Tasting the Brie.....mmm-good!

They liked it!

Today, I took Brie number two (the first one that seems to have the right height-to-diameter ratio) into work and sent out an e-mail invitation to my co-workers to come around for a sampling.  It was well received by everyone!

I cut out a good sized wedge and then split it down the middle - laying it open, with rind-side down.  Then, covered with a few walnut pieces and drizzled an apple-cider-molasses over top.  Popped it into the toaster oven for it to lightly melt, and voila!

So, I'm very happy with this success, especially since the whole process took only 4 weeks.

Here's something very strange; the original wine-cooler/cheese cave has risen from the dead to once again maintain desired temperatures!  We'll see how long it lasts.  I may get more milk tomorrow and build another brie. 

Cheesey-boy 

Bigger Troubles with the Cheese Cave

I had high hopes that the Visanni wine cooler would make a great cheese cave.  Even after reading reviews from the Home Depot website that were about 50/50.  After it was plugged in and running, though, the warmest temperature I could get was 53-degrees.  I would have liked to see 58.  The machines had six colder settings than #1 that I was using! Well it did maintain that 53 pretty consistantly (made it hard to get a relative humidity anywhere near the 80% I wanted) ... only for about 10 days!

Then it started keeping 42 degrees! No Way!  If I wanted it that cold I could just but the cheese in my refrigerator.

So I boxed it all back up and took it back to Home Depot for a refund.

The latest brie is in confinement down cellar and is showing a good growth of white mold.  The older bries are now wrapped in a special cheese paper and are stored in my refrigerator. (as per recipe directions)

After I cut one of the first ones open later this week, I'll post my impressions.

Don't know what the next cheese cave attempt is going to be, so until I get that figured out, I'll have to hold off on making any more.

Later cheese-whiz,
Cheesey-boy

Cave trouble!

Saturday morning while I was minding my own bees-wax, I began to hear a constant beeping noise.  It turned out to be the used, Emerson wine cooler that has been my cheese cave.  It was in death-throws. It has died. Of course, the three brie cheeses would not be too happy with this.   So...

I now have a new Visanni wine cooler/cheese cave. It is much larger, came with 5 wooden racks, and is a real refrigeration unit with a compressor, unlike the Emerson which regulated temperature with some bi-metal device and a bunch of circuit board magic.
Anyway, my three brie now have a new home.

Visanni 28 bottle wine cooler

The twin brie are looking good, seem to have a nice even coat developing.  Brie #2 is just beginning to show white growth.

the "twins" at day-12

later, 
Cheesey-boy

New Brie

Here's an update from the land of brie:
White mold developing rather nicely.

Having so much fun (and room in the cheese cave / wine cooler for more) I made another brie on the 26th. This time using 2 gallons of milk and getting all the curds into one of the molds (7.5" dia. by 3.5" tall).  I think this may be a better dimension for the aging process.

 Stay tuned, cheese-heads.
Cheesey-boy

'Nother Try at White-fuzzy Cheese
That cambozola got tossed into the trash (with buzzards circling) so I've been leery of venturing into that sytle again.
I did have a couple tasty cheese that were in the style of Swiss / Emmental with small eyes throughout, and since I've still got the cultures to make white,fuzzy cheese, and a new milk source (Stoltzfus Farms, in Vernon NY) I have bravely stepped back into the cheese factory.

We shall see.....
later
Cheesey-Boy

UPDATE on Cambozola

Not sure if this expirement is on track or off the tracks!  The cheese did begin growing a rather furry white coat of Penicillum candidum, however, that covering has now died back, leaving a slippery slope.  The cheese rind seems intact, but there should be a healthy white layer of mold by now.  Wishing to give this one the benefit of the doubt, I went ahead with the puncturing step that is supposed to supply air into the 'paste' (as it is called) where the blue mold is waiting.
Trouble is: this cheese stinks! Stinks so much that I moved it out of the house and into a shed out back.  If things don't improve very soon the next entry may well be the obituary for this baby.

That's all for now.
Stay tuned curd-nerd.
-Cheesey-boy

Cambozola

I made another advance into un-tested territory over the weekend with the creation of a Cambozola - or sometimes called Blue-Brie.  This recipe/style combines both aspects of soft-ripend, white-mold Camembert and Roquefort/blue mold.  The end result is a soft, blue cheese that is usually not as strong-flavored as many of the Blue Cheese family.  While shopping at my Regional farmer's Market this Saturday, I came upon the Ithaca Milk Co. and Fingerlakes Cheese booth.  So I bought a gallon of whole, un-homogenized milk plus a pint of heavy cream and hurried home to try using the newly purchased cultures necessary for these white and blue molds.  
This cheese came out very soft and squishy; mostly because the curds are not really heated and stirred much at all. After it drained overnight it looked like this.  I'll give it about a week and then attach a new picture. Hopefully by then there will be a solid, fuzzy growth of white Penicillium candidum.

Stay Tuned, curd-nerds!
- Cheesey-boy

Let's Hear It for Hops!

As I mentioned earlier, I have tried an experiment with adding hops to the curds when the cheese is being made. The recipe that I used was the basic hard-cheese recipe that has worked well for me in the past.  The bacteria culture would be called a mesophilic, Farmhouse blend; though it contains both some mesophilic and thermophilic strains.  Its been about two months since then, so I figured it was time for a sample.

My Version

  I'm pretty happy with the results.  The texture of the cheese is pliable, sort of elastic; much like a slice of Swiss cheese would be.  The hops add a bit of aroma that is a combo of pine and broccoli - odd, yes, I know.  There is a slight bitterness that has come from the hops, but not enough to make this not taste like cheese.  It melted well between two slices of bread, too.  (The red tinge showing in the picture was caused by the red wax that I had coated the cheese with.  Not something funky)

Harpersfield Tilsit

A few days after I opened this one up, I planned a day off to visit a local farm that is licensed to sell raw cow's milk.  I've made one cheese using their milk so far (and after pulling a small core from it to taste, I'm happy with the way this one is aging) and I wanted to try another.  They are Grayrock Farm, located near Cazenovia, NY.  But when I arrived I found the self-serve refrigerator empty!  Many of their cows are dried-off right now with the mama's expecting calves in spring; they sell milk-shares as part of their CSA operation which meant the demand exceeded the supply.  Anywho, on my return trip home I stopped at a local food co-op near Syracuse University to see what they have for milk. Their Ithaca Milk Co. milk was no cheaper than where I bought it before, so I just browsed the store.  At their cheese cooler I was surprised to see a Hop Cheese from a company located in southern New York called Harpersfield.  They have created a Tilsit-style cheese that has hops added to it.

Now, a Tilsit cheese is a cousin of Muenster Cheese which makes it a rather strong-smelling variety to start with.  Their Hop Cheese ends up being more bitter and less enjoyable than what I made.  I can guess that using a hop variety with the lowest alpha-acid level would keep the bitterness low while still providing the aromas that make hops so wonderful.  

So, I think I'm onto something here and I'll try another variation on the hops-theme soon.

later,
Cheesey-boy

What's in a Name?

For some time now I've been thinking how the previous name of this blog, "Bread, Beer & Cheese" was a little bit of a misnomer.  Truth is: I haven't bought a loaf of bread in months, let alone bake any bread. Just been cutting the bread out of my home-diet.  My toaster collects dust rather than bread crumbs.
So, this name "Fromage Garage" has become a better moniker for my recent concentration on all-things-cheese. (pretty clever Photoshop image, eh?)  Cheese making, tasting, and researching have occupied me for several months, once again.

 This last weekend I cut open the three-month old Asiago-style cheese I made in November. It made me very happy! The cheese is very firm; good with the slicer and the grater.  Its flavor is on-target, I think; a little salty, a little nutty, and delicious. I grated some on my salad and later cut some into my morning omelet.  I will try to repeat this one soon using what I hope will become my new go-to source of milk: Ithaca Milk Co. pasteurized, whole (or skimmed) non-homogenized Jersey Cow milk.

Also, I cut open the oldest Tomme cheese I made in early December.  While I followed a recipe from Peter Dixon for Tomme, this cheese had no surface molds on the rind; so maybe 'Tomme' is not entirely accurate.  It looks very similar to Havarti, with all the small openings.  Its texture is soft and pliable, again much like Havarti.  Its flavor is OK, but it borders on 'tart' rather than sweet and creamy. All-in-all it was enjoyed by all.

I finally sampled the Port au Salut cheese that I purchased many days ago at Danny Wegmans.  This particular cheese was made by a company named Atalanta, from somewhere in France.  Port au Salut is soft cheese for people who don't like soft cheese with strong aromas.  It spreads easily and has a cream flavor with very little aroma that most associate with Brie or Camembert.  In fact, Port au Salut does not have a bloomy rind.What you see is a thin plastic, breathable label that gives the reddish appearance.


That's all for now, but I did pick up a few more cheese samples that I will report on, soon.

'til then....Peace,
Cheesey-boy

Sheep and/or Goat Cheese sampling:

Here is a sample of a French cheese made from a blend of goat and sheep milk. I enjoyed the earthy flavors and the aroma was not too strong. 
From the website "WB Cheese" (world's best cheese) comes this description:
Onetik, one of the largest producers of Ossau-Iraty, makes this 2-3-month aged tomme. Whereas most Basque cheeses are made entirely of sheep's milk, sheep and goats' milk are used here to create a well-balanced cheese, with a friendly, nuanced flavor that will please the palates of novices and gourmands alike. Nutty, sweet and herbal, with a clean finish. It has a toothsome, semi-firm texture, and is covered with a rustic natural rind. 

The first cheese that I sampled after the trip to Wegman's Cheese Department was called Miti Cana Oveja.  It is a sheep's milk cheese from Spain with a semi-soft center and a bloomy, white rind.  It was not over-powering in either its aroma or flavor, just a tasty, slightly-salty center section surrounded by a layer just inside the rind that was creamier.  The cheese is made in the shape of a log, about 3 inches in diameter. (not my picture, but very true to the piece I bought)

Hope this inspires you to try something different from the cheese-monger near you.
Peace,
Cheesey-boy 

Mid-winter sampling

In an effort to not let this Blog sit too long between entries, I will tell you of some sampling I have done and will do.

I stopped by the cheese department of my local supermarket named Wegman's and picked up a variety of imported cheese to sample. Also grabbed a 6-pack of Brooklyn Brown Ale and Ruthless Rye from Sierra Nevada for good measure.  Maybe a Rhine wine would be good for this project too. (more later about my own "Braggot" experiments).  I will try the Port Salut this weekend,......













but I did open a small 'puck' of Saint Vernier. Saint Vernier a soft washed-rind cheese that is made in the Haute Jura region of France. The rind is washed with a local wine 'Affine au vin de Savagnin (Jura)' that gives the cheese its stickiness and the rind also shows the red bacteria "b.linens" that makes a strong aroma that might scare you at first.  But, have faith and give this cheese a few minutes to air-out. The flavor of the cheese is extremely rich and soft; it has a delicate sherry-like flavor and when you cut the cheese it is so creamy and soft it runs for your crackers. Quite delicious!

More to follow, gotta go shovel snow from Winter Storm "Nemo" - great! now the Weather Channel can hype winter storms, too.

Peace
Cheesey-boy

Braggot outcome & Cheese Experiments

It is almost 60 days since my first cheese after my hiatus, so a sampling will happen soon.  I have battled the blue-molds and the cheese has a nice hard rind. Think I'll look for a "trier" (a tool that allows you to sample a small core from your cheese) so that I have a better handle on the aging process.  Since the first, hard cheese, I've now got two, softer Tomme cheeses aging in the pantry. 

But the wild experiment I just tried I'll call a "Hop Cheese".  Its a hard cheese that has a small amount of hops mixed in with the curd. The idea came to me last fall, as I sat and talked with a dear friend at the Madison County Hop Festival. Other herbs are routinely added to cheese, so why not hops? Stay tuned and we shall see.

The "Fumee` Braggot Noir" is now in the sampling/evaluation stages.  My initial reaction is that the recipe needs tweaking because you would not know there was 3 lbs. of Buckwheat Honey in the mix - and that's the whole point of a Braggot Ale - it's half honey.  What I have (and this is not a bad thing) is a smoked porter. The chocolate malt and the smoked malt overpower any flavors the buckwheat honey may have contributed.  It is a very good tasting smoked porter, but a little disappointing just the same.  I have a second attempt at a Braggot sitting in the secondary fermenter now that also uses the Buckwheat honey but the base-ale is really a wheat beer.  Maybe this will work better.

Until then... Peace
Cheesey-boy

Still Here

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, or move south of the border.
"Other things" have been at the forefront, but I've recovered the Blog password and will proceed.

After a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat I once again got the urge to make some cheese.  I had to do some hunting to find the cheese press, and the culture I used was way old, but I think i have a decent cheese made in the style of Asiago cheese.  Time will tell, of course.

Meanwhile, an update on the Brewery:
I have tried a new (to me) style called Braggot (rhymes with maggot).
If you combine barley malt and honey in near-equal proportions and ferment it, you have a Braggot-ale.
I have named mine "Fumee` Braggot Noir" as it is a dark, smokey malt mix with Buckwheat honey as well. I mashed Smoked Malt, Chocolate Malt, Dark-Crystal Malt and added Amber DME.  It has been hopped quite well with Northern-Brewer and Nelson Sauvin (from New Zealand); the hops should balance the residual sweetness of the buckwheat honey.  It is currently sitting in the secondary fermenter and may get bottled up this next weekend.

That's All For Now - just needed to check in.
Peace.
"Cheesey-boy"

Muenster on the loose!

Several weeks back I made what I'll call a Muenster-style cheese (I was actually following a Brick Cheese recipe but they are very similar) complete with Red bacterium on the surface. It's been aging well, but i coated it with wax and noticed the wax starting to puff out a little. I cut off the wax and found the surface to be still very wet but looking normal. So I dried it out for a few hours and re-waxed it. I'll give it a few more weeks before I cut it open.

Made another Tomme-style, hard cheese Saturday; with cow milk instead of goat this time. The style gives me pretty good cheese each time, plus I still have the culture to use up.

Homemade yogurt has been very successful. I add a little vanilla extract when I set it in the Coleman cooler to incubate. It was delicious on top of my Duncan Hines Spice cake!

On the beer topic: if you can find Sam Adams Winter Lager in a store near you, try it. The label lists several ingredients that would normally be associated with Belgian-style beers (orange peel, spices) but the resulting beer is very pleasant to those who do not particularly like the bold Belgian beers. It is seasonal, so it won't be in the stores much longer. My own beers are aging well, but the Lager is by far the best.

peace;
Cheesey-boy

New Year, New Outlook

Six-months later...
Divorce is over, house is once more solely mine, sanity is intact and the desire to forge ahead with Bread, Beer & Cheese is re-newed! whew!!

The beer cellar currently holds three batches of homebrew that are aging. I've made a Dunkel-weiss (dark wheat), English Pale Ale, and a German Lager. Each one seems to be on-target for the particular style, and I'm thinking they will only improve with a few more weeks of aging. I have been working towards all-grain brewing but have to improve the equipment if I really want to mash many pounds of grain. The Lager was done without the benefit of malt extracts and the yield was not as many gallons as it should have been; due to troubles with my setup.

In the Cheese Department I have been happy with the results of an October batch which was made using goat milk and Flora Danica culture to approximate a Havarti-style cheese. I also received a little X-mas gift from Vermont; a chunck of cheese that I helped make at the Cheesemaking Class at Bardwell Farm, back in April. A very solid cheese, almost a grating cheese, but still slice-able, and delicious.

I've also been making yogurt at home, both with purchased cultures and lately with store-bought yogurt. I'm looking into methods for improving the incubation equipment and methods to make the process better.

Breadmaking hasn't happened simply because of the limitations with my 1940's vintage, Chambers gas stove. My oven thermostat is not functional, so anything I do bake has to be watched and regulated by propping the oven door open just enough to keep the temperature in a plus or minus 5 degree range.

Anyways, I'm still here and I'm looking for 2011 to be the first year of the next great chapter of my life.

Peace,
Cheesey-boy

Transfiguration in process

transfiguration - n. To change radically the appearance or shape of

I've been holding back on posting any topics lately because the Cheesey-boy is divorcing.
Cheese making has been temporarily suspended due to the uncertainties of the home situation. I also really need to devise a better aging and storage setup before I get any more cheeses stashed down cellar. The cellar is really too dry for a proper cheese cave.

But I will share my impressions of something from the Beer department of B,B & C.

I bought a summer 12-pack of Magic Hat beers that I highly recommend. They make a pale ale simply called #9 that I think is just about the perfect example of what a Pale Ale should taste and smell like. In there is also "Odd Notion" a Belgian-style ale that I liked very much too. The other two beers in the variety pack were an IPA and something else not so notable. If you see Magic Hat beers in the store, buy some; I think you'll enjoy.

Peace,
Cheesey-boy

Good Cheese, New Brew, possible job

Have good news to report upon opening a waxed,Kefir-Havarti cheese. It was good, though perhaps maybe not quite up to typical Havarti texture. Have also been enjoying the Brick/Munster cheese. Cheese production is on hold until all issues on the homefront are resolved.

Read about, but haven't tasted a local brew by the Empire Brewing Co. in downtown Syracuse. It's a pale ale made with Madison County, organic, cascade hops. I know both the brewer (from my days with the local home-brew club) and the grower (who is an original member of North East Hop Alliance) and I may have actually planted those hops with him, years ago. Good to see local businesses supporting each other. It's not in bottles, so you must visit EBC for a sample.

This week I met with the cheese maker at Northland Sheep Dairy, in Cortland County. While there isn't really an opportunity for me in the cheese house, there is a need for some weekly work in the cheese cave. They age the cheese at least 3 months (more for some) and the Affinage work has been at the bottom of the to-do list. I have to work out the details yet, but likely scenario would entail a 3 hour stint, once a week to give some TLC to the aging cheese. In the realm of artisan, farmstead cheese making, the cheese cave and aging techniques are quite often an after-thought, I've been told. Perhaps this aspect of cheese making will open some doors in my future.

Peace,
Cheesey-boy

Commercial Kitchen - almost

When I was in Vermont, at the Cheese Maker's class, I met a person who works at a nearby College where they have a small-scale industrial, creamery. The College has a long history of agriculture curricula and the creamery was once attached to a large tie-stall barn. I was invited to visit and be a helper, so I jumped at that!

The room has several bulk-tanks for milk storage, a pasteurizing tank, several cheese vats, a press, and much more. It was a real eye-opener for me to get my hands wet and see small-scale cheese making equipment. The creamery makes fresh-cheeses and ice cream that is used in the College dining halls and also sold retail through a restaurant/store owned in part by the College. The pasteurizer is inspected and licensed so that any of the products (except fluid milk) can be sold to the public. The biggest limitation on its potential as a cheese making plant is the lack of sufficient aging facilities. Right now, the walk-in cooler where the hard cheese can be stored is also where cases of beverages and other 'stuff' are stored, so it is not a controlled climate at all.

Although we still have not made a batch of cheese where temperature was set, culture was added, rennet added, curds cut, etc. etc.; we did make a couple small batches of fresh cheese and ricotta. I did get to help pasteurize a batch of milk and learn how many things work around there. I hope to stay involved there through the summer, at least.

In my own cheese cellar, I had some discouraging news as I cut into a few of the cheeses I have been aging, only to see the results of over-use of both cultures and rennet! Pretty much terrible cheese. But, I'm learning slowly how various parts of the puzzle fit together as I strive to make artisan cheese. My Brick Cheese (like a Limburger - but milder) showed the best results, but other cheeses were very acidic and nasty. I won't give up.

peace,
Cheesey-boy

Cheesemaking 101

My two-day class for Beginner Cheesemakers was illuminating, at times overwhelming, entertaining and overall a very worthwhile endeavor for me. The scenery in both Vermont and Eastern New York was beautiful as well; making the three hours of driving each way easier to take. I was driving through portions of the Green Mountains of Vermont and Washington County , New York where rural living still has a strong foot-hold and I felt a certain serenity as I drove along trout streams and between low, rambling mountains. In a word: Beautiful!

The spring runoff had made the Batten Kill un-fishable for me on Monday, but by Wednesday afternoon the waters had lowered enough for me to make an honest attempt at catching some fish. I was only able to catch one brown trout in one of the smaller, feeder-steams, but sometimes just going through the motions of fishing a stream is good enough for me. I fished near the historic, Rexleigh covered bridge which I'm sure you can find images of on the Web.

At cheese class, our group of 10 made a 15-gallon batch of Tomme from fresh, Jersey-cow milk. Tomme cheeses are semi-soft with a rind that is usually washed with brine for several weeks before letting the cave molds grow until it's deemed ready to sell; usually at 3 months of age. We got to watch the Bardwell Farm cheese makers working each day; everything from cutting and cooking the curds, hooping the cheese, setting the press to the work done in the cold-storage (cheese cave) where all the ripening wheels of cheese are turned, washed, brushed and sampled.

We talked at length about milk composition and quality where I heard that most artisan cheese makers prefer their animals to be grass-fed or dry hay fed, but no silage. We discussed the various starter cultures that cheese makers have to work with now-days. One of the things I learned about my stove-top creamery is that I have been using too much of both the cultures and the rennet, resulting in tart, acidic, pasty cheese. I will also need to begin using a pH-meter to track the acidity of the curds and whey during the 'make' since the levels of acidity effect the cheese moisture content, texture and set the stage for the 2 to 4 month ripening process that is so important for producing fine-quality, aged cheese. My 'cheese cave' is something I will need to work on also; cool, moist conditions with good air circulation are the prerequisites. Modifying an old refrigerator will probably work, but I can no longer just wing-it in my cellar.

I got to sample almost all the different cheeses made at the Bardwell Farm and wash 'em down with a great Vermont beer from the Magic Hat brewery.

While the Web is a great resource to begin my education into artisan cheese making, there is no better way to learn a craft than through a hands-on workshop like the one I attended. If you are curious about it, search for "Peter Dixon, cheese maker" and you'll see what I mean.

Peace,
Cheesey-boy

Off to Cheese-school

Next week I will travel to Vermont for a two-day cheese maker's class, and I am psyched!
The class will be held at a farm right on the Vermont/New York border, about due east from Lake George. Here's the farm's website: [www.considerbardwellfarm.com]
I am also looking forward to sampling some of their prize-winning cheeses.

I've learned a lot about cheese making from books and internet places, but I know I will learn much from Peter Dixon and also get to use real cheese making equipment! Where I use one, maybe two gallons of milk in a double-boiler on the stovetop; at the farm they are able to make much bigger batches . Although this class is not specifically about the aging processes for different cheese, I bet I'll learn a thing or two about how to properly age my cheese, as well. Right now, I am still a bit nervous when I see mold on the rind of my Romano or Brick cheeses.

Tonight I made a Feta cheese from some fresh goat milk that I was able to source nearby, and with the whey I made a Norwegian cheese called Gjetost. (look it up in Wikapedia)
Tomorrow I'll get a chance to sample the Gjetost as a spreadable cheese. It didn't get as dark, and I didn't try to press it into a block like the commercial varieties.

When I was about 7 years old, my family hosted a student from Norway and he had this brown-cheese shipped over for us to try. It is quite different from every cheese we know of here in America; sweet and grainy, if I remember right.

A totally unrelated thing about this trip to cheese-school is that I will be taking some time to do a little trout fishing in one of VT/NY's great trout streams: the Batten Kill.

Peace,
Cheesey-boy