[Cheese] Mozzarella

[Rita P]

Hi Corina,
Thanks for all that typing in your reply, but I just
wanted to know if you had worked out any shortcuts in
the cutting process.  The cake rack works wonders in
the rectangular container I use.  The vertical cuts I
do by knife, but the horizontal just takes one sweep
and it's done.

The molds are food quality open ended cylinders with
small holes all over the sides to allow extra whey
seepage.  The cylinders are inverted after a few
hours, and keep inverting every few hours for about 12
- 24 hours.  The curd solidifies under its own weight.
 You then remove the cylinder, give cheese a brine
bath, rub with salt or whatever.  Then start on the
maturing.

The camembert only had lovely snow white mould on the
outside.  The blue is covered quite well on the
outside with blue and I am told to expect reddish
brown smears on it as it ages.  (I have been very
impatient, and cut   one of the small blues in half to
see what is going on.  Very small to no blue veins
inside yet, but well covered on the outside. So I
added some extra holes for oxygen.  Maybe 3 weeks is
too soon to expect to see veining!  BUT it smells and
tastes of blue cheese, creamy feel to it, but then it
is VERY young.  My husband says it's a real keeper!!
or better still - eater!!)

Maybe your molds were not open on the bottom, so the
excess whey could not drain away?

I'll give you a quick run down on the steps involved
in Camembert (my way) in a few days when I have a
little more time to type it up.  The last camembert I
made we ate at 3 weeks instead of the required 4-6
weeks, as my maturing temp was a bit high and it
rippened a little quicker.  The cheese is easy, but
controlling the maturing temp and humidity is more
critical to get what you really need.  3 weeks at a
slightly higher temp was VERY acceptable, (even to non
relatives:))yummy yum!

Converting measurements in worldwide cooking can be
very tricky, especially if you are not aware that they
differ from continent to continent.  As you say
imperial liquid measurement even change, a pint is not
the same, a cup is not the same etc .. and then there
is metric, and then there are Australian
tablespoons:(, cooking is not for dummies.

Rita in Australia




--- Corina <corina at cyber-dyne.com> wrote:

> Hi Rita,
> 
> Sorry to take a while to answer this--I was trying
> to save it til I 
> had time to look for a diagram on the web showing
> how the curd is 
> cut. I haven't had time still, but you could do a
> search! It's the 
> same for any cheese that uses curds.
> 
> The basic method is to take a knife that's long
> enough to reach the 

 other way.
> 
> When you first start cutting, your knife tip will
> reach the side of 
> the pot. When you get close to the other edge with
> your cuts, your 
> knife will be hitting the bottom of the pot. There
> will be a space 
> near the very end where you can not cut anymore with
> the knife at an 
> angle, and you know there is curd that's not getting
> cut. Don't worry 
> about that part, it will get cut when you do the
> other direction.
> 

> Oh! I'm glad you have a more exact way of
> calculating the conversions.
> 
> >1
> >tablespoon for most of the world is 15 mil (3
> >teaspoons), but for some unknown reason to me, in
> >Australia it is 4 teaspoons = 20 mil.
> 
> Oh wow! Well, US and UK pints are different sizes
> too. I make a lot 
> of British recipes and ended up buying a UK liquid
> measure.
> 

> Oh! Do you use a mold that looks like a plastic cup
> with little holes 
> in it? I have tried to use molds like that, but I
> can never get 
> enough whey out of the cheese before it starts to
> mildew (orange 
> bathroom type mold).
> 
> I would love to hear how you make your camambert
> when you have a few minutes!
> 
> Happy cheesemaking,
> Corina
> 



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