Over the Gate

Snozzer · Last edited by Snozzer on Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:16 pm; edited 1 time in total

This is a simple recipe and instructions for a blue cheese.

Ingredients

1 Gallon fresh milk (full fat)
1 Carton active/cultured buttermilk
Veg-o-ren
coarse sea salt
small piece of blue cheese (about the size of your little finger

Utensils

Big bucket
Beer type thermometer
Colander
Muslin squares (20cm square)
An empty 2lb fruit tim (eat the contents)

Preparation
Sterilise all the utensils.
Leave the milk out overnight to get it gently to room temperature (saves a lot of hassle when you come to warm it later)
Crumble the blue cheese into a small amount of warm milk making a smooth paste
Put 50 drops of vegoren into some cool water and mix well

The ingredients

Warm the milk in a bucket ( I placed the bucket in a sink of hot water) and get it to 88F and then add the 1/2 the buttermilk, the blue cheese cream and the vegoren and stir well. Cover it and leave for 90mins (do not stir during the 90mins but keep it at 88F).

Warming the milk

After 90mins check for a clean break, this is a state of the curd where if you immerse your bent index finger under the curd surface and then pull it gently out. It should come out clean and the hole left fills with green whey. That is the condition called a clean break and the curds are ready for cutting, if they are not ready then they will not cut cleanly and separate and you must leave the curd for a further 30 minutes to set properly.

A Clean Break

Taking a long knife you must cut the curd right to the bottom of the bucket in straight lines across the surface of the curd. Then do it again at right angles to the first cut so that you have sticks a quarter inch square standing on end in the bucket.

Now take your knife at an angle and cut through those sticks, so that you end up with quarter inch square cubes of solid curd.

Very very gently slide your hand down the side of the bucket to the bottom and spread your hand and lift the curds gently upwards so that they turn over, any big ones just reduce them with your knife.

Leave the curds covered at the same temp (88F) for 30 mins.

After 30 mins the curds should have sunk below the whey so scoop the surplus whey off with a clean cup and just leave the whey just covering the curds and leave for a further 30 minutes.

You can put your hand in and lift the curds as before at any time during this hours “cooking time” .

After the second 30 minutes the curds are ready for straining . Lay your straining cloth in the colander and gently cup the curds into the
colander, allowing the whey to drain through.

Draining the Whey

Take up all four corners of the straining cloth and tie string around these to form a bundle. Hang this bundle over the bucket to drain for 30 minutes.

Draining the Whey

Taking the drained bundle and place it on the clean draining board and place a plate on top and on the plate place a weight of around ten pounds. Press this for two hours and the whey will continue to run out.

Pressing the Curds

After two hours unwrap your curd, which will be like a flattened disc of soft cheese.
This must be broken up with your fingers into the clean bucket in small pieces the size of cherries, you have a heaped dessert spoon of sea salt to add as you crumble this curd into your bucket.

Crumbling the Curds with salt

Take your fruit tin (Cheese mould) and place it on one of the small pizza bases on the draining board, fill your mould with the salted curds and press down holding the mould firmly to prevent it from jumping up. Make sure you have a fairly even surface.

Wrap the top and bottom cut outs from the tin in cling film (this is called a “follower”) and place on top of the curds. You now have to find a weight to place on this to press down on the curd block for several days.

In the first day the cheese must be turned frequently to keep it in balance for expelling the whey, this is where the other pizza base comes in, just take out the follower and place the pizza base over the top of the mould and invert it. The cheese will slide down to the bottom then place your follower on top of the curd again and replace the weight.

Pressing the Cheese

After three days your new cheese should hold it’s shape so it is now ready to mature.

Again place on a pizza base and cover the cheese with a plastic basin
to keep the air in and create a 95% humidity environment.
The cheese has to be turned daily and do not touch it with your bare fingers until the crust has well and truly formed.

The outer rind will go all colours during the next week or so but will settle for an orangey brown after three weeks or so.

The pressed cheese waiting to ripen

Lloyd · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 3255 Location: bs36

Brilliant!

Thanks for that. Now just ned to get started tomorrow...

green man · Joined: 19 Jun 2007 Posts: 6656 Location: Herefordshire

Super 5 star post, must give that a go sometime, Great photos, well done

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conundrum · Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:03 pm Post subject:

Brilliant post, well thought out and worded so even "I" will be able to follow it easily. And a recipe for my favourite type of cheese.....I will try it before long, thank you.
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bodger · Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:08 pm Post subject:

Top post Snozzer.
You have hidden depths, I'm sure that loads of us will be trying this one

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Baggy · Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 627

good post really enjoyed that.

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Lloyd · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 3255 Location: bs36

Ok, just openned bidding on Ebay for a cheese press.............

kaz · Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:47 am Post subject:

goodpost.gif Thanks Snozzer.

rhino · Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 709 Location: The white peak

Very good I fancy a crack at that, you've demystified the process.
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Lloyd · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 3255 Location: bs36

I just need to source Veg-O-Ren, or Rennet. That's my sticking point right now.

Snozzer · Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:26 pm Post subject:

pat morrissey · Joined: 07 Dec 2007 Posts: 7 Location: darkest wiltshire

Thanks Gareth for info. You can see I don't get near a computer very often to pick up any messages but wish you a belated Happy New Year.

Snozzer · Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:16 pm Post subject: Blue Cheese 4 week Update

Well, 4 weeks have passed and today is the day to pierce it with a sterilised needle (or in my case bamboo skewer). These piercings will create the blue veining.

Up until this point the cheese has been turned daily and is in a container with the lid just cracked a little.

I have had a good smell of the cheese and it smells just like stilton.

You may notice some cracking in the outer rind, this is because I let it get too dry, so I drop a couple of drops of cooled boiled water in the container and sealed it up for a day and the cracking stopped.

Bex · Joined: 04 Jan 2008 Posts: 227

That was a great read.
Has there been a taste test yet?

Snozzer · Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 8:06 pm Post subject: