Cheshire cheese and the failed ricotta

Cheshire cheese

And by Cheshire I mean the one in England. Not the USA (just to be clear). Some interesting bits and pieces and some things to look into such as the inn called The Cheshire Cheese.

Yesterday I tried a new recipe from a new recipe book. A couple of things didn't quite go right but seems okayish at the moment. As always time will tell.

Ingredients:
6L unhomogenised milk
1 pkt mesophilic starter
3ml calcium chloride
1/2 tablet rennet
20mg of salt
30ml spring water

Heat the milk slowly to 30oC
Add the starter and stand for 5 minutes
Stir for 1 minute then cover and allow to ripen for 40 minutes (maintain 30oC)
Add the calcium chloride and stir for 1 minute
Add the rennet and stir for 1 minute
Cover and allow to stand for 40 minutes or until a clean break (maintain 30oC)
Stir with a whisk to break the curd into rice sized pieces
Stand for 5 minutes
Draw off 1/3 of the whey (reserve for ricotta if desired)
Over 1 hour heat the whey to 31oC, very very slowly.
Cover and allow to stand for 40 minutes (maintain 31oC)
Drain all whey (reserve if desired) and allow curd to sit in the pot
Over the next 30 minutes hand press the curd to remove more whey
Drain all whey
Cut the curd mass into 4 or 5 equal sized chucks and leave in the pot
Cover the pot for 2 hours and maintain 31oC (you can gently reheat on the cooktop, being careful not to scorch the bottom of the curd)
Remove curd from the pot and cut into 2cm cubes
Put the curd cubes into a bowl and salt and stir to ensure even coverage
Transfer curd to a cheese cloth lined press
Press at 10kg for 30 minutes
remove, undress, check if the rind of the cheese has closed
IF the has not closed, flip and redress and press at 17kg for 2-3 hours
IF the rind still has not closed, dip the cheese into scalding hot water briefly
Dry at room temperature for 2-3 days turning daily
Wax and age at 16oC for 2-12 months
Turn daily for the first month then weekly after.

Now this is a pretty straightforward recipe, so long as you read it correctly... I cut my curd into 2inch cubes and didn't realise until the next day that I had done that. So it was too late to correct.

I also had an issue with the rennet I used. It hadn't set at all when I checked on it at the 30 minute mark so I added some different rennet (and threw the other tablets out, this was the second time I had had trouble with them) and let it sit for another 30 minutes.

I'll wax it in a few days and see how we travel. If nothing else I have learned a new recipe and a good, strong lesson in reading it correctly!

And now the montage...

 Whisked curd. Nice, rice sized pieces.

 This is after the first draining whilst I did the hand pressing.

 First cut and then after the 2 hours draining. Notice how my whey has come out.

 Cut into cubes (far, far too big cubes!)

 Salting and stirring the cubes prior to pressing.

Into the press and after the first pressing. 

 Out of the press after the first pressing. Definitely needed the additional time. Most definitely due to the size of the cubes.

 And this is it after the second pressing and after scalding it. Couple of spots that are going to be problematic but hopefully it will dry quickly enough so that i can wax it as soon as possible. I'll try and get the wax into all the nooks and crannies to help keep out any air bubbles.

Will post more pics of the progress when I get to waxing point. *cross fingers*

Failed Ricotta

I reserved all the whey from the Cheshire and attempted to make some ricotta (following my recipe in an earlier post). And it was a total and absolute fail.

I ended up doubleing the amount of apple cider vinegar attempting to get any curd from it and nope. Nadah. Nothing. Just would not turn.

So I am thinking it has something to do with the way that this whey/cheese is processed. I need to do some more investigation still and will report back when i know more. :)