Hello Everyone,
Today we opened up the Raclette cheese and tried it. The taste was quite strong, but very good. But...the same issue, it didn't melt!
Showing posts with label Raclette Cheese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Raclette Cheese. Show all posts
Thursday, December 12, 2019
Sunday, October 6, 2019
Cheese Updates: Raclette, Fontina, Colby, Jarlsberg
My babies are thriving! :)
From the left:
Raclette - ready December 7th
Fontina #1 and Fontina #2 - both ready December 17th
I'm still washing these with brine a few times a week and they're doing very well. The colours are fantastic, the rinds are forming and they smell divine!
I made two more cheeses in the last week - a Colby and another Jarlsberg. I had so much success with my first wheel of Jarlsberg, I decided to make another one. I'm not going to post the recipe for the Colby just yet because I took the recipe from two different sources, mixed and mashed and kind of came up with my own way of doing it. IF it's a success, I'll post it!
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Cheese Updates
Hi Everyone :)
I took out my cheeses the other day to inspect them all. Wow...I have never had so much cheese on the go before! They are all doing quite well, except...
...the Parmesan. After I cleaned it up the other day and got rid of all of the mould, it came back. So I cleaned it again and spread olive oil all over it. The large surfaces remained mould-free, but blue mould still started to form in the little cracks on the side of the wheel.
Grudgingly, I vacuum packed it. It was really supposed to stay in the ripening box until November, but I had to seal it early to try and save it. Hopefully it'll still have a good taste when I open it in February. AND hopefully the mould will stay away now! I'll have to keep checking it often.
My 6-month Cheddar started to develop some blue mould in the creases of the vacuum pack. I just removed it, cleaned it up, let it dry a bit then re-sealed it. It's important to check your cheeses often!
My Monterey Jack and my 9-month Cheddar both have this residue on the inside of the vacuum packs. I read that it could be one of two things: white mould forming or calcium lactate that is secreting from the cheese. Neither one is dangerous or will affect the cheese. I just have to wipe it off. If I see signs of blue mould forming though, I'll do the same as I did with my 6-month Cheddar. If it's really just lactic acid releasing from the cheese as it ages, I can leave it as is.
This is glorious! It's my Raclette cheese. I've been washing this cheese every other day for about 2 weeks now and it's already starting to develop its orange rind. This means the bacteria I used in the cheese (Brevibacterium Linens) is working! This bacterial culture will give the cheese the desired aroma and flavour - as well as a nice orange rind!
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Raclette Cheese (Recipe and Instructions)
"Back in the days, Swiss shepherds from the Valais region needed to bring food up to the Alps that was relatively cheap and wouldn’t spoil easily in the hot summer months. So they brought cheese and potatoes. While the potatoes roasted in the fire, a big piece of cheese was put close to the fire. Once it started melting, the cheese was taken away and scraped onto the baked potatoes. This was not only filling and nourishing but also delicious. In French ‘to scrape’ translates to ‘racler’ and this is where the term Raclette comes from." (raclettecorner.com)
Whatever way you slice it, it's basically melted cheese on whatever food you love. It's a fun meal to have. We found our Raclette machine at a thriftstore for $10 and we've been using it every year since. I'm so happy I can now make the Raclette cheese at home, because it's quite expensive at the store! My wheel should be ready in mid-December, so we may have Raclette for Christmas dinner this year.
Here's how you make it!
Raclette Cheese (for a printable version, click here)
(Recipe courtesy of Gavin Webber)
Yield: 1 kg wheel
Ingredients
10 liters whole milk
1/16 tsp Brevibacterium Linens Culture
1/8 tsp Alp D Culture
1/8 tsp Alp D Culture
1/2 tsp Calcium Chloride
1/4 tsp double rennet
Cool filtered water
Directions
Stage 1: Mixing The Ingredients
Stage 2: Caring for the curds
Stage 3: Molding, Pressing and Brining
Stage 4: Drying and Aging
Stage 1: Mixing The Ingredients
1. In a double boiler, heat the milk to 88F or 31C.
2. Add the Brevibacterium Linens, then the AlpD Culture and let sit 5 minutes at 88F or 31C.
As you can see, the Brevi Linens are orange in colour. This particular culture develops an orange/red rind around the cheese and gives it flavour and aroma.
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| This is how the cheese should age, the rind should be an orange/red colour as this photo shows. |
3. Stir well for 2 minutes then let ripen for 1 hour and 15 minutes, holding the temperature at 88F or 31C.
4. At about the 1 hour and 10 minute mark, prepare your Calcium Chloride by mixing it with 1/4 cup of cool filtered water. Mix your rennet with 1/4 cup of cool filtered water.
5. Add the Calcium Chloride and stir for 1 minute. Add the rennet and stir for no more than 1 minute.
6. Let sit for 50 minutes holding the temperature at 88F or 31C.
Stage 2: Caring for the curds
7. Check for a clean break. Insert your knife into the curd, if it breaks open a little and comes out clean, you have a clean break.
8. Gently cut the curds with a balloon whisk, using an up and down, side to side and scooping motion.
9. Let heal for 5 minutes
10. Gently stir for 20 minutes, still holding the temperature at 88F or 31C. Let sit for 5 minutes.
11. Meanwhile, heat 3 liters of water to 145F or 63C.
12. Using a strainer and ladle, remove 11 cups of whey.
13. Replace the whey with 11 cups of hot water to wash the curds. Washing the curds lowers the acidity to make a smoother taste. Your temperature should now be at 100F or 38C.
As you can see, my temperature was at 102F. In order to bring it down to 100F, I removed some whey and poured in a little bit of cool water.
14. Stir for 10 minutes then let sit for 5 minutes.
Stage 3: Molding, Pressing and Brining
15. Drain the curd into a cheesecloth-lined mold. Pull the cheesecloth around the curd to make sure there are no wrinkles, then put on your follower.
16. Press at 11 pounds for 15 minutes.
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| After 15 minutes, your wheel is SO SO fragile, take care of it very gently! |
17. Flip, re-dress and press at 11 pounds for 30 minutes.
18. Flip, re-dress and press at 22 pounds for 1 hour.
19. Flip, re-dress and press at 33 pounds for 12 hours.
20. Put your wheel into a brine solution in the cheese cave for 10 hours, flipping at the 5 hour mark.
Stage 4: Drying and Aging
21. Air dry for 24 hours, flipping it at the 12 hour mark.
22. Your Raclette will age in a ripening box in the cheese cave at 50F or 10C. This is my set up. I use a tupperware container large and deep enough to hold a small dish. That little piece of wet paper towel is put into the tupperware to keep the ripening box humid. I then place a bamboo mat on top of the little dish for air circulation; then my wheel of cheese on top. There is a binder clip on the side of the box to hold the lid from sealing, this also helps with air circulation.
Wash your wheel on the 3rd day, then flip and wash every other day for 1 month; then flip and wash weekly. You are washing the wheel to encourage the Brevi Linens to develop the orange rind. To see my video on how to wash your cheese, click here.
The total ripening time is 12 weeks then your wheel should be ready to taste!
Note: Every time you take your cheese out to flip and/or wash, always replace everything inside (dish, bamboo mat, wet piece of paper towel) and wipe down the container and lid. Otherwise, little mould bunnies will be secretly forming and contaminating your wheel!
I have multiple amounts of mats and dishes. It's easy to get lazy and skip this step (I've done it and regretted it!) but having a failed cheese is much worse!
I have multiple amounts of mats and dishes. It's easy to get lazy and skip this step (I've done it and regretted it!) but having a failed cheese is much worse!
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