Any cheesemakers?

wired · Jan 12, 2023

Anyone making cheese? I just made a batch of cottage cheese. Probably the easiest thing Ive ever done. Going to do mozzarella tomorrow and im ordering up stuff to make cheddar and Brie. I think I'll set up my garage fridge as a temperature controlled aging cabinet. Like everything I do I'll take it too far.

The cottage turned out fantastic btw. Not like that soupy stuff they sell in the stores. Very textured , slightly salty with a bit of tartness. Added cream to get it just right after the cheese wase made. . The best cottage cheese I've ever had.

Alexx1401 · Jan 12, 2023

I LOVE cheese, never seen anyone make it at home. It would be great to do at home the way I go through the stuff. The cottage and cream cheese always seems pretty much the same to me no matter the brand. Swiss and Cheddar which I LOVE I will only buy the higher end stuff as that I can tell.
Wife did go through a short hobby of making butter at home while back. I remember that being fairly simple to do and the stuff was great. Another thing I go through a lot of, butter. May have to check into making the simple stuff. Have heard that cottage is not a lot of work. Would be fun to have some I made at home. Only time I like to eat salad is if I have some to go with it and love it with some pineapple chunks as a snack.

wired · Jan 12, 2023

Cottage is super easy. So is Ricotta and mascarpone even mozzarella. I'd like to do some hard cheeses like Swiss and even Bleu . They take months to age but no big deal. Got to love mold to do Bleu.

Before its moistened bac up again with cream or whey Cottage is actually quite dry and good for salads.

Alexx1401 · Jan 12, 2023

wired said:
Cottage is super easy. So is Ricotta and mascarpone even mozzarella. I'd like to do some hard cheeses like Swiss and even Bleu . They take months to age but no big deal. Got to love mold to do Bleu.

Before its moistened bac up again with cream or whey Cottage is actually quite dry and good for salads.

Well this is one of those "damn that is simple" moments. I just searched how to do it and was shocked at how simple and fast it is. Had no damn clue it was that easy. I can already see I will be making mine a little on the "rich side" since you can decide how much. The only time I have bought some in the store I did not like it was because I was not paying attention and grabbed low fat instead of regular. I have tossed it out to the birds couple times. Going to buy some cheesecloth and give this a try! Sounds like the final product will probably ruin me on buying it in the store again

wired · Jan 12, 2023

Yeah just heat the milk to 120 add vinegar and let it sit for half an hour. run it through cheesecloth , rinse it out and break it up and salt
it. Add some cream. Done.

wired · Jan 12, 2023

Im going to have to try spiced and salty beef jerky ( NO SUGAR ) dipped in melted spiced camembert. I think it could change my life.

Camembert looks relatively easy to make too.

Alexx1401 · Jan 12, 2023

wired said:
Yeah just heat the milk to 120 add vinegar and let it sit for half an hour. run it through cheesecloth , rinse it out and break it up and salt
it. Add some cream. Done.

I just watched a video on it and It looks like it took longer to watch the woman talk than it does to just make the stuff. :s0140:

Have some cloth coming tomorrow and will be trying a batch. Still shocked at just how damn easy this was and I had no clue. Been eating and loving this stuff all my life and no idea how simple it was to just make it to my taste! With some pineapple will have to be a better "snack" than some of the other crap I tend to eat when I am not working and watching the tube!!!

wired said:
Im going to have to try spiced and salty beef jerky ( NO SUGAR ) dipped in melted spiced camembert. I think it could change my life.

Camembert looks relatively easy to make too.

I LOVE jerky. A good while back I bought a nice dryer to make both that and dried fruit. Loved both. As so often happens though before long the damn machine just sat gathering dust as it was a lot of work and time for both. Damn dried apples were great snack and again had to be better than a lot of other stuff. The fur alarms would go NUTS when the jerky was drying as the whole back of the house smelled good. I used to make some with nothing added just as a dog treat and they of course thought they were in heaven when they got some. The only time one of them actually bit me was over that stuff. One got one finger in his excitement to get another piece of it. :s0140:

wired · Jan 12, 2023

I make jerky with 5 lbs of thing sliced beef every couple of weeks. I NEVER use sugar but do use a LOT of soy sauce, garlic, lemon juice, worchestershire and a variety of heavy duty peppers. Im really thinking in some melted Brie or Camembert it could be the bomb. My son, Mr. moneybags got me one of those fridge sized dehydrators for Christmas. I use it. Between that , the Sous Vide machine and my BBQ collection and my massive wok I'm ready to break my diet in 3 months.

mrblond · Jan 12, 2023

gryghin · Jan 12, 2023

Alexx1401 said:
I just watched a video on it and It looks like it took longer to watch the woman talk than it does to just make the stuff.
Have some cloth coming tomorrow and will be trying a batch. Still shocked at just how damn easy this was and I had no clue. Been eating and loving this stuff all my life and no idea how simple it was to just make it to my taste! With some pineapple will have to be a better "snack" than some of the other crap I tend to eat when I am not working and watching the tube!!!

I LOVE jerky. A good while back I bought a nice dryer to make both that and dried fruit. Loved both. As so often happens though before long the damn machine just sat gathering dust as it was a lot of work and time for both. Damn dried apples were great snack and again had to be better than a lot of other stuff. The fur alarms would go NUTS when the jerky was drying as the whole back of the house smelled good. I used to make some with nothing added just as a dog treat and they of course thought they were in heaven when they got some. The only time one of them actually bit me was over that stuff. One got one finger in his excitement to get another piece of it.

Which video do you recommend?

I've got some free time to try this out soon.

Alexx1401 · Jan 12, 2023

gryghin said:
Which video do you recommend?

I've got some free time to try this out soon.

Above is the one I watched but there seems to be a hell of a lot of them. This was just the first one that came up. Woman does a LOT of talking to get to the point of just how simple this is to do. The time it took to watch I think I could have made a first batch.

It is shockingly simple to do. The best part is you can make it to taste. Real "light" or real rich. Since I am not eating the stuff to calorie mindful I will be making mine on the rich side.