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Post by Skandi on Sept 25, 2017 1:02:32 GMT
mm now portsalut is my all all times favourite cheese, spread on oatcakes, reading this thread makes me want cheese!
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Post by feather on Sept 25, 2017 20:11:22 GMT
mm now portsalut is my all all times favourite cheese, spread on oatcakes, reading this thread makes me want cheese! I haven't yet tried to make port salut, I haven't even tasted it, in my life that I know of. I had to look up 'danish oatcakes' to get an idea of what you are talking about. Seems like oatcakes are a dense version of oat bread or oat cookie, flavored with salt and maybe sugar, wet with water and optionally add egg or egg yolks, made from different kinds of oats like steel cut, pin, oat flour, rolled oats, in varying proportions. The oats are toasted before making the 'cookie' or 'biscuit' or what we would call a 'thick oat cracker' in shape. I think I might make some of these oatcakes for myself. We've been eating a banana/oat/nuts/dried fruit kind of 'cookie' but I think I'd like something that was not sweet to use as a vehicle to healthy cheese eating. DH loves the sweeter variety of oats, I'm partial to salty or non-sweet. Skandi, I just have questions about the oatcakes. Are they completely dry and crunchy, or is some of the oatcake a little moist or doughy in the middle when they are completely baked? I usually have steel cut oats and rolled oats on hand, do you make these and if you do, what kind of oats do you use? The oatcakes that you prefer, how thick are they in mm or inches?
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Post by Skandi on Sept 26, 2017 10:32:44 GMT
Ohh no not danish oatcakes, I've never seen one of them either, sO I have no idea if they are dry or moist! I like it with Scottish oatcakes, I was up there for seven years before moving here. They are just oats, water, salt and a little fat then rolled thin and baked untill crispy but not noticably coloured. I make them with poridge oats (rolled oats) that I then grind up finer in a morter and pestle. since I cannot get any other type of oats here. Scottish oatcakes normaly come in coarse or fine varieties and that's just dependent on how fine the oats are ground up, nothing else. They are as thin as you can get them without them falling apart so 2-3mm I'll look up the danish ones in a bit and see if I can find any information on them, you have me interested. I've never seen pinhead oatmeal here though, wish I had Skirly is lovely.
Hmm I can't find any Danish oatcakes only havrekiks (oatbuiscuits) but those are Digestive buiscuits, so sweet and yes they eat them with cheese but comming from England I find that a little strange, digestives go with tea! However if you want to make them look up digestive recipes plenty of them written in english. It's a difficult thing to search for in danish as there is no word for "savory" other than saying not sweet, and that doesn't google very well.
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Post by feather on Sept 26, 2017 15:10:23 GMT
I'll try this recipe for scottish oatcakes. pennysrecipes.com/7324/recipe-traditional-oatcakesTo eat with cheeses. I might use oil instead of butter. If I can portion them 12 to the recipe, then a 2 oz serving of oats (which is what I'm aiming for), would be 3 oatcakes. I've a hot pimento cheese spread waiting in the fridge for a vehicle to ride on.
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Post by Skandi on Sept 26, 2017 15:24:53 GMT
Looks about right, I love them, sigh if I wasn't trying to lose weight right now!
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Post by feather on Sept 27, 2017 0:59:06 GMT
Looks about right, I love them, sigh if I wasn't trying to lose weight right now! I'm aiming at 2 oz dry of oats per serving and per day. They come in at about 200 calories and 15% fat, 69% carbs, 16% protein. They are filling and satisfying and much better under cheese than vegetables. I used the recipe above (for myself as these won't appeal to anyone else here), yay me. I promised myself I'd do a favor for myself. I made them small, and there were 22 of them, so I can have 5 or 6 for that 2 oz serving. They were easy to make, didn't take much time. I let the food processor with the oats etc rest for about 10 minutes and the hot water soaked into the oats and the mixture thickened up. I made small balls out of the paste and flattened them with an old cottage cheese container onto the silicone mat on the half sheet pan. I baked them at 350 degrees F or 180 degrees C for 25 minutes. It feels like a treat but it is really a meal and filling. I topped them in a cheese spread made with cheddar/cream cheese/pimentos chopped/jalapenos chopped. I still make my DH the banana/oat/cranraisin/nut 'cookies', he eats one 2 oz cookie every morning and it fills him up. It is supposed to cool off weather wise starting tomorrow and milk is on sale. I have beans to can probably tomorrow or the next day, then a little cheese making again. I saw the most interesting and artistic cheese on the facebook learn to make cheese page. They had made a swiss cheese and imprinted the top/bottom/and sides with a texture and design and it was gorgeous. In the last pressing he pressed the designs into the cheese. I wonder if I could do that.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2017 4:04:24 GMT
Go for it feather! You seem to really have a knack for this. Post pictures please!
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Post by feather on Sept 27, 2017 4:14:37 GMT
Go for it feather ! You seem to really have a knack for this. Post pictures please! Thanks for the vote of confidence!!!! I don't know if I can do it since I've never tried to imprint a cheese before. Made me laugh though that you are cheerleading me. If I do I will post pictures. I wish I knew someone that did wood laser cutting. I would need to find 3 mm thick wood, cut into a circle or scalloped circle diameter 5.5 or 6 inches across. With cut outs like a snowflake in the circle, or flowers in the circle.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2017 4:34:47 GMT
Are you on "Next Door," the neighborhood app or something similar? I wonder if you could find a hobbyist who would welcome a project?
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Post by feather on Sept 27, 2017 16:03:29 GMT
If I put something like this, 3 mm thick wood, at the ends of the mold, top and bottom. Do you think it would work best under the cheese cloth against the cheese, or on the outside of the cheese cloth against the bottom of the mold and under the top of the follower? I'm kind of afraid it would embed itself in the cheese and be difficult to remove if I put it against the cheese. I'm thinking that is what you described, putting it outside the cheesecloth redfish. home2stay, I looked at 'next door' and it must be for phones, as my laptop didn't want to work with it. I'm going to start watching out for people that have laser cutters and find some shapes that would work well for cheese. Good idea.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2017 5:14:54 GMT
I looked at 'next door' and it must be for phones, as my laptop didn't want to work with it. I'm going to start watching out for people that have laser cutters and find some shapes that would work well for cheese. Good idea. [/quote Sorry that didn't work. Hmm. Maybe ask on Craigslist "gigs offered" once you know a few designs you want? Is this decorative only or is it also to identify the maker (like a logo?). Just curious! I love how thought-provoking this forum is for me (I am just ignoring the thought-provoking political comments because ... stress.)
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Post by feather on Sept 28, 2017 16:28:45 GMT
Sorry that didn't work. Hmm. Maybe ask on Craigslist "gigs offered" once you know a few designs you want? Is this decorative only or is it also to identify the maker (like a logo?). Just curious! I love how thought-provoking this forum is for me (I am just ignoring the thought-provoking political comments because ... stress.) Did I say something cheesy-political? If so, I'm sorry. I don't know if I want a 'maker's mark' type of imprint yet. The brainstorming on where to find materials for imprinting have led me down a few roads. Craigslist is one, Facebook has buy sell & trade and I may find a laser cutter person there,Amazon for laser cut craft supplies, trivets made of silicone or metal, silicone mats (to give texture to the sides) and etsy. Etsy had some sellers that would make custom cut laser wood designs quite inexpensively but I'll keep that until I figure out if I want a maker's mark type of imprint. The maker's mark idea is great but I'm never going to be a cheese maker in my own cheese factory. I work out of my kitchen, so it will never be sale-able. A maker's mark type of imprint would probably be better on the sides instead of the top or bottom, since when you cut a wheel of cheese, you cut the design on the top and bottom. I'm not sure if a 1/8th inch imprint is satisfactory or if 1/4inch imprint is better. I'm afraid a leaf will leave a mark but it might not be quite thick enough for what I'm aiming for. I bought the trees (pictured above) unfinished wood pictured above, they are 3 mm thick and I'm going to see how that turns out on a non-expanding swiss I'm planning on making. Once they get here, the unfinished wood will have to be sealed. Then sanitize it, to use it. I'll do a test run this week-end or monday.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2017 17:24:51 GMT
🤦♀️ Sorry, feather I meant the forum in general. I am laughing though because I at least know that place of origin marketing has many regulations - in the EU for "Parmesan" (sic) for example. I like your tree btw.
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Post by feather on Sept 28, 2017 18:02:12 GMT
🤦♀️ Sorry, feather I meant the forum in general. I am laughing though because I at least know that place of origin marketing has many regulations - in the EU for "Parmesan" (sic) for example. I like your tree btw. Oh yeah, that is cheesy political isn't it. All the special use of names for cheese made from cows raised on a certain area of land, the land has a certain soil, which is what the cows eat, which produce a certain kind of milk, that make a certain kind of cheese, the terroir (terr wha) and it is not just wine, it is cheese, and san marzano tomatoes and the sweet onions, vidalia raised in sulphur depleted soils in a place called vidalia. Some of the distinctions are only lawfully held up in certain jurisdictions and the rest of us, have a terroir of our own. If you came over to my house, you'd probably be offered, parmesan that is my parmesan, san marzanos that I grew, and sweet onions that I grew, and I'd call it a meal and probably not some kind of international trademark issue.
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Post by feather on Sept 28, 2017 18:04:25 GMT
Some cheeses, I think manchego might have been one, were wrapped grass or woven mats of grass. That gave them a distinctive imprint. cheese.com/manchego/I love that woven mat look. I've seen the cheeses with rope and basket imprints. So very pretty. I need to give that some thought.
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Post by feather on Sept 28, 2017 18:57:12 GMT
The laser cut trees came today. And they fit in the round mold. That's the round mold, and I've got a square mold too I could look for appropriate imprints to use in it.
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Post by Skandi on Sept 28, 2017 21:42:32 GMT
Ah is that why the manchego always has a cross hatched pattern round the edge, I didn't know that. (I doubt it's actual grass these days though!) Try some Cornish Yarg, good way to use some nettles
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Post by feather on Sept 28, 2017 22:12:22 GMT
Ah is that why the manchego always has a cross hatched pattern round the edge, I didn't know that. (I doubt it's actual grass these days though!) Try some Cornish Yarg, good way to use some nettles I have never heard of cornish yarg. www.lynherdairies.co.uk/cornish-yarg/but there it is! (it's not an expression used by pirates)
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2017 4:13:13 GMT
"If you came over to my house, you'd probably be offered, parmesan that is my parmesan, san marzanos that I grew, and sweet onions that I grew, and I'd call it a meal and probably not some kind of international trademark issue."
Address & time?
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Post by feather on Oct 13, 2017 22:09:59 GMT
@home2stay, I had it in my head that I'd be making cheese a week ago. I was so excited, it is more fun than canning. I'm ridiculous, I know. Instead I canned the sweet potatoes, the pears, the tomatoes and beans, and now I'm down to tomatoes, peppers, maybe another set of beans. I can't put them off or the fruit flies take over and that is just frustrating. Gruyere cheese with imprints, I promise I'll get to you, I promise myself, soon.
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Post by feather on Nov 2, 2017 4:17:00 GMT
Back on the horse. Lilith asked me to do an article for her blog on cheese, so I will, when I make curds the next time. Thanks Lilith, that will be fun for me.
I made two big batches of mozzarella, for string cheese and chopped up for on pizza. We had pizza tonight with fresh mozzarella, it was well worth it.
Gruyere tomorrow. And I only saw one wasp, in my dishwater and not my cheese, thank you God.
DH is trapping. There are 60 muskrat pelts in the garage.
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Post by feather on Nov 2, 2017 18:50:41 GMT
My mozzarella recipe, is an old fashioned, not the fast method. The fast method uses vinegar, lemon juice, or citric acid to get the right ph. The fast method, which I can do, also uses the microwave. I just had more failures with this method, from man handling the cheese, the wrong temp or the wrong ph. The old fashioned method uses, a culture, rennet, and CaCl2, and I make it one day and then refrigerate the curd for 24 hours, then stretch it in 170 to 190 degree F hot water. It works every time so far. I would call it the two day method.
I'm making gruyere today, with an IMPRINT, I'm very excited about it. I will get pictures when I unpress it in the morning tomorrow. And no wasps today, so that's good. I'm having thermometer issues, I'm hoping to resolve them soon.
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Post by shellymay on Nov 3, 2017 0:03:57 GMT
Still following you girl, looking forward to seeing the Imprinted cheese....I have one question, do you get constipated with all the cheese you all eat LOL by the way milk is 1.50 a gallon here, wanted come and make me some sharp cheddar (mold free)
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Post by feather on Nov 3, 2017 0:29:53 GMT
Yeah our milk is on sale again at $1.99/gallon I can't complain.
Eating too much cheese, um, no. I eat 6 oz or less cheese per week, this week it was some pizza with motz. I have cheese spread once in a while. It's pimento spread or pimento and jalapeno cheese spread. It's a treat! I sent off some cheese to some of our friends/relatives. I'm hoping they try it. A lot of people don't eat food made in other people's kitchens, so there is that too.
My DS and DH eat much more cheese than I do but they eat much more everything than I do, more pizza, and I feed them vegetables, raw, lots of 'em, and grapes, apples, bananas, and right now they are begging for steak and potatoes, and we will get to that yet this week.
I feel like I have a good handle on my swiss cheeses, on the motz, on parmesans and romanos, on havarti and butterkase, and I have the least confidence in cheddar and colby (two of our favorites to eat).
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Post by feather on Nov 4, 2017 22:59:24 GMT
Cheese news: 2 batches of mozzarella, I'm telling you, it is so good. I made the second batch into string cheese and it is WHITE (not translucent like store bought), creamy, tender, delicious. The first batch of gruyere turned out great. The second batch (today) of gruyere was either over acidified from my mother thermo culture, or it was overheated milk from the processor. I don't know which. What a waste! It was grainy and didn't form curds, it only thickened slightly after many hours (and that should have happened in 40 minutes). My rennet is up to date. It is food for the trees now. Speaking of trees, I have the imprint pictures. Both sides. It is soaking in brine. I thought it turned out great.
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Post by shellymay on Nov 5, 2017 21:07:27 GMT
Sorry about the second batch of gruyere, love the tree impressions in the cheese, beautiful and what a pretty gift those would make do love mozzarella here also!
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Post by feather on Nov 5, 2017 21:49:41 GMT
Sorry about the second batch of gruyere, love the tree impressions in the cheese, beautiful and what a pretty gift those would make do love mozzarella here also! Thanks shellymay, I'm going to try the second gruyere tomorrow. I needed a little break from it. When I make the mozzarella, I use a recipe that I do about 5 hours of 'cooking' with it, then throw it in the refrigerator until the next afternoon, then stretch it, and brine it. I call it a two day recipe. Then it is ready to refrigerator or freeze for pizza. If you or anyone wants the recipe, I'll put it up.
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Post by feather on Nov 5, 2017 21:50:38 GMT
Thanks @redfish,
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Post by feather on Nov 9, 2017 16:44:12 GMT
@redfish, That turned out very cool. I picked up a soft bristled tooth brush, to help me wash in the crevices during a brine washing. I bet it would look neat if say, the cheese was oiled and washed in paprika or cocoa or something--but I haven't tried that yet.
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Post by shellymay on Nov 9, 2017 17:57:53 GMT
@redfish, feather, So great that you both share this amazing interest/talent, nice of you to send the tree imprint Feather, Redfish it looks yummy and pretty all at the same time Okay if either of you venture into coloring them I want to see those pictures.
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