In an old post, iratherfly has a photo a a gorgeous Taleggio.
Would iratherfly care to share his recipe?
arkc
I thought I did; didn't I? That wasn't a "proper" Taleggio as it was smaller and I washed it with B.Linen and added Mycodore to age it a bit like a French Savoie cheese, but I do have the proper recipe.
Some notes first:
- Pay attention to two things that make this cheese very unique; the first is aging it in very cool temperature. The other thing is aging it in a wooden box (untreated pine if you can. If you can't do a box try juts planks. The more you use them to age the better it would work because it would build heirloom of bacterium)
- Taleggio is best to do if you are already experienced with some other cheese. It is sensitive to acidification of the milk so the first 30 minutes of making this cheese can really decide between success and failure. Like most other washed rind cheeses, you have short inoculation time so that the cheese won't be too acidic (which will prevent the B.Linen from growing and give you a final texture that is hard, flaky and fragile instead of creamy). The other secret is to age it quite cold. 40F to 45F.
- To make it, you will need a thermophilic culture (TA 50, TA60, TA61 Etc.) or farmstead culture (mix of thermophilic and mesophilic).
- Pasteurized non-homogenized ("cream-line"), milk is traditionally used for Taleggio. Add CalCl2 accordingly
The basic recipe is:
- Heat 2 Gal milk to 90F. Add 1/4 tsp thermophilic or farmstead culture and 1/8 tsp B.Linen, let reconstitute for 3-5 minutes, mix gently but well for 30 seconds, let rest for 30 minutes.
- Mix 1/2 tsp rennet and 1/2 CalCl2 in 1/2 cup of filtered non chlorinated water, add to milk and combine well with the milk. Coagulate at 4X flocculation
- Cut curd large (3"). Wait 5 minutes and cut again small (1.5"). Wait another 5 minutes. Curd will sink in the whey, stir once.
- Remove whey to expose the surface of the curd. Scoop the curd onto traditional square molds. Let drain for an hour, turn. Turn again in 2 hours, 4 hours and let drain for 24 hours in room temp (75F or so)
- Remove from molds and salt (kosher salt with no additives) approx 2.5% of cheese by weight (seems like a lot but much of it will drain with the whey during initial aging)
- Age in cave, in wooden boxes at low temp (43F-45F) and high humidity (90%)
- Turn the cheese daily. Wash the rind with simple brine (3% salt) every 2 days in the first week, every 3 days on the second week and every 4 days on the 3rd week. Then move to the coldest area of the refrigerator (around 37F). Cheese should be ready at day 45 and fully ripened at day 60. Can remain ready to eat for up to 60 additional days with proper storage and low temperature.
Here is a great link from the official Taleggio Consortium. It's a very lame English language translation of their Italian page so the language is pretty bad, but you get the idea: http://www.taleggio.it/EN/TProduzione.htm (http://www.taleggio.it/EN/TProduzione.htm)
You say that you washed yours with B.Linen and added Mycodore. Do you think that this
washing changed the original flavor? If not, I would like to wash with the B. Lin also. It makes a
beautiful cheese.
Thanks
It will be a beautiful cheese either way. B.Linen is in the paste and will come out during rind wash. A proper Taleggio has rose color and not orange. Could also have some blue spotting. However using B.Linen in the wash will really strengthen that stinky/smoky quality of the cheese and would mask other characteristics of it. That being said, it also depends on which type of B.Linen you are using; they come in different colors and strengths.
You can always do a double batch, one with B.Linen wash and one with standard brine wash. Then compare.
That was a perfect answer. I will use the original that you gave us. I usually use SR3 because it
is supposed to be the most orange and the strongest flavor.
Did you notice that in the Salatura paragraph it says:
Industrially, beyond to the practical one by hand, it is also in use to dip the shapes in a pickling brine, solution saturates of knows them to the temperature of approximately 10°C. In this case the cheeses remain dipped for 8-12 hours, during which they come many times over turned to you.
Why would they do an extra brining? Does this help shelf life?
annie
Taleggio comes in Farmstead, Artisanal and Industrial versions. I think they mean that the industrial version gets brined instead of hand salted because it isn't practical (too much cheese to hand-salt). Brine salting is a little more accurate than hand salting and creates the initial thin dry rind faster but it is not a necessity. Traditionally this cheese is hand salted. Sometimes even rubbed with more coarse salt a few days later to encourage rind growth. You can do it either way. I find that for small batches hand-salting works better. Dry salting doesn't involves mess and another thing to prepare, measure and manage. Making brine for a single batch of cheese is wasteful and time consuming in my opinion but if you want to do this, please investigate first the saturation of the brine. (It should be anywhere from 18% to 23% salt)
I saw that they prefaced their statement with 'Industrially' and understood that it was for a
commercial production. But the next 7 words were huh? beyond to the practical one by hand.
This is of course a joke....They speak English better than I speak Italian.
Most of the article is discernible, , and fun to try to read.
I keep a number of brines (different saturations) on hand. And I do have a 22% saturation. So it's no trouble to brine, but do you think it is: 1) just as good as dry salting, 2) not as good, or 3) better?
annie
I sent this to you on 5/15....Sorry to be pushy, but I will be starting a Taleggio today.
Quote from: arkc on May 15, 2011, 10:02:45 PM
I saw that they prefaced their statement with 'Industrially' and understood that it was for a
commercial production. But the next 7 words were huh? beyond to the practical one by hand.
This is of course a joke....They speak English better than I speak Italian.
Most of the article is discernible, , and fun to try to read.
I keep a number of brines (different saturations) on hand. And I do have a 22% saturation. So it's no trouble to brine, but do you think it is: 1) just as good as dry salting, 2) not as good, or 3) better?
annie
Oh sorry, I totally missed that one (I get lots of messages and they are all in-line here). I hope I still caught you on time!
Yea, that Italian translation must have been performed using Google Translations or some tool. It's kind of funny in English
Quotebeyond to the practical one by hand
I think they meant to say that commercial production goes beyond the point where it is still practical to salt by hand.
Personally my preference with this type of cheese is hand salting. I don't know why... habit? It builds the rind slower and if you measure the salt (or already got a feeling for what's the right amount) than you should be fine. I would just measure 2.5% salt by weight and find a way to drop all of that all over the cheese. It may seem like a lot but don't let the quantity fool you, it is correct. (Much of it will disappear with the brine osmosis eventually).
Nothing against brining. In fact if you had asked me about Tommes I would no doubt vote for brining. Surface ripened cheese is somewhat more more gentle and "hand made", I like doing them this traditional way, just my personal preference. I have made them with brine before and it worked too though it works much faster than pressed cheese.
18% is enough to kill pathogens, create a good rind and properly flavor the cheese. Too much salt may slow down or inhibit growth of some rind bacterium that you want to have. Some very good cheesemakers like Peter Dixon swear by 23%-24% brines. They typically use it rather cold (50F-54F) and brine 25% less time than 18%. I have never tried it but I am sure quite a few people on the board have. I think it's just a matter of preference.
My suggestion, do the traditional Taleggio method of hand salting on this one before venturing into brining.
A little something about brines:
I personally don't use brines over 18% - again, just a personal preference; I am used to it. 18% is very predictable to me. I look for a brine that would have just enough salt to suspend the cheese afloat so that its top surface barely touches the surface of the brine. I measure the brine by weight and then verify with a salometer. I often need to add more salt, so it could be what seems like 20%-22% by weight but the salometer gives me true volume reading so if it says 18% I believe it. How do you measure your brine? Weight? Volume? Salometer?
Sorry for changing the subject for a second, but if have never used a salometer, it's a dead-accurate, inexpensive tool that never needs calibration; no dials, mercury, alcohol, electronics or moving parts - it's simply a glass buoy with numbers etched to the side of it. It looks like a long mercury thermometer. You drop it in the brine and it floats as high as the sodium content will suspend it. Whatever number happens to be at the brine surface is your salt % by volume. Here's my salometer at 18% brine:
Any difference from hydrometer?
I didn't hear from you, so I changed my cheese schedule..(THIS IS NOT A GUILT
TRIP!!)
Thanks for answering, I will now be doing the taleggio next week. And, , , I will hand
salt. What you said about surface ripened cheeses being more delicate is certainly
correct.
For this week, I have returned to trying to replicate my 'old standby' double cream
with my new and fresher Jersey milk.....Which means it is no longer an 'old
standby'.. My last batch trying to do it my old way was DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT!!!
(I posted a photo of this 'giant'..) So I am changing culture amounts to begin with.
If this doesn't work, I'll try something else. But I will change only one thing at a
time, , , like a proper scientist would.
Thanks again,
Annie
Annie - sounds amazing! Love to see that one. Also, would you be able to post photos of the Tallegio when you make it? Would really like to see how they progress!
Tomer - entirely different tool for a different purpose. Hydrometer reports the humidity in the air (hence the name - "hydration-meter"). Salometer/salimeter reports the salinity (salt-content) in liquid.
Analog hydrometer works when two springs from different materials respond differently to humidity. When one has more tention that the other, it pulls the dial, so it's mechanical. Digital salometer either work the same way but instead of moving a dial they move an electronic device that reports the result to a digital board, or they have a sesor that understands the moisture content by measuring the current between too electrodes.
Salometer is just a glass float that you drop in the brine. No mechanical or electronic parts. It uses the same principle of floating in the Dead Sea because of its salt content. The more salt, the more it floats. Really simple.
I will start posting photos next week.
Well, I started another double cream yesterday. I used 1/2 the starter and it was once again a lovely silken
curd. BUT, the flocc time was only 7 minutes. (right now it tastes tangy like a lactic) I'll have to try it
again next week. (I only get a delivery of my lovely milk once a week.) But next time, I will reduce the rennet
also. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...
I will also try the Taleggio next week. And as you suggested, I will hand salt. Oh what fun!!!
My two current Epoisses types will be ready on June 8 and June 15. They are coming along nicely but I made
them much too small. I will start more of these LARGER in a couple of weeks.
I also have a Munster that is 'getting there'. And, a couple of Cheddars that are 1 1/2 years old. Both
my boss and my son have been badgering me to give them some. Guess it's time to do it!
Well, I have to go salt a cheese.
Thanks again for your help.
annie
I hate to be pedantic (perhaps its a typo) but a hydrometer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrometer) measures the specific gravity of liquid while a hygromete (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygrometer)r measures the moisture content in the air.
Annie, when did you make those epoisses type cheeses?
To Oude Kaas,
I made them March 30 and April 6. They are coming along nicely but they are a pain
in the______. They need so much TLC! But I won't be put off, I will do them
(in larger sizes) again.
Cheese making is really a great challenge and great fun.
annie
Thanks Jos! I didn't know that!
Last week I made an Epoisses-ish kind of cheese. Seems to be taking far less TLC and got a great growth right away. It's basically a St. Marcellin based cheese that I am washing with Umebashi. It smells amazing and the paste is really getting nice and soft. The skin is firming up and B.Linen caught on fast too. Can't wait to try it. Should be ready in about a week. I'll report and send photos.
Sounds great Yoav. Very curious to the outcome.
Would you like some milk, Wednesday?
You might have had a bad experience with some milk, but this is really good, trust me, you'll be amazed.
Would love some!!! I actually meant to make cheese in the middle of this week (this weekend my little cave is too full). Should I call you? Let's grab a cup of coffee
Iratherfly,
Huh? your post of 2 days ago said that you made Epoisses type cheese last week and it would be ready in 1 more
week. Epoisses in 2 weeks?
I must be missing something.
annie
It's Epoisse-ish. What I am looking for is actually more Langres than Eppoises. If you are not familiar, Langres is the delicate little sister of Epoisses which is washed without Marc and shorter period so it has less orange coverage and less stink element. It takes 15-35 days to age (Langres AOC rules for the smaller 150g wheel are 15 days). It is washed so lightly that it may seem like a no-wash rind at all! To make sure that people know it as a washed rind cheese, the French have been mixing Annato in the wash! (They should have called it "Epoisses Américaine"!)
What I am doing is really a washed St. Marcellin. It ages a lot faster than a regular Epoisses (it is also about 1/4 the volume). The paste will be soft, flavored and ripe well before it is covered with orange bacteria so as soon as I see orange color, I am halting the wash and moving to the refrigerator where it is ready to eat and could live in relative stability for 4-6 weeks or so. I don't think this would take very long but this is an experimental cheese so let's wait and see!
Langres AOC is one of my favorite cheeses. The dimple in the top's center is intentional. Some people like to fill the dimple with Champagne (or Marc, or Cider) when serving. Like the Epoisses, it too is made in the Bourgogne region, mostly by cheesemakers who also make Epoisses AOC
(http://moltoformaggio.com/molto/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Langres-Chalancey-00041.jpg)
They should rename it Orange Sharpei Cheese....
Thanks for the answer.
annie