Whilst a lot of my focus lately has been very cheese orientated by brain has not strayed too far from my bead work as well.
Bead Projects -
The banner has come out of hiatus and is currently on the table waiting for ordered beads. I am frustratingly trying to figure out a slightly new version of the border I want around it, but am being picky. Festival market day saw a proliferation of beads and a subsequent reduction in my account balance. Some are immediately earmarked for the banner, others for the shiny at the moment. I have also made some decisions on trim and bits and pieces for the central lozenge. Next step is to action them! Part of that is going to be constructing a frame to help work the lozenge, but soon my pretty!
The Laurel Prize prompted me to pull out some of my part done bead projects and have a look at them again. So for the first time in probably over a year I did two more rows on my peyote stitch solid construction piece which will be trim for a cloaklet. Then of course I broke the thread about an inch from the bottom whilst moving it around and was grateful it is only a tester piece! But it did prompt me a to start thinking about it again and planning the final/actual piece as well.
More than anything Laurel Prize (as my first time ever entering) started me thinking about my bead related ufo's and what I needed to do to finish some. It also reminded me of the breadth of styles I am playing with, Russian bead embroidery, German peyote solid construction, India tambour working, couching and just bead by bead laying down. Made me feel good that I have a strong basic to intermediate on all these styles, now I just need to apply myself and get into the more advanced!
Laurel Prize Tournament, Rowany Festival 2014 -
As I mentioned before this was my first ever entry so I didn't really know what to expect (Mistress says, Apprentice does!). My table was split into two parts, cheese and beads. I took some haloumi (freshly fried), semi-soft goats and fresh butter for tasting as well as way too much of the associated equipment! I also took my beaded banner, my peyote work and my examples of the Russian bead embroidery. I got talked to a lot on both topics and I wouldn't say any one over the other. Earned a little bowl of trinkets and shinys including a strand of pretty pretty pearls and actual period Venetian chevron trade bead (which is awesome!). Had a particularly good chat about cheese making equipment and need to now pass on some details/sizes to get some things commissioned :)
Nice. Positive. And I will know better what to take/expect next year!
Friday, 2 May 2014
Flavour testing update, Manchego plans and I invented a new cheese!
Well I didn't really invent it. But I made it up on the spot with only a faint memory of what the recipe was supposed to actually be, and it turned out really yummy!
However firstly, the taste testing for the sheep milk substitute was a success. So now I am moving towards trialing some sheep flavour cheese. First on my list is a manchego. A good Spanish hard cheese which I have come to love over the past few months. So light, so sweet. In a few weeks I hope can write up a little more on that front. I think I have a recipe I am happy to work with so just need the time and the milk :)
Lemon Cheese - Alex style
Rowany Festival has just past and it had been my intent to make some cheese over the fire at our campsite whilst there (quark, semi-soft goats and a manchego). Master Owen had delightfully created my wanted cooking box, in collaboration with myself, however we'd no chance to test it before the event. So our test firing enlightened us to a slight flaw which caused the underside of the box to ignite! So I was unable to do any cheesing at the campsite (ignoring that I had also forgotten one small package that was in the freezer containing starters, rennet, lipase too...). Plans are now in the works to correct the problem with the firebox, should be a relatively simple fix (another layer of fire-brick to the bottom!).
However my lovely Mistress Monique of all things Greasispoone-y, allowed me to invade the kitchen and cook up some random cheese with the milk I had taken with me and some lemons from the fridge. And so my lemon cheese is born. Very simple recipe which I have just replicated today, and added calcium chloride for a better yield.
6Lt unhomoginised milk
approx 5-6 medium lemons, juiced
3ml calcium chloride
Heat milk in a large pan to 32oC
Add calcium chloride
Stir for 1 minute
Add lemon juice
Stir for 1 minute
Cover and sit at 32oC until a clean separation of curd and whey is evident (about 30-40mins, whey/liquid should be greeny-yellow)
Spoon into a muslin lined strainer
Drain for 12hrs in the fridge (with or without a small weight to speed the process)
Use immediately, should keep for 4-5 days minimum
Now the cheese that I got from my first attempt was fairly plain but with a light, sweet after tang of lemon. The cheese was smooth but the lemon after left your mouth feeling fantastic.
So later on the day after making it, that lemon cheese became lemon cheesecake. And was subsequently demolished by all. Zomg was it yummy! So todays replication of my lemon cheese is also intended to become cheesecake, hopefully even half as yummy! A totally modern baked cheesecake recipe supplied by Mistress Monique, but I see a good future for this as a cheese tart for event cooking.
***UPDATE***
Just on the yield of the cheese with the addition of the calcium chloride.
The first batch I made was using 5Lt of milk and 5 smallish lemons. The yield was about 350 grams of cheese.
The second batch made using 6Lt of milk, 6 medium-ish lemons and 3ml of calcium chloride. Yield was 1.7Kg.
You can see from this very simple cheese that the process of pasteurization strips out a heck of a lot of the available calcium and decreases the yield significantly!!
However firstly, the taste testing for the sheep milk substitute was a success. So now I am moving towards trialing some sheep flavour cheese. First on my list is a manchego. A good Spanish hard cheese which I have come to love over the past few months. So light, so sweet. In a few weeks I hope can write up a little more on that front. I think I have a recipe I am happy to work with so just need the time and the milk :)
Lemon Cheese - Alex style
Rowany Festival has just past and it had been my intent to make some cheese over the fire at our campsite whilst there (quark, semi-soft goats and a manchego). Master Owen had delightfully created my wanted cooking box, in collaboration with myself, however we'd no chance to test it before the event. So our test firing enlightened us to a slight flaw which caused the underside of the box to ignite! So I was unable to do any cheesing at the campsite (ignoring that I had also forgotten one small package that was in the freezer containing starters, rennet, lipase too...). Plans are now in the works to correct the problem with the firebox, should be a relatively simple fix (another layer of fire-brick to the bottom!).
However my lovely Mistress Monique of all things Greasispoone-y, allowed me to invade the kitchen and cook up some random cheese with the milk I had taken with me and some lemons from the fridge. And so my lemon cheese is born. Very simple recipe which I have just replicated today, and added calcium chloride for a better yield.
6Lt unhomoginised milk
approx 5-6 medium lemons, juiced
3ml calcium chloride
Heat milk in a large pan to 32oC
Add calcium chloride
Stir for 1 minute
Add lemon juice
Stir for 1 minute
Cover and sit at 32oC until a clean separation of curd and whey is evident (about 30-40mins, whey/liquid should be greeny-yellow)
Spoon into a muslin lined strainer
Drain for 12hrs in the fridge (with or without a small weight to speed the process)
Use immediately, should keep for 4-5 days minimum
Now the cheese that I got from my first attempt was fairly plain but with a light, sweet after tang of lemon. The cheese was smooth but the lemon after left your mouth feeling fantastic.
So later on the day after making it, that lemon cheese became lemon cheesecake. And was subsequently demolished by all. Zomg was it yummy! So todays replication of my lemon cheese is also intended to become cheesecake, hopefully even half as yummy! A totally modern baked cheesecake recipe supplied by Mistress Monique, but I see a good future for this as a cheese tart for event cooking.
***UPDATE***
Just on the yield of the cheese with the addition of the calcium chloride.
The first batch I made was using 5Lt of milk and 5 smallish lemons. The yield was about 350 grams of cheese.
The second batch made using 6Lt of milk, 6 medium-ish lemons and 3ml of calcium chloride. Yield was 1.7Kg.
You can see from this very simple cheese that the process of pasteurization strips out a heck of a lot of the available calcium and decreases the yield significantly!!
Friday, 14 March 2014
Flavour testing - semi-soft cheese - goats, cows and 'sheep' substitute
Tonight I have been testing flavouring cheese for a sheep milk substitute. I used the same semi-soft goats milk recipe as my previous blog but use three different 'milks'.
I used the goats because I know what the taste and texture are supposed to be. The plain cows as a base measure and a cows milk with lamb lipase additive to make it more like a sheeps milk.
I hope that I can get a nice balance of flavours for each of these. They are currently in the wine fridge setting for 12-18 hours.
The labels don't show up too well, but they are, from top to bottom, plain cow's, sheep substitute and goat's.
In the morning I will add them to moulds and drain them for another 12 hours and then the tasting begins!
Update:
In the moulds and draining away. Cow's, Goat's and 'Sheep's'.
Didn't get a pic of straight out of the moulds, but reduced to about 1/3 of the capacity. The goats was good to come out of the moulds at the 12 hour mark, but both the cow's milked based ones needed quite a bit of extra time. Prior to A&S I put them back in for another 3 hours and then when I got home I put them all in for another 12 hours draining. Produced a pretty solid cheese (could just be scooped up with a cracker but tended to stay in 'chunks').
Tasting went well. Most feedback was yes definitely different flavours, goats is very goaty and the 'sheeps' was sweet and strong flavour compared to the plain cow's. So looking good for other experiments! Very happy.
I used the goats because I know what the taste and texture are supposed to be. The plain cows as a base measure and a cows milk with lamb lipase additive to make it more like a sheeps milk.
I hope that I can get a nice balance of flavours for each of these. They are currently in the wine fridge setting for 12-18 hours.
The labels don't show up too well, but they are, from top to bottom, plain cow's, sheep substitute and goat's.
In the morning I will add them to moulds and drain them for another 12 hours and then the tasting begins!
Update:
Didn't get a pic of straight out of the moulds, but reduced to about 1/3 of the capacity. The goats was good to come out of the moulds at the 12 hour mark, but both the cow's milked based ones needed quite a bit of extra time. Prior to A&S I put them back in for another 3 hours and then when I got home I put them all in for another 12 hours draining. Produced a pretty solid cheese (could just be scooped up with a cracker but tended to stay in 'chunks').
Tasting went well. Most feedback was yes definitely different flavours, goats is very goaty and the 'sheeps' was sweet and strong flavour compared to the plain cow's. So looking good for other experiments! Very happy.
Semi-soft Goats cheese, reprise...
Well that didn't work as well as I'd hoped. I think my rennet was bad so it didn't set as well as I would have liked and the yield was therefore smaller than i wanted. So there wasn't enough to serve to everybody at the event. But I did get a couple of nice rounds for the high table AND put in the rest as part of the A&S comp for the night (theme was Love and Warre, I put the cheese in 'because I love cheese' :) ).
Here's some pics of the cheese in the moulds and how much whey drained out.
You can see how much they shrank.
I moulded the rounds that were just too small or badly shaped into a heart shaped cake tin (lined with cheese cloth) for the A&S entry. Edged it with dill and a half cherry/dill sprig arrow.
This pic is after it had sat out a little while for judging so it is looking a little sad lol
Very annoyed with myself for not getting a photo of the actual dressed cheese for presentation to the high table. But these are the two rounds I used. I basically dressed then up to look like little boobies :D
So whilst a little disappointing that I couldn't get enough to put on all the tables, was fun to do. I made a big batch of chive quark as a substitute (had time for making quark but not more of the goats) which always goes down a treat.
Here's some pics of the cheese in the moulds and how much whey drained out.
You can see how much they shrank.
I moulded the rounds that were just too small or badly shaped into a heart shaped cake tin (lined with cheese cloth) for the A&S entry. Edged it with dill and a half cherry/dill sprig arrow.
Very annoyed with myself for not getting a photo of the actual dressed cheese for presentation to the high table. But these are the two rounds I used. I basically dressed then up to look like little boobies :D
Saturday, 8 February 2014
Semi-soft Goats Cheese
Trying a new recipe tonight. I am running and event for the Barony (Politarchopolis, Lochac) and decided (with the okay of my lovely kitchen Goddess) to make the cheese for the starters. In an effort to expand my horizions, I've gone with trying a semi-soft goats cheese.
Seems to be the worlds easiest recipe. :)
6Lt Goats milk (unhomogenised)
1 tablet of rennet
1/2 packet of mesophilic starter
1/3 cup of unchlorinated water
Method -
Heat milk slowly (over 20-30 minutes) to 25oC
Add starter and stir for 1 minute
Dissolve rennet in water
Add rennet and stir for 1 minute
Allow milk to sit at no higher than 22oC for 12-18 hours
Once the curd has separated, ladle into moulds
Allow moulds to drain for 2 days
Serve immediately or refridgerate for up to 2 weeks.
Its a Ricki Carroll recipe but given its simplicity I don't see how it isn't a 'old' method of cheese making. I am going to do some more research when sitting at my desk is no longer an extreme sport (so very hot!).
I am going to 'spice it up' and add dill when putting it into the moulds for a little extra flavour.
To make this cheese i needed to get some soft cheese moulds (woe is me :D ). I got a variety to see what might work a little better.
So at the moment it is sitting in my little wine fridge at 20oC waiting until morning. It has been so hot this summer that I have already lost one batch of cheese (prior to getting this wine fridge).
So tomorrow morning I will have a look at putting it into the moulds and the let the draining begin!
Seems to be the worlds easiest recipe. :)
6Lt Goats milk (unhomogenised)
1 tablet of rennet
1/2 packet of mesophilic starter
1/3 cup of unchlorinated water
Method -
Heat milk slowly (over 20-30 minutes) to 25oC
Add starter and stir for 1 minute
Dissolve rennet in water
Add rennet and stir for 1 minute
Allow milk to sit at no higher than 22oC for 12-18 hours
Once the curd has separated, ladle into moulds
Allow moulds to drain for 2 days
Serve immediately or refridgerate for up to 2 weeks.
Its a Ricki Carroll recipe but given its simplicity I don't see how it isn't a 'old' method of cheese making. I am going to do some more research when sitting at my desk is no longer an extreme sport (so very hot!).
I am going to 'spice it up' and add dill when putting it into the moulds for a little extra flavour.
To make this cheese i needed to get some soft cheese moulds (woe is me :D ). I got a variety to see what might work a little better.
So at the moment it is sitting in my little wine fridge at 20oC waiting until morning. It has been so hot this summer that I have already lost one batch of cheese (prior to getting this wine fridge).
So tomorrow morning I will have a look at putting it into the moulds and the let the draining begin!
Sunday, 26 January 2014
More Cheese things - Manchengo
Been looking around lately for something I can do during summer that's cheese related and planning some cheese things to take to Rowany Festival (both eating and making). I think I am going to go down the path of Manchego (a Spanish DOP cheese).
Now I don't have an easy source of sheep milk for the manchego, however I can get lipase from a lamb fairly easily. So I figure I will work with that as a nice substitute.
A link to the recipe I am going to try is here.
http://www.thebeveragepeople.com/pdf/webcheesepdf/Manchego%20Cheese.pdf
Random google searching tells me that this is a nice pre-1600 cheese (http://manchego-cheese.com/manchego-cheese-history/) though I still want to do a little more comprehensive investigation to get some more document-able evidence for that.
Give's me a couple more feathers in my cap. Its Spanish (which I've never made any cheese of before), it's a sheep's milk cheese and its a mixed culture cheese.Not to mention the fact that because I can't access a ready supply of sheep's milk I will need to experiment with lipase for the first time to get the flavour right.
Research:
As I mentioned I have done some very basic searching to see if this is a pre-1600 cheese. I am pretty sure that it is, but all the references so far have had no evidence to back it up. They all seem to say "archeological evidence suggests" but don't have any references.
(http://www.cheesemaking.com/Hispanico.html)
So I am going to continue to dig away and see whats what, and what I can find archeologically! Wish me luck :)
Now I don't have an easy source of sheep milk for the manchego, however I can get lipase from a lamb fairly easily. So I figure I will work with that as a nice substitute.
A link to the recipe I am going to try is here.
http://www.thebeveragepeople.com/pdf/webcheesepdf/Manchego%20Cheese.pdf
Random google searching tells me that this is a nice pre-1600 cheese (http://manchego-cheese.com/manchego-cheese-history/) though I still want to do a little more comprehensive investigation to get some more document-able evidence for that.
Give's me a couple more feathers in my cap. Its Spanish (which I've never made any cheese of before), it's a sheep's milk cheese and its a mixed culture cheese.Not to mention the fact that because I can't access a ready supply of sheep's milk I will need to experiment with lipase for the first time to get the flavour right.
Research:
As I mentioned I have done some very basic searching to see if this is a pre-1600 cheese. I am pretty sure that it is, but all the references so far have had no evidence to back it up. They all seem to say "archeological evidence suggests" but don't have any references.
(http://www.cheesemaking.com/Hispanico.html)
So I am going to continue to dig away and see whats what, and what I can find archeologically! Wish me luck :)
Thursday, 23 January 2014
Beaded Banner - progress update
Well I have officially completed one end of the external decorations (except the full border surround). Looking good! Even if that is just me saying so.
So before I start the other side I am going to do the lozenge decorative centre piece. I am trying for something vaguely heraldic with my and Master Owens devices. So starting with Owens, his current planned and passable device has yellow and blue stars and one counter changed (same colours). I can't blazon to save myself so later I will get a pic of the actual device.
Plan is to divide it down the centre and have his on the right and mine on the left. btw the banner is landscape, so you can see where the split will be. I am testing a russian bead embroidery design at the moment.
I have a more up to date pic of the testing somewhere, but can't find it right now. So will post again later!
Progress on the testing is going well. I will need to practice a little more on getting the beads to lay along the centre of the cotton a bit better. :-)
EDIT:
Ok, as promised here is the pic with an old version of Master Owen's device. His passable one has the same elements just in a slightly different order. Top left hand corner.
Two things this test piece is showing me, firstly use a little less of the cotton base (or have your trim before you do the cotton base :-) ) and be very careful in placing the beads directly onto the centre of the base. The blue is a bit wonky because I wasn't as exact as I should have been. The yellow/gold is much better. If I had used a little less of the cotton base the blue cord would cover the edges better and there would be much less gap around the edge. But as a test piece its working quite well and I think it will prove itself out nicely for Owen's side of the lozenge.
So before I start the other side I am going to do the lozenge decorative centre piece. I am trying for something vaguely heraldic with my and Master Owens devices. So starting with Owens, his current planned and passable device has yellow and blue stars and one counter changed (same colours). I can't blazon to save myself so later I will get a pic of the actual device.
Plan is to divide it down the centre and have his on the right and mine on the left. btw the banner is landscape, so you can see where the split will be. I am testing a russian bead embroidery design at the moment.
I have a more up to date pic of the testing somewhere, but can't find it right now. So will post again later!
Progress on the testing is going well. I will need to practice a little more on getting the beads to lay along the centre of the cotton a bit better. :-)
EDIT:
Ok, as promised here is the pic with an old version of Master Owen's device. His passable one has the same elements just in a slightly different order. Top left hand corner.
Two things this test piece is showing me, firstly use a little less of the cotton base (or have your trim before you do the cotton base :-) ) and be very careful in placing the beads directly onto the centre of the base. The blue is a bit wonky because I wasn't as exact as I should have been. The yellow/gold is much better. If I had used a little less of the cotton base the blue cord would cover the edges better and there would be much less gap around the edge. But as a test piece its working quite well and I think it will prove itself out nicely for Owen's side of the lozenge.
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