc is optional.
- Ripen for 30 mins at 86 F. pH should decrease slightly (.02+)
- If needed, add CaCl2 diluted in cold water
- Add .5-.6 ml double strength rennet dissolved in 1/4 cup distilled ice cold water, stir up and down 15 strokes (4 ml double strength 1:30,000 per 100 lbs milk, convert according to your rennet activity)
- Wait for flocculation, multiply by 4-5 to get total ripening time from the time you added rennet. Time to floc target is 18-20 minutes. Use more or less to try and hit the target the next time if you're off a little.
- Cut into 1/2 inch cubes, let rest 10 mins
- While it is resting, heat up 3.5 cups water (20% of total volume) to about 130F. At the end of healing, stir the curds for 5-10 minutes and break up any that are too big. Some whey should separate, about 3-4 cups. Drain that whey and add the hot water.
- Check temp, it should be 93-94F. If it is not, turn up the heat to lowest possible, or put in a sink of hot water, and stir the curds. Watch the pot because they will want to mat. You need to stir and keep breaking them up to expel the whey. Stir until the right texture. Curd should be moist and stick together, yet come apart when you squeeze a handful of it.
- Drain in vat or warm colander. pH should be 6.35-6.4 or higher. Let curds mat and press slightly under whey.
- Put into cheesecloth lined molds. This cheese sticks, so soak the cheesecloth in pH 5.2 whey beforehand.
- Press gently with 20-50 lbs turning at 15 min, 30 min, and 1 hour increments.
- Press until pH is 5.4 or overnight.
- Brine in 18-20% brine 3-4 hours per lb of cheese.
- Leave at 55-65 degrees for a day at ~70% RH for the outer rind to dry a little before moving to the cave.
- Move to cave and make up a brine solution consisting of 3% brine, a little bit (2-3%) leftover whey, and a pureed chunk of the rind from a piece of garrotxa. Wash with a rag every day until some growth appears. You have to watch it, keep the temp at 50 or below, not below 45, and humidity below 90, so the mold does not grow crazy. This is a specific rind approach to create an outer shell and not allow too much proteolysis. Wash for a week, then switch over to washing less frequently, once every 3-4 days
This should give you a very close approximation. Use the freshest milk you can.
Wow! That was fast translation work, Linuxboy!! This is fabulous ... I will try your recipe within the next month or so and post some results. Thank you!!
Yeah, I don't know Catalan, but it's pretty close to Spanish with some Frenchisms thrown in, and I got the gist of it. I read through most of that paper... it's very well done, even has an intro sort of section with an overview of coagulation science.
Linuxboy, you never cease to amaze me.....
BTW, I picked up some Whole Foods Brand milk as you suggested-going to make a Crosta Rossa with Pistachios tomorrow! I'll let you know how it works out!
Thanks again for the tips!
~Cheers
So Linux, would you add some herbs to replicate the tastes that are described? i.e., Rosemary and Thyme--gonna be pretty hard to find those pastoral goats around here!
No, you just need to make sure the goats have enough natural alkoloids and tannins so that flavors of their diet makes its way into the milk. Those Spanish goats are really tough buggers, they can thrive in some pretty harsh environments. And like a vine when stressed produces better grapes, but less yield per acre, it's a similar thing with goat's milk. If they have enough diversity in their diets, the milk will be more complex and will give you those notes in the cheese. Not pushing goats for production also gives a good ratio of proteins to fat, which I think are mid-4s in those murcia granada goats when on pasture.
Ah--that is the goat that makes the legendary Drunken Goat cheese that I replicate!
Taking into consideration that fact that I live in Phoenix and can't control the pasture of the goat milk I buy at Trader Joe's--I believe I am going to have to settle on the herb route for flavor.
Quote from: Brie on May 08, 2010, 12:11:12 AM
Ah--that is the goat that makes the legendary Drunken Goat cheese that I replicate!
Taking into consideration that fact that I live in Phoenix and can't control the pasture of the goat milk I buy at Trader Joe's--I believe I am going to have to settle on the herb route for flavor.
Hi Brie - I'm just curious about the goat milk you buy at Trader Joe's ... is it unhomogenized? The only goat milk I can find in shops in my area is ultra-pasteurized and homogenized. I haven't had good results with it, but I may soon be able to buy some farm-fresh goat milk.
My 2c contribution
Thanks, Alex! K--If you can get raw goat milk--that would be the best option. I can't find it here. I've used Trader Joe's goats milk, which is pasteurized (not ultra) with success in every recipe I've tried. It is expensive--$13 per gallon, but I get raw organic cow's milk free so I don't mind the indulgence.
Hi,
The Garotxa region is in the north east of Spain, in Catalonia. Garrotxa is about an hour drive from Barcelona city. Is an ancient volcano area, ver lush and can be humid, as a mountain range separates from the Mediterranean.
The cheese that I know is compact (can be hard and semi-hard, same as Manchego and others). Very delicate flavor with a nice after taste. I read the paper from Lynuxboy link, which surprised me as I didn't know that there were any studies on Spanish cheeses done in Spain.
I will try this one, as I miss eating it!!!!! What are the PH levels supposed to be?
thanks much!
What a coincidence... I just had some today. Very good. Never heard of it before (no I didn't see it on the Mythbusters).