After having used my Tomme-style mold for so long and become comfortable with it, using the stainless steel brick mold was a new experience. I also implemented the seed starter mat for the first time to keep my curd warm while pressing.
The seed starter mat worked very effectively, reaching a peak temperature of 94F with the kettle lid covering the cheese pot. I can now say that the mat was a little
too effective and I should have cracked the lid slightly to keep it a little cooler. Excellent idea though. Kudos to Sailor for that one.
The brick mold is open-ended. After using muslin in the mold for the first several pressings, I removed the cloth and did the final press for 10 hours in the warmed pot. Using the muslin in the brick mold was a little difficult. The cloth wanted to snag on the edges of the mold. Then when I was trying to flip the naked cheese brick in the mold, it wanted to bend out of the mold. I sliced a little off one edge of the brick with the sharp edge of the mold. Very floppy. I measured pH5.10 coming out of the mold.
When I was unmolding the cheese, curd had squeezed out through the holes. I had placed a draining mat on the bottom of the pot and that became embedded in the bottom of the cheese brick, hence the exotic design in the one face of the brick. Yeesh! I don't know whether to shave it off or leave it alone. The follower, cut from a cutting board, was a little tight-fitting in the mold.
There are tiny bubbles in the curd. I'm not sure what to make of that. There are also open spaces, which is okay for this cheese style.
I followed, somewhat, the Esrom recipe from 200 Easy Cheeses.
Cultures used:
- Aroma B 1/2tsp
- SR3 1/16tsp
- KL71 1/64tsp
I used 1/8tsp dry calf rennet and it floc'd in 8 minutes. That's pretty consistent with what the rennet has been doing for other makes as well.
I am determined to keep the rind low and more to the style with this make.
-Boofer-
Boofer looks good just like the rest of your work. I have not run across sr3 or kl71, obviously adjunct cultures, can you illuminate me on what they are?
Boofer,
I am amazed at the number of cheeses you have going.
This Esrom looks good to me. I look forward to future pictures.
- Helen
Quote from: zenith1 on February 11, 2011, 02:51:30 PM
Boofer looks good just like the rest of your work. I have not run across sr3 or kl71, obviously adjunct cultures, can you illuminate me on what they are?
I'm sure linuxboy can more fully detail what they are. In short, SR3 is b. linens, the red bacteria rind treatment. KL71 is a yeast which helps to condition the rind environment. That's about all I know. I'm in a learning curve, you know.
Quote from: Helen on February 11, 2011, 07:32:15 PM
Boofer,
I am amazed at the number of cheeses you have going.
This Esrom looks good to me. I look forward to future pictures.
- Helen
My strategy is very simple: make as many cheeses as I can to fill up the cave and then sit back with a broad smile. Well...no, not really. There are a few that I have made that I can't touch until next New Years. I have others that I've set a First Taste Date of Halloween or Labor Day. I mark that on my make sheet so I know I can't touch them until that date. It's a target.
There are a few that have stumped me as far as getting the technique down. As you can see by these photos, I screwed up again. Pressing too heavy (only 15 lbs, but too much with the heat) and too hot (I got enthralled with the effectiveness of the Seed Starter mat). A real noob move. Next time....
Yeah, I like pictures. Tells a better story than I can.
-Boofer-
Well, I pondered the alligator skin/fish scale side of this cheese for a day and decided the better future for this brick was to operate.
I scheduled an early morning plastic surgery and removed the offending skin. The chance for nasty infections in the future just got reduced.
I feel so much better. :)
-Boofer-
Very interesting skin you had there Booffer. You are really kicking the ole cow lately. Good for you!
Thanks, Debi. Bacon & sausage season, huh?
-Boofer-
Yeah lot of bacon this year - I have 16 bellies curing right now and salamis, pepperonis and coppas hanging in the "curing room." I have more requests than I can keep up with right now.
Starting to get a few blemishes now. Looks like blue but I'm not doing any blue cheeses yet. Yes, I know they're everywhere...I just wish they'd stay in their own backyard.
-Boofer-
Because of all of the tiny pits, holes, and craters I have been blessed with all manner of "volunteers" that have come to help me create the rind for this cheese. I have been washing with brine, occasionally with some vinegar. I have left a bit of moisture on the surface and sprinkled salt on to knock the volunteers back in their socks. I think I am gaining the upper hand.
This is decidedly different than the first Esrom effort. Learning once again.
-Boofer-
Three weeks later....
I believe I have just about conquered the strange things lurking in the pits. I will wrap this cheese in cheese paper this weekend for a little further affinage...perhaps two weeks. That will make it about 75 days.
I'm really curious about this cheese. I had a number of problems with its creation and I'm hoping I've got something special under the rind.
-Boofer-
How does it smell?
Quote from: Tomer1 on April 08, 2011, 08:51:20 AM
How does it smell?
It has a definite
eau de fromage faintly reminiscent of a locker room. I believe wrapping it in the cheese paper will further develop that character. It's all I can do to NOT cut into it at this stage.
-Boofer-
Looks great! I adore those crazy molds that develop--adds character and taste in the final run. Let us know about how this turns out!
I judged that the time had come to set this cheese aside and let it have a little privacy. So into the big fridge it went on April 12th for a couple of weeks to develop further.
A week from this Tuesday I'll break into it and see how it's doing. Frankly, I don't know what to expect.
-Boofer-
I bet it will taste awesome--the aroma is always more offensive than the taste in b.linen washed rind cheeses.
It's amazing how time flies. Here I almost forgot about this cheese. I had moved it to the big fridge for slower, long-term storage.
Opening the paper I was actually surprised to see that the whole thing wasn't engulfed in mold. When I cut slices they held together well. There was some black mold that had come through the rind in places but not too bad. After I sliced off the rind I had some decent cheese samples to taste.
It wasn't overpowering either in smell, saltiness, or off-flavors. It was actually quite nice...maybe a bit salty. I see that in a lot of the cheeses I have been making. I've tried to address that in some of my latest efforts. There's not much pleasure in eating cheese that's overly salted. It may be okay to incorporate in cooking or baking, but even that may strain a recipe.
I wouldn't consider this a true example of an Esrom. I have actually only tasted one Real Esrom (pictured) and it too was salty but a lot more moist and stinky. I experienced some difficulties in this make. I might try a third time somewhere down the road, but there a few other cheese styles I want to address first as well as concentrate on refining my Goutaler and Beaufort styles.
-Boofer-
Yours perhaps seem less moist? or maybe its just the open texture giving that apearance.
The rind is not edible? or did the black mold turn you off?
Not moist as the real one was. Maybe as salty which wasn't appealing for either one.
No, the rind was pockmarked with lots of tiny (and not-so-tiny) pits from when I was pressing it in the pot and the temp got a little too high with the seed mat. I may try a portion of the rind later that doesn't have the black mold on it. Otherwise, no, I wouldn't consider this rind edible.
I have tried to do Esrom twice now and each effort has turned out very differently from the benchmark cheese (the real one). I think my first effort was actually closer to the mark.
-Boofer-
It seems like this cheese all about managing it post make, wouldnt you say?
Did you ripen\age it in a fridge?
No, as I said, I had problems in the early make. If that's wrong, anything that follows has a lesser chance of succeeding. I believe my washing/ripening went as well as I could expect. The overall result would have been improved with two factors: better control early on and lower salt uptake throughout.
Yes, I ripened it as do with all my cheeses...in a minicave (ripening box) inside my cave. As with all my cheese efforts, that permits me to control the RH fairly effectively. My controller is set to 48F-55F. My second (newer cave) has a digital controller which I can set for a target temp and then set swing range. Right now that one is set for 51F with an allowable swing of one degree. And it displays the current temp. Much better piece of equipment.
-Boofer-
It has been a while since this cheese saw the light of day, so I decided to check in on it.
Looks pretty decent under the cheese paper. I trimmed off any rind that had black mold. It is a salty cheese as I may have said before, but it nonetheless has a pleasant, creamy character that shines through. I sampled it with grapes and they helped to deflect the salty overtone.
You can see the cheese drying a little more and hardening up a bit more, but it is still offering a bit of a taste excursion months after it was made.
I heated a bit of it in the microwave oven to check on the melting qualities. I actually liked it better in the melted form. I wrapped a bit of it around grapes several times and that was pretty tasty.
I would really like to try this cheese again and not repeat the same mistakes I made with this make. I think it could be a real sweetheart of a cheese.
-Boofer-