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Well, Merry Holidays. I was getting things ready to bring to my mom's house while on winter break from Culinary School and left without the stockpot full of cheesemaking goodies.

This means my lipase and rennet are sitting inside a stockpot in my kitchen. I will be gone 2 weeks. I did turn the heat down to 50, but the building tends to stay around 55 even if everything is off.

Is it going to be junk when I get back in 10 days? I had planned to order some stuff before I came back anyway, but now not sure if I need to reorder these too..

Most bumming part is that I had planned to make cheese for gifts while I was here. No can do now! Ugh.

Bummer!

I can't give you a definite answer on that, but would suggest that you do a small test batch of cheese to see if you get expected results from both the lipase and the rennet.

Let us know what comes of this.

Will not be ruined, strength will likely decrease somewhere around 10-20%. When you get back, try to use up ASAP.

...well, that depends how hot your kitchen gets. I think lipase is less sensitive than rennet.

What culinary school teaches you cheesemaking??? I love it!

Where in the country are you? If you are in my neck of the woods, I would love to give you some lipase and rennet; I have plenty. I am in NYC.

You can probably get some junkets at Whole Foods or something like that if you want to make chevre. I assume you are making Mozzarella? (the lipase, the lipase).  Maybe the Dairy connection, Leener's or New England Cheesemaking Supplies can deliver overnight to you?

I am a student at Le Cordon Bleu in Boston, but I didn't learn cheesemaking there. I am self-teaching. They do eventually do it at some point down the line, but it is a hobby of mine. I am way up in Maine now for the holidays.

I will make a small batch of mozzarella when I get back to see how it works out and let you guys know. Since the cheese plans fell through I am going to make a nice meal for my near and dears tonight. Chianti braised short ribs, portobella mushroom risotto, asparagus, and a dessert of cream puffs.

Hmmm.... on my way to Boston right now for a meeting. your meal plan sounds great!
Let me know when you are ready for that sous vide monster I am building here

I'd try it out now. If you need a tester... :-) I am still in the foundation courses, but we do eventually get to the sous vide, foams, gels, etc. I am looking forward to it. Very cool stuff going on with food.

The dinner went off without a hitch. Had some fromage blanc I had made with some stilton and green onions. Everyone liked that as the app on a nice crusty bread.

If ever you are in Boston and have time for a nice (cheap) meal, you should try the school's restaurant Technique. They have a 3 course lunch for $10 and a 5 course dinner for $15. The service is slow, and the servers are students, so they are in school to be chefs, not servers, but the food is very good. It is completely student run. This is the associates degree student's last stop before going out on externship.

Oh nice!
I'm in a chatty mood so here's a long one for you;

Yes, I just got back from Boston 30 minutes ago and I am now putting cheese in brine before I go to bed (I am working on an experimental new original - a cross between Tellagio and Tomme de Savioe but with a natural spiciness to it - if you can imagine that). I haven't been to Boston for possibly 6 years now but this is my 2nd time in the past month for totally different reasons.

I do this sometimes here in New York when visiting the French Culinary Institute's restaurant (I have a friend who works at the institute).  Where in Boston is Le Cordon Bleu?

Today I had the pleasure of having the worst Chinese food in my entire life - period. MSG in iwas used like salt. (Most people can't recognize the taste and texture of it but I definitely did...) The rice was mush and the chicken was some defrosted leg meat of the worst quality - you can just tell. Utter yuckness! I run to Au Bon Pain to wipe it off my palates with a Cafe Americano but the person by the espresso machine (or as she called it "expresso") had no clue what it was. Wow, that was a bad part of town (ahh, MIT campus in Cambridge, sat what?). Your advice sure would have been helpful if I knew it!!!
Luckily I had a Ritters Sports bar for the bus and at home I had my nice home made Choucroute Alsacienne (Even the Sauerkraut was pickled at home!). I am good again now

Glad to hear the dinner went so well. Everything sounds so delicious! Fromage Blanc is incredibly versatile. I grew up in Israel and everyone have buckets of that in their refrigirator. It's just the normal thing to put on your bread at breakfast. You can use it as a base for dip, have it with smoked fish (many people mix it with sardines from a can), have it cold on top of a hot omelet, put it on bread with vegetables or with jam. We even mix it in Israeli Salad to make a "white" version (so essentially it becomes the base for the dressing) in Passover, we spread it lovingly on buttered Matzoh. But mostly - I LOVE the cheesecakes that are based on it. Unlike the heavy Philadelphia cream cheese based cheesecake, Fromage Blanc cheesecakes are light, fluffy and the cheese is only 0% to 9% fat as opposed to 33% fat minimum in cream cheese. Have you tried making any at home? It's as easy as making Chevre or Yogurt.
Reminds me that when I was in Paris in April my hotel had a breakfast buffet of local Ile De France farmstead foods. Some American tourist from Kentucky kept filling up her yogurt bowl with granola and "that other yogurt".  She caught that I was speaking English and kept telling me how wonderful the yogurt was. I told her it was Fromage Blanc and she kept arguing with me... Luckily my French wingmen came to the rescue.  But seriously, I don't understand how it never became a staple food here in America. It has everything Americans would expect to have in food.

For cold foams I have been using Soy Lecithin. Been playing with Sodium Alginate and other crazy compounds to do spheres, mock caviar and reversed engineered olives... very cool but I don't overdo it. I like real food. Molecular gastronomy is fascinating and exciting to make and eat but let's face it - it's usually highly processed.  By the way, I have been using the Calcum Chloride from the cheese to make some incredible pickles. It keeps it as crunchy as fresh forever. Amazing.

Quote from: iratherfly on December 22, 2010, 08:28:21 AM




But mostly - I LOVE the cheesecakes that are based on it. Unlike the heavy Philadelphia cream cheese based cheesecake, Fromage Blanc cheesecakes are light, fluffy and the cheese is only 0% to 9% fat as opposed to 33% fat minimum in cream cheese. Have you tried making any at home? It's as easy as making Chevre or Yogurt.

Iratherfly, I would like to make a cheesecake like that. Should I just follow a typical cheesecake recipe using my home made cheese, or do I need to make any changes?
Dave in CT

The typical cream cheese based cheesecake recipe relies on the high density of cream cheese so it wouldn't work well. The texture of Fromage blanc is somewhat thicker than regular yogurt and thinner than Greek style (strained) yogurt or Labaneh. Your cake would come out too runny. Let me dig up a couple of recipes and post them here.  (By the way, you usually bake them and get a brown edge to the cheese part of the cake, not leave them totally ivory/white like a NY cheesecake)

Thanks! I'd like to make one for Christmas eve when I have folks coming over.
Dave in CT

Quote from: iratherfly on December 22, 2010, 08:28:21 AM
Oh nice!
I'm in a chatty mood so here's a long one for you;

A long one and a good one.

Quote from: iratherfly on December 22, 2010, 08:28:21 AM
Glad to hear the dinner went so well. Everything sounds so delicious! Fromage Blanc is incredibly versatile. I grew up in Israel and everyone have buckets of that in their refrigirator.

What is it called in Hebrew? I thought you were talking about Labne but then you mentioned later that it wasn't.

Quote from: iratherfly on December 22, 2010, 08:28:21 AM
We even mix it in Israeli Salad to make a "white" version (so essentially it becomes the base for the dressing) in Passover, we spread it lovingly on buttered Matzoh.

I actually stopped eating Soured milk products for Pesah (Passover) because now that I make cheese I know it is Hametz. Not to worry though my Grandma had so many Passover recipes that I can never try as many as I want in the mere 7 days that the holiday lasts.

Quote from: iratherfly on December 22, 2010, 08:28:21 AM
But mostly - I LOVE the cheesecakes that are based on it. Unlike the heavy Philadelphia cream cheese based cheesecake, Fromage Blanc cheesecakes are light, fluffy and the cheese is only 0% to 9% fat as opposed to 33% fat minimum in cream cheese.

Could not agree more. I love and make my cheese cake with everything but Cream Cheese. I've used Ricotta, Tvorog, Farmer's Cheese, but not Fromage Blanc yet. Have never made Fromage Blanc. I think I know what I'm going to do with my next batch of milk.

Quote from: iratherfly on December 22, 2010, 08:28:21 AMFor cold foams I have been using Soy Lecithin. Been playing with Sodium Alginate and other crazy compounds to do spheres, mock caviar and reversed engineered olives... very cool but I don't overdo it. I like real food. Molecular gastronomy is fascinating and exciting to make and eat but let's face it - it's usually highly processed.  By the way, I have been using the Calcum Chloride from the cheese to make some incredible pickles. It keeps it as crunchy as fresh forever. Amazing.

Hmmm we need a peek into your book collection on these techniques. Or are you going off the net info?

Technique is on the first floor of the Athenauem building. 215 First st, Cambridge, MA. The rest of the school is on the 3rd and 4th floors of the same building. The restaurant is only open for lunch and dinner M-F. But it is always an option for an inexpensive quality meal! The only thing I have had there I wouldn't get again is the duck confit pizza. They change the toppings seasonally and went with a cheddar this fall that just had no flavor. It was edible, but didn't sing to me.

I keep fromage blanc in a bucket in the fridge and use it just like you speak of. I find it incredibly versatile and so yummy. I had been using the DS culture from New England Cheesemaking Supply, but this last time made http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/homemade-fromage-blanc-recipe/index.html this recipe. I liked it better than the DS culture. The instructions are similar to whole milk ricotta, but the end result is different. I made both so I could compare them..

I'd love your cheesecake recipes if you can find them!

Emeril's recipe seems more like the Slavic versions of fromage blanc, which is tvorog. Except tvorog usually has less fat.

QuoteWhat is it called in Hebrew? I thought you were talking about Labne but then you mentioned later that it wasn't.

Labaneh is nothing more than a yogurt that has been strained and soured a bit further.  Fromage Blank in Hebrew is called Gvina Levana (which is a literal translation of Fromage Blanc from French to Hebrew - or in English "white cheese")
Here is what the 2 leading brands look like:

QuoteI actually stopped eating Soured milk products for Pesah (Passover) because now that I make cheese I know it is Hametz.

Actually no, cheese isn't Hametz! Hametz ("soured") doesn't refer to fermented or acidified products and on Passover you would see that pickles, cheese, vinegar etc. are all Passover-kosher. The soured concept comes from the biblical reference of the Israelites having to escape Egypt and in need of bread for the long journey but not having enough time to let the dough sour, -which makes it rise (AKA sourdough). That was before the days of store bought Active Dry Yeast; bread was made by fermenting dough over time). This is why in passover you eat Matzoh - an unlevened bread. Cheese is sold in all Kosher supermarket in Israel during passover. Fromage Blanc on Matzoh is the first thing I eat after getting a package of matzoh home every year.

QuoteHmmm we need a peek into your book collection on these techniques. Or are you going off the net info?

Books, internet, chefs and culinary professional friends. Mostly though; good old common sense and lots of practical real life experiments. You can send me a personal message any time to discuss!