Say cheese

This past week I took a day off to learn how to make cheese. No, I'm not thinking of switching careers, but I did think the class would be interesting. And I was right.

 

The course was at Glengarry Fine Cheese, about an hour and a half southeast of Ottawa, just past a little town called Alexandria. (Lots of hilariously-named shops in Alexandria, including The Book Nook and Bite Me, a sandwich shop located next to the funeral home, which is, presumably, where one goes after you Bite It.) But I digress...

 

The drive was quite nice through farm country. I passed lots of corn fields.

 

This is what the workroom looked like. This is the cheddar station, obviously. Not pictured were the gouda and mozzarella station, and the camembert and feta station.

 

First task was to warm the milk (cow, whole and homogenized from a local dairy) to the appropriate temperature. Different cheeses require different temperatures, but most ranged between about 29-32C. The milk was inside a water bath to help keep the temperature regulated.

 

 

 

Then we added the starter, which got the whole process going, leaving us with curds that looked a bit like cottage cheese.

 

 

These curds got poured into moulds to become camembert.

 

 

Look at all that whey draining out.

 

 

And here are the mozzarella moulds draining.

 

  

Let's check on the cheddar. The milk solidified and turned jelly-like until we could cut it into cubes with a knife.

 

 

Next we continued to break down the curds with a whisk. I was in charge of this pot, which I turned into curds deemed unsatisfactory compared to the other pot. Curd making fail!

 

 

Here's the cheddar as actual curds. We pushed them through a Starfrit french fry cutter to get the shape. Once the salt is added, the curds twist up into that familiar shape. Squeaky goodness!

 

 

Break time. Lots of cheese varieties to sample.

 

 

Back to work. These are the mozzarella curds, waiting to be cut into smaller pieces, then dunked into hot water to be stretched. 

 

Stretch that cheese! The water was so so hot. This is also how cheese strings are made.

 

Pressing the gouda into a mould. I learned it's pronounced gow-da, not goo-da, so now you know too.

 

Getting rid of the whey. This whey goes to pigs on two nearby pig farms.

 

Last lesson of the day: waxing blocks of gouda to protect and prevent mould growth.

 

 

All in all, a fun and informative day. We divvied up all the cheese we make among the 12 students. I brought home a bag of curd, some feta cheese (currently brining in my fridge) and some camembert, which is now "ageing" in my basement. I need to babysit it for the next six weeks, checking for mould and then turning it every two days. So basically it'll be like having a kid, right? You all should take bets now on whether I'll forget about it altogether, only to discover a mouldy, smelly mess sometime next spring.

Happy cheese eating!

 

Ricotta cheese

What's the traditional way to celebrate Canada Day weekend, and the arrival of Will and Kate in Ottawa? Make homemade ricotta, of course!

Er, maybe not, but perhaps I invented a new tradition that will sweep the nation by this time next year. Yep, while the crowds were on the Hill, sweating and crammed in like sardines to see the royals, I boiled up some milk and got down to cheese making. Hard to say who had a more glamorous time -- me or Kate -- but I did don a fascinator for the occasion.

Anyway, the recipe's from the new Jamie Oliver magazine, and I thought it looked both interesting and relatively easy, so opted to give it a try. Funnily enough, it starts out by stating that ricotta's a good way to use up leftover milk. But who has two litres of milk just left over? And left over from what is a better question.

Start by bringing the milk to a boil in a large pot. Two litres is a lot of milk, let me tell you, and you'll be shocked at how little cheese it makes.

Once you add in the vinegar and let the mixture sit for a while, you spoon out the curds into a strainer. I didn't have any cheesecloth to line mine, so I used a (clean) linen tea towel.

This is what the cheese looks like after 15 minutes of resting in the strainer.

And this is what it looks like after it's all bundled up and the remaining whey is squeezed out. There's a lot of whey! (And a lot of blue veins on my wrist. I ought to have that checked out.)

And here's the finished product. The recipe says it produced 300g of cheese, and while I didn't weigh it, I'd estimate it at just over a cup or so. Honestly, I found the texture of this a little disappointing. I was hoping for something creamy and salty, but it was pretty dry and a little bland. I'd chalk this recipe up to more of a fun science experiment than a roaring success.

It tasted better on toast though, with some roasted asparagus and drizzled with some olive oil. Makes a great lunch!

Cheat's Ricotta
From Jamie Magazine, June 2011 edition

2 litres full-fat milk, cow or goat
1 tsp sea salt flakes
100 ml rice vinegar or white vinegar
A large piece of muslin or cheesecloth

1. Pour the milk into a large, deep saucepan and place over medium heat. Add the salt and stir to dissolve.

2. As the milk comes to a boil, you'll see small bubbles forming. Remove spoon and add in vinegar all at once. You'll see small lumps form and rise to the surface as the milk curdles.

3. Once the mixture starts to boil, turn off the heat. Cover pan and leave for 15 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, line a sieve or colander with the cheescloth and place over a large bowl.

5. Remove lid from pan and gently lift the separated curds into the sieve. Or, slowly pour mixture from pan into sieve. Allow curds to sit in strainer for 15 minutes.

5. Wrap the fabric around the cheese and squeeze gently to remove more liquid, until you reach desired consistency. Unwrap the ricotta to serve, or cool commpletely then store in fridge for two days.