Cheese Making
Ingredients
Directions
Make the curd
Heat the milk to 86°F (30°C).
Add rennet and stir gently until it begins to coagulate.
After about an hour, cut the curd into pieces ½ to ¼ inch in diameter.
Slowly heat the curd to 98°F (37°C) and let it stand until the acidity develops.
Drain and shape
Place the curd on a rack covered with cheese cloth to drain, stirring initially to separate the whey.
Once the curd mats, cut it into blocks about 10 inches square and turn occasionally until it has a meaty texture.
Cut the curd into small pieces and stir every little while for about 1.5 hours.
Salt the curd and press it.
Cure
Place the cheese in a curing room for at least three months.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Provides the proteins and fat that coagulate into the curd, forming the cheese itself.
- Rennet
- Enzyme that clots the milk proteins into a solid curd.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the curd and helps draw out moisture and control the cheese's flavor during curing.
The step that matters
Cutting the curd. Curd pieces that are too large or too small change how much whey escapes. Uneven cuts drain unevenly, which affects moisture and texture in the finished cheese.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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